Hello everyone,
can someone explain to me how it is possible to use a Ciocks DC7 to power the QC if it only supplies 2Ah (2000 mah)?
In QC’s specification it calls for 3Ah!
Excuse my ignorance…
Although the QC OEM power supply provides 3a, the QC will operate on 2a etc.
Also, with the CIOKS DC7, I believe you would need to aggregate three ports for the 12v requirement but I will let a CIOKS DC7 owner add input on that part.
Hi MP_Mod,
what I’m wondering is whether operating at 2Ah might create problems for some function…
This is not specific to the QC. Most pedals but also manufactures of other similar devices simply state way higher mA then is actually needed. I am not 100% certain about why that is, but I would guess to be on the safe side.
The QC needs about 1300 - 1800mA. Some users also said they measured as high as 2100mA. Personally, I have not had any problems using 4 of the CIOKS outputs to power the QC.
No worries and understood. I personally have used alternate power supplies for the QC that output 2a with no issues. If you want to be 100% safe, email support@neuraldsp.com and ask for verification but I believe you would be 100% fine.
Thank you, I will also send a request to support and maybe share the answer on the forum.
Thank you!
No worries! And sounds like a plan. I will leave it open for your update. Thanks!
I’ve been using the DC7 with 4 outputs to the QC for over a year now, and I’ve had no issues so far. I haven’t really put a stress test on it, but I do have a base preset that is full. My best guess would be about 75 to 80% of capacity at times.
I do wonder if future updates, content may require more power than 2 amp though. I think the QC is capable of doing more, and may be the reason it was designed for 3
I had planned to do more testing with this, but I’ve been so busy using it I can’t seem to get it done lol. I do plan to check the amp draw on my unit before 2.0 though. At least then I’ll have a base line to compare to and test this idea as we go.
+1 it works. I use it too.
In the last month, I have spoken with many technicians on the subject of power supply. The unanimous opinion was that you can’t break a decent engineered digital device with a power supply that supplies too little Ah. Since a QC is in the end nothing more than a somewhat specialized computer, you only run the risk that if the power is not sufficient during operation, the device then goes off and any settings made and not saved are lost.
If you use an inferior power supply, you may have the problem that the power supply is broken when the consumer wants to draw too much current. But this should not happen with power supplies from brand manufacturers that meet the current safety standards (eg CE in Europe).
Hint: But you can easily break your digital devices with is too much volts and wrong polarity.
Btw. in the power consumption list from pedalboard.org the QC is listed 1200mA, but unfortunately they don’t tell how it was measured. But normaly the list is quite precise.
Pedalboard - Neural DSP Technologies
There are multiple RCA type plugs which have the adapter cables to various power socket formats (sizes, +/- tip etc). They sell a Y cable (Parallel adapter Flex – sand grey – CIOKS) that essentially sums 2 to one for double the power. They said they’ve tested the QC at an actual 1.9a draw, so. you order three of those plugged into 4 power sockets on the Cooks - sum 4 to 2, then those 2 to 1 into the quad cortex. I’ve been doing this for a few months on my temple pedal board and it has worked perfectly
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Changing the display brightness on the QC has a significant effect on current draw. I‘m skeptical whether the claimed 1200 mA were measured at full brightness but can confirm, the QC works on 4 parallel outlets on DC7 at 12V without a problem, even at full brightness. However, my DC7 tends to get really hot but according to CIOKS it’s nothing to worry about.
BTW, reading about Ah and mAh in this thread, I‘d just like to mention that these are units of capacity often used in batteries while here we should talk about current draw in A. Together with the constant voltage it corresponds to power draw. So the four DC7 outlets at 12V and 2A in total can provide 24W of power.
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Good info. I too have seen the video of the 1.9 amp draw, and that is why I think it possible to max out the DC7 4 outputs if more content, updates, etc. require more power.
I have a degree in electronics, so I do understand that it shouldn’t hurt the QC if it’s under powered. At least one could add another output ( 500ma, or .5 amps ) from the DC7, but that would require a custom adapter. I think I know a guy that could do that for me though 
Edit: Ok, I went to watch the vid again, and realized it was for the HX stomp with the DC7 
. I do remember seeing something about the 1.9 amp draw on the QC though
Here someone measured the power consumption of the quad cortex with full screen brightness and different presets. He did not get over a value of 1.8A.
And I’ve been using the DC7 with 4 outputs for over a year now.
I also have other pedals (HX Stomp, Boss RC-5, Line6 Relay 30) attached to the DC7, so far without the slightest problem.
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Awesome video. Very interesting that the consumption goes up by about 500mAh when you set the screen brightness from about 25% to 100%. So I have now immediately an idea how I increase the runtime at my power bank :-). Thank you.
What I also noticed is that the QC seems to first set the display brightness to 100% during the boot process and only reads and activates the user setting late in the boot sequence. As a result, the consumption first increases to 1800 mAh at startup and then drops again to about 1200, where it seems to stay.
It might be a good idea from NDSP if the brightness rather starts with the lowest value during the boot process. Then you could use the QC with even more power supplies.
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Doug himself confirmed that the Quad Cortex runs well on 2 amps in the Neural Discord server a while back and stated that he uses the DC7 to power his. Cioks also has a new product coming soon that runs off of the 24V expansion slot on the DC7 to power high-draw devices like the Quad Cortex without the need for multiple parallel adapters.
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Slightly unrelated but I have a DC7 coming in on Monday to mount under my Temple Audio Solo 18. I have the power module with that has a master power rocker switch. Is it ok to turn the unit off with the switch or does it need to be “shutdown” from the unit.
Theoretically, nothing should happen when simply switching off via the switch. However, if you have not saved changes, they are of course gone. In the end, the QC is just a computer and in 40 years I have never managed to break a computer or destroy an operating system by simply switching it off. After all, you have to remember that power failures and software crashes are also possible, forcing a hard shutdown. If that weren’t possible with the QC, it would not be well designed :-). But somehow I still switch off the QC via “shutdown”. That gives me the feeling not to have forgotten something.
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I also have my DC7 on the Temple Audio power module and use it to turn the power on or off without shutting down the quad cortex first.
I’ve never had a problem with it for over a year.
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