Ian,
I have a number of the Salas power supplies - the l adapter and ultrabibs. The l adapter can supply plenty of current to the UcConditioner but has no current limiter itself. I believe the current limiter on the UcConditioner would prevent any current overload.
I also have the ultrabibs, which are shunt regulators. You have to set CCS which is generally around 3-500mA in my DAC so as not to shunt excessive current. Would these work with the UcConditioner? If so, would they provide any advantages over a non-shunt supply in this application? I would worry about shunting excessive current given the charge/discharge nature of the ultra caps. OTOH, if the regulators are set to be shunting about 100mA assuming a relatively constant current draw, would the UcConditioner change this at all?
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/power-supplies/336685-adapter.html#post5761291
Salas SSLV1.3 UltraBiB shunt regulator
I have a number of the Salas power supplies - the l adapter and ultrabibs. The l adapter can supply plenty of current to the UcConditioner but has no current limiter itself. I believe the current limiter on the UcConditioner would prevent any current overload.
I also have the ultrabibs, which are shunt regulators. You have to set CCS which is generally around 3-500mA in my DAC so as not to shunt excessive current. Would these work with the UcConditioner? If so, would they provide any advantages over a non-shunt supply in this application? I would worry about shunting excessive current given the charge/discharge nature of the ultra caps. OTOH, if the regulators are set to be shunting about 100mA assuming a relatively constant current draw, would the UcConditioner change this at all?
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/power-supplies/336685-adapter.html#post5761291
Salas SSLV1.3 UltraBiB shunt regulator
I also have Salas SSLV1.3 UltraBiB, but even if I have used a particularly huge heat sink, the heat is still very huge, so I don’t think UltraBiB is suitable for charging ultra capacitors. I would recommend you to use, for example, two LT3045 in parallel to output 1A current or one LT1963A for 1.5A current .
Last edited:
You can refer to the plan I mentioned earlier that ConditionerPi’s 5VDC to charge the ultra capacitors on other UcConditioners.
Among the chips that stably output 1A current, the LT1963A is the best in performance. LT1963A is less heat generation and can charge the ultra capacitor stably for a long time. The LT3045 has a relatively high heat so four LT3045 in parallel to output a stable 1A current.
Last edited:
I'm a bit confusing about your questions. Please just let me know what's your configuration and then I'll let you know if it is possible.
Regards,
Ian
UcConditioner works with Salas shunt regulator
I have a Salas Reflektor-D shunt regulator. I just did a test today, it works great with UcConditioner.
My Reflektor-D set at 5V with 300mA CCS. For the first time using UcConditioner 5V (UCs are fully empty), it takes longer time to enter Conditioning mode. But at the next time, UcConditioner goes to Conditioning mode right away when the Reflektor-D is on.
You need think the current limitation is the other way. If your power supply can deliver higher current, it will follow UcConditioner's limitation. While if your power supply deliver current is lower, then it will follow power supply's limitation. But it will be safe in either way.
In my case, UcConditioner will be charged at up to 300mA. That's why it takes longer time. But that's only for the first time works with UcConditioner. If the UcConditioner already runs into conditioning mode, it doesn't need that much charge current. The total average current will be exactly as same as the load current.
If you want to save the charge time, you can pre-charge the UcConditioner with, for example, an USB power adapter, before you install it with the Salas.
@yunyun
Hopefully you will receive your UcConditioners by next week. Please let me know if you have any question when you are getting start.
UcConditionerSalas by Ian, on Flickr
Regards,
Ian
I have a Salas Reflektor-D shunt regulator. I just did a test today, it works great with UcConditioner.
My Reflektor-D set at 5V with 300mA CCS. For the first time using UcConditioner 5V (UCs are fully empty), it takes longer time to enter Conditioning mode. But at the next time, UcConditioner goes to Conditioning mode right away when the Reflektor-D is on.
You need think the current limitation is the other way. If your power supply can deliver higher current, it will follow UcConditioner's limitation. While if your power supply deliver current is lower, then it will follow power supply's limitation. But it will be safe in either way.
In my case, UcConditioner will be charged at up to 300mA. That's why it takes longer time. But that's only for the first time works with UcConditioner. If the UcConditioner already runs into conditioning mode, it doesn't need that much charge current. The total average current will be exactly as same as the load current.
If you want to save the charge time, you can pre-charge the UcConditioner with, for example, an USB power adapter, before you install it with the Salas.
@yunyun
Hopefully you will receive your UcConditioners by next week. Please let me know if you have any question when you are getting start.
UcConditionerSalas by Ian, on Flickr
Regards,
Ian
Last edited:
Ian, the information on the reflektor is helpful. In your experience, does using a nicer supply like the reflektor result in any sonic improvement as compared to a generic usb charger to charge the UcConditioner?
I am trying to understand the heat and shunted current implications of using a shunt supply to charge the UcConditioner. In this set-up, would it be inappropriate to leave the audio device always on?
Say for example you are powering a DAC with the 300mA reflektor and UcConditionter. The DAC generally draws about 500mA and higher with high sample rates. In that set up, as long as the DAC is on it will be drawing down the UcConditionter and the reflektor would be delivering the full 300mA and shunting 0mA. Eventually, wouldn't the UcConditionter run out of charge and the reflektor wouldn't supply enough power?
Alternatively, say you set the reflektor CCS at 700mA and it would usually shunt 200mA without UcConditionter feeding the 500mA DAC load. If you add the UcConditionter, how much is the reflektor going to shunt? If UcConditionter can charge at the max CCS of the regulator feeding it, while charging, will it always soak up all available current of the shunt supply and therefore while charging the reflektor shunts 0mA? But when it's fully charged, is the reflektor now shunting 700mA or will it "trickle" charge and always still be shunting 200mA as it would without a UcConditionter?
It seems to me, if your load is pulling more current than you shunt supplies can deliver, eventually the UcConditionter run out of charge and you need to unplug the device and recharge them. Alternatively, if the shunt supplies deliver more than the required current and are shunting X amount of current, will they still constantly shunt X amount of current even with the UcConditioner or will there be situations with the UcConditioner in which the UCs aren't charging and the shunt supply shunts an excessive amount of current and generates a lot of heat?
I am trying to understand the heat and shunted current implications of using a shunt supply to charge the UcConditioner. In this set-up, would it be inappropriate to leave the audio device always on?
Say for example you are powering a DAC with the 300mA reflektor and UcConditionter. The DAC generally draws about 500mA and higher with high sample rates. In that set up, as long as the DAC is on it will be drawing down the UcConditionter and the reflektor would be delivering the full 300mA and shunting 0mA. Eventually, wouldn't the UcConditionter run out of charge and the reflektor wouldn't supply enough power?
Alternatively, say you set the reflektor CCS at 700mA and it would usually shunt 200mA without UcConditionter feeding the 500mA DAC load. If you add the UcConditionter, how much is the reflektor going to shunt? If UcConditionter can charge at the max CCS of the regulator feeding it, while charging, will it always soak up all available current of the shunt supply and therefore while charging the reflektor shunts 0mA? But when it's fully charged, is the reflektor now shunting 700mA or will it "trickle" charge and always still be shunting 200mA as it would without a UcConditionter?
It seems to me, if your load is pulling more current than you shunt supplies can deliver, eventually the UcConditionter run out of charge and you need to unplug the device and recharge them. Alternatively, if the shunt supplies deliver more than the required current and are shunting X amount of current, will they still constantly shunt X amount of current even with the UcConditioner or will there be situations with the UcConditioner in which the UCs aren't charging and the shunt supply shunts an excessive amount of current and generates a lot of heat?
@stew1234
If your load is pulling more current than you shunt supplies can deliver, eventually the UcConditionter can supply at short period of time but will run out of charge. Output voltage will be dropped then.
If the shunt supplies deliver more than the required current and are shunting X amount of current, they will still constantly shunt X amount of current even with the UcConditioner. UcConditioner doesn't consume power, so no additional heat will be generated.
You can understand a UcConditioner in this way, it only needs to be charged when it's empty. Once it runs into conditioning mode (working mode), it will work as a filter doesn't consume any additional power or current.
Ian
If your load is pulling more current than you shunt supplies can deliver, eventually the UcConditionter can supply at short period of time but will run out of charge. Output voltage will be dropped then.
If the shunt supplies deliver more than the required current and are shunting X amount of current, they will still constantly shunt X amount of current even with the UcConditioner. UcConditioner doesn't consume power, so no additional heat will be generated.
You can understand a UcConditioner in this way, it only needs to be charged when it's empty. Once it runs into conditioning mode (working mode), it will work as a filter doesn't consume any additional power or current.
Ian
@yunyun,
What's the power supply feed to ConditionerPi?
If I'm not wrong, it was because ConditionerPi has on/off control that you put it in front all other power supplies. Am I right?
Ian
That's very helpful. Thank you. Are the benefits of shunt supplies mitigated when using UcConditioner? What about the impact on sonics various power supplies may impart? Would you expect these differences to still hold true and simply be made better by the UcConditioner or does it dampen any difference between supplies?
5V 10A power supply.
Yes, I plan to use ConditionerPi's on/off control to control the power supply of other components, except 15V for Mercury I/V.
But I am worried that this will have a negative impact. Of course, I will first use a USB adapter to fully charge each ultra capacitor. My UcConditioner will use 3000F ultra capacitor.
Last edited:
As I mentioned earlier, according to my research, supercapacitors can reduce the ground noise in the entire system, just like the function of the ground box. However, I think the grounding box will be more natural. When I actually received Ian's new toy, I will share it with you after the comparison.
@ yunyun,
That's fine. You can do it in that way.
The only thing is that the ConditionerPi was designed for RPi with smaller UC's installed. So, if you use it as the first conditioner, I would suggest connecting an bigger pre-charged (only for the first time) external UC pack to ConditionerPi as additional.
Regards,
Ian
Why do I need bigger external UC pack to ConditionerPi? I will first use a USB adapter to fully charge each ultra capacitor on UcConditioner. In this case, ConditionerPi will not run out of his capacity quickly.