Potato Cakes
Well-known member
Hello, Everyone,
I just released a capacitance multiplier PCB distributed through Arienne Audio's new website so I thought it would be best to have a place to discuss building this circuit (https://store.arienneaudio.com/project-pcbs/31-capacitance-multiplier-board.html). It's a great utility board to filter off the shelf SMPS's for use with most any build or even commercially available audio product (I have not tested this with anything that uses tubes). I am using this myself for all my new builds and have been slowly replacing PSUs in old builds and the results have been excellent so far. I am also using this in a number of pedal board power supply builds also with great results. This circuit has been tested with open, closed, and encapsulated types of SMPS's and AC/DC modules from various manufacturers.
There were two instances where I thought the Capacitance Multiplier did not work for particular circuits. One was where a ground connection was missing in the audio circuit. The other time the SMPS being used had a much higher amperage rating than the actual draw of the audio circuit. To resolve the latter scenario, I had to chain two PCBs together in series per leg and also add 2000uF of additional capacitance after that. This was the extreme case as all other times only required one board per rail.
The BD140 transistor is rated for 1.5A, but once you get to about 400mA it starts to get noticeably warm to the touch. Anything past that may require the use of heatsinks and/or changing out this transistor with a higher current rated variant.
For those new to DIY I do think it is very important to learn about and build linear power supplies with transformers several times to understand how they function. But once you get deep into building projects these boards provide a more streamlined way to power custom projects.
Thanks!
Paul
I just released a capacitance multiplier PCB distributed through Arienne Audio's new website so I thought it would be best to have a place to discuss building this circuit (https://store.arienneaudio.com/project-pcbs/31-capacitance-multiplier-board.html). It's a great utility board to filter off the shelf SMPS's for use with most any build or even commercially available audio product (I have not tested this with anything that uses tubes). I am using this myself for all my new builds and have been slowly replacing PSUs in old builds and the results have been excellent so far. I am also using this in a number of pedal board power supply builds also with great results. This circuit has been tested with open, closed, and encapsulated types of SMPS's and AC/DC modules from various manufacturers.
There were two instances where I thought the Capacitance Multiplier did not work for particular circuits. One was where a ground connection was missing in the audio circuit. The other time the SMPS being used had a much higher amperage rating than the actual draw of the audio circuit. To resolve the latter scenario, I had to chain two PCBs together in series per leg and also add 2000uF of additional capacitance after that. This was the extreme case as all other times only required one board per rail.
The BD140 transistor is rated for 1.5A, but once you get to about 400mA it starts to get noticeably warm to the touch. Anything past that may require the use of heatsinks and/or changing out this transistor with a higher current rated variant.
For those new to DIY I do think it is very important to learn about and build linear power supplies with transformers several times to understand how they function. But once you get deep into building projects these boards provide a more streamlined way to power custom projects.
Thanks!
Paul
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