Hi folks,
Naive question: would it be possible to adapt one of these cheap aliexpress current/voltage meters (0.56'' Dc 100v 10a Voltmeter Ammeter Blue + Red Led Amp Dual Digital Volt Meter Gauge Car Motocycle Voltage Current Meter - Voltage Meters - AliExpress) to check how much current an eurorack setup is drawing? Are there any DIY alternatives?
Cheers!
Thereās some discussion of something similar, but from 11 years ago, here:
https://modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46075
I canāt see anything in your AliExpress listing about voltage drop. If itās as low as the one mentioned in the above link itās presumably not a big problem, if itās much larger it might be.
In that discussion one person says
I think Iām right in saying we definitely donāt want a ālowsideā connection in a synth environment though - the extra handful of millivolts above ground could cause troubleā¦?
and I donāt know if thatās a legitimate concern or not, but it does appear the AliExpress module is made for a lowside connection.
On a quick search the only synth ammeter product I found was the ADDAC ADDAC200A
which I guess isnāt DIY and for which they seem to provide NO documentation whatsoever! Here it says (in 2017) āMore information coming soon!ā ā and then no more information.
I donāt think current draw for a module is likely to vary a lot, so maybe just measuring each module once and then keeping track of the total plugged into each PSU is adequate.
Thereās this one too: Test 3 ā Joranalogue Audio Design
Good find. The schematic and firmware are available with CC BY-SA and GPL licensing. Not the PCB design, unfortunately.
Anyway, itās in stock at SynthCube.
Note than the Test 3 is limited to 1A max on each rail.