Hey guys, just wondering if someone is aware of what the actual operating voltage of the Boss RC-20XL is? I received one that wasn't powering up, and it turns out the small transformer inside was bad. I temporarily wired in a 5v supply bypassing the transformer, and the unit fired up, and seems to be working well and sounds fine. Since the pedal is digital, I didn't want to feed it more than 5v, as that's a pretty typical operating voltage for digital devices, and supplying more can fry some IC's. Can anyone verify that it actually runs off 5v internally? The planned fix is to put a 7805 regulator inside where the transformer used to be to, however if it normally runs off a higher voltage, I'll obviously need a different regulator. Any help is appreciated. The picture below shows the transformer that went bad in my unit, outlined in red.
http://pasteboard.co/JP2oz5HMI.jpg
Are you sure this is a transformer? I wouldn't expect a transformer to work on DC....
looks like an inductor to me
The pedal is closed up at the moment, so I'll have to verify it again later, but I'm pretty sure the symbol for a transformer was underneath the part itself. I've been wrong before, thought! It has 4 terminals and looks like a tiny transformer. I took it out and tossed a 7805 in there and it seems to be working well. I'm just not sure if it's supposed to be operating at a higher voltage. Being a digital pedal, would it operate at more than 5 volts?
Depends. Some of the analog buffering/mixing could be more than 5. The digital stuff definitely not though.
It could still be a transformer, but it just seems weird to me in a digital pedal. A regulator is usually enough.