Eurorack Power Supply Guide

Buying Guides, Informative/News

Powering Your Modules

Without power, your Eurorack modules are (almost always) useless, so it’s important to make sure you get the right supply for your case and use scenario. In this brief guide, we’ll cover the two primary types of power supplies on the market, as well as what you need to know when going out to purchase one.

Power Supplies or Power Distribution

Before we tackle the two components of power supplies, I feel it’s important to make a quick distinction. Let’s explore what each of these categories does in a Eurorack system.

01

Power Supplies

Power supplies provide the core circuitry needed to take the power coming out of the socket from your wall and convert it into Eurorack spec (+/- 12v DC and +5v DC).

02

Power Distribution

Once you have the proper power rails, you’ll need a way to split that one set of power out to all your modules! A power distributor takes a single input and splits it out to multiple outputs (just like a passive mult).

03

Combo Units

It’s pretty common to see the two power components bundled into one to make the end user’s life easier, but keep in mind that this isn’t always the case.

Rack Mounted Power Supplies

There isn’t really an official term for this type of power supply, but we like to call it “rack mounted”, as it sits in your Eurorack system right next to all your other modules.

The PWR module by Electrosmith is an excellent example of this. You have a wall wart connection, switch, and LED indicators on the front, and a single output on the back to feed to all your modules (you’ll need a distribution cable or board to break it out)!

Compact
Easy to Install or Modify
Moves Between Cases
Compact
Electrosmith - PWR

Electrosmith – PWR

Power your Eurorack the right way with the Electrosmith Pwr! Featuring clean, regulated, and protected power and daisy-chain capabilities, Pwr is the perfect first module or a reliable addition for those with plans to expand their system.

$149.00

The Case Mounted Power Supply

On the other side of the spectrum, you have case mounted supplies. These power supplies sit inside of your case behind your modules, and require you to run some sort of cable, through the side of your case to the input of your power supply.

Installing them is a little more involved, but they often are able to supply more power while taking up none of your precious rack space.

While we don’t have any rack mounted power solutions in stock at the time of writing (we’ll circle back and update this once we get some in), our favorite options in this segment are the power supplies from Befaco.

How Much Power Do I Need?

Finally, there’s the matter of power itself. Figuring out how much power your entire Eurorack system needs can seem like a daunting task, but we try to make it a little easier by providing the power requirements for each module we carry in the “Additional Information” section on the product page. The easiest way to get a great ballpark estimate on your power requirements is to assemble your system on ModularGrid. Once you’ve recreated your rack on the site, you’ll have access to a convenient power draw section, where you can see the minimum current needed for each rail on your power supply.

Woah, woah, woah. What do you mean rail?

In the power world, we refer to each of the voltages provided to your module as a “rail”. Most modules require a +12 volt and -12 volt rail to operate (with some also needing a +5 volt rail), and each module will consume some amount of current from one or both of these “rails”. The current needed by each module can be viewed on our website, ModularGrid, or the manufacturer’s specifications, and it will almost always be provided in milliamps (for example, 40mA).

Once you add up all the milliamps you need for all your modules (once again, ModularGrid makes this extremely easy), you’ll need to make sure your power supply is able to provide more than you need. Also, keep in mind that there are NO issues with supplying MORE than you need, only less. As an example, the PWR module by Electrosmith is able to provide 1.5 amps of +12v, 1.3 amps of -12v, and 1.5 amps of +5v. Once you convert that to milliamps (multiply by 1000), you’ll see that the PWR module is able to power 1500mA (milliamps) of +12v, etc.

Once you double check your power requirements on ModularGrid, just make sure that your power supply is able to provide more than you need. We typically recommend keeping it a few hundred milliamps over your maximum needs, just to give you room to expand in the future should you choose to.

We hope this guide has given you a little bit more information on choosing a power supply. Generally, we recommend going with a rack mounted power supply for their ease of use and accessibility, but if you’re setting up a larger, more complex system, it might be worth looking into a case mounted option. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!

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