[Aljaheejus]

I have a stock Ripper and I'm about ready to order the Piccolo.  I am leaning away from battery power and so I am wondering if I can tap the power from the Ripper to supply the Piccolo. 

Can someone lay out the pros and cons for me, please?  Would the power line leading from the Ripper to the Piccolo cause any interference to the signal interconnects going the other direction?  I have made shielded interconnects.

Thanks in advance.

[poty]

I think there is no "cons" about it. The power cord and interconnects interference may certainly be a problem, but not so big I believe.

[hagtech]

Hmmm, I can't remember if the RIPPER has enough extra juice for a PICCOLO.  Might not be a good idea.

jh

[Aljaheejus]

Well, I ordered an additional power plug with my Piccolo parts, and was planning on tapping the +10 v terminal on the Ripper board and coming out to the plug to the left of the LED.  I will make the power cord to connect Ripper to Piccolo with two matching male connectors and some #gauge wire.

Can you advise based on some simple power analysis on this for me, Jim?   If it is really not enough power, then what would be the effect?

[poty]

Hmmm, I can't remember if the RIPPER has enough extra juice for a PICCOLO.  Might not be a good idea.
jh

I can't find any info about the XFMR transformer used in the Ripper (maybe it is the weakest point), but the UF1001 and ZTX449 can bear up to 1A.
If we count the max current for 1 polarity from the 2W total power consumption and 10V output of Ripper it would be 100mA and additional 15mA of Piccolo doesn't change total consumption dramatically.
Even if this do change, it is always possible to eliminate LEDs from both parties and save 15-20 mA for Piccolo.

[Aljaheejus]

Thanks again!   If it is any help, the top of my particular transformer says "0.8 VA + 0.8 VA" and below each of those figures is a horizontal line and a "15V".

It looks like from your smiley face, this should/may work!  If this sounds like a "go" please confirm by recommending where would it be best to tap power for this newbie.  I need a ground and a plus 10 V?  Or do I wire from the neg 10V instead of ground?

[poty]

I've found the specs for the transformer used in the Ripper. It seems even in the Ripper itself it works with some degree of overloading.
In this situation you can try to use the Ripper's PS for Piccolo, but the result may be poor (but I doubt it). To save some mAs you can delete LED, connected to the output of the Ripper's PS. And you should use positive (+10) and negative (-10) wires, not ground. As soon as the Piccolo could bear up to 24VDC of power supply it is OK.
More preferably and cardinal way - replace the transformer with slightly more powerful (but if the size of the case allows it), for example - TE70013. It helps to eliminate the weak point for the Ripper itself and adds opportunity to definitely supply power to the Piccolo.

[Aljaheejus]

Thanks for the direction on connection.   Also on the potential upgrade of transformer.  The TE70013 has a larger footprint, that might fit, but the pin layout would not match according to their catalog page at http://www.amveco.com/pdf/Amveco_Catalog.pdf#page=23

My AC here in NA is 120 volts.  Does that provide more power capacity on the DC side of the transformer?

If I were to have to buy a new transformer at some $20 + to make this work, then I am inclined to just go ahead and get the whole Bugle PS kit.  Or just build the battery version of Piccolo, for now. 

[poty]

The TE70013 has a larger footprint, that might fit, but the pin layout would not match

You can always connect the leads to the PCB by wires.

My AC here in NA is 120 volts.  Does that provide more power capacity on the DC side of the transformer?

No, it makes the situation worse.

If I were to have to buy a new transformer at some $20 + to make this work, then I am inclined to just go ahead and get the whole Bugle PS kit.  Or just build the battery version of Piccolo, for now.

You can try the cheapest option first, then think about improvements.
Powering both devices from one PS is an elegant solution, but it may pose other problems (interference between the devices for instance) and there is need for sufficient power supply. But you can try - it doesn't require any money.
Bugle PS (or other PS you like) - is an uncompromising variant, but you add another box in the system. Bugle PS is (just my opinion) too heavy to load such small watts device as Piccolo.
Battery - the cheapes variant to try and good for powering very sensitive devices like Piccolo.