Soundcard wont receive signal from dynamic mic if 48v is turned off???? urgent

[aqlord]

I have a Behringer U-PHORIA UMC202HD plugged into my computer via USB type B gen 2 (of course). I have an ElectroVoice RE20 plugged into Input 1 via XLR into a cloudlifter then into the card, but it only shows levels with the 48v switch on. From my understanding, this mic does not need phantom power?? I had two identical behringer units and both did the same thing. Is this a problem with the card? by design? a fault? am I doing something wrong?

[Philbo King]

Something has to power the cloudlifter...

[Hugh Robjohns]

I have an ElectroVoice RE20 plugged into Input 1 via XLR into a cloudlifter then into the card, but it only shows levels with the 48v switch on. From my understanding, this mic does not need phantom power??

Your understanding is correct... but disturbingly limited.

The RE20 is a dynamic mic and doesn't need phantom power.

But a Cloudlifter is an active cascade preamp, and it needs phantom power to work... as clearly explained in the user manual. No power, no work, no sound passed on....

I had two identical behringer units and both did the same thing.

Yes, they would.

Is this a problem with the card? by design? a fault? am I doing something wrong?

No, no, no, and yes... in that order.

If you want to use the Cloudlifter, you'll need phantom power switched on. That phantom is not passed on to the mic.

Is there a reason you don't want to use phantom power from the interface?

[aqlord]

something I didnt include in the post is that in every card I had of that model, The 48v became faulty and would no longer supply the michrophones properly. As with the current one. So I literally cant. I had it checked.
The reason is I hookep up two different condensers to it and both never showed any levels with the 48v turned on. I checked on a buddy's sound card and the microphones worked fine. I either have very bad luck or behringer's got a problem.

[Matt Houghton]

something I didnt include in the post is that in every card I had of that model, The 48v became faulty and would no longer supply the michrophones properly. As with the current one. So I literally cant. I had it checked.
The reason is I hookep up two different condensers to it and both never showed any levels with the 48v turned on. I checked on a buddy's sound card and the microphones worked fine. I either have very bad luck or behringer's got a problem.

I'm not familiar with that Behringer unit, but some devices (of various manufacturers) have been known not to provide the full 48V of phantom power, particularly when the device is being bus powered. Maybe that's it? Anyway, in terms of solving that problem should it rear its head, you can buy external phantom power supplies for not very much. And if it doesn't rear its head, there's no point worrying about maybe...

[Hugh Robjohns]

... in every card I had of that model, The 48v became faulty and would no longer supply the michrophones properly. As with the current one. So I literally cant.

Ah. So the title of your thread is misleading. Is the issue not that your Soundcard wont receive signal from a dynamic mic.... but actually that your sound card doesn't provide 48V phantom?

I either have very bad luck or behringer's got a problem.

There are plenty of Behringer interface users here, and I don't recall any complaining of a lack of phantom power.

As mentioned above, if you are bus powering the interface that might cause problems with phantom.

The other common reasons for problems with phantom are broken mic cables (a broken screen connection will kill phantom, for example), or using the TRS (jack) input rather than the XLR input on the interface (phantom is normally only present on the XLR connection)

Also, some mics are quite fussy about the phantom voltage/current they receive and not all interfaces deliver the full spec, especially when bus-powered.

So using an external mains power supply to the interface, or using a dedicated phantom power supply connected between the interface and mic (or cloudlifter) might be a pragmatic solution.

[ef37a]

Phantom power provision is something you rarely see specified other than its voltage. Are we then to assume it meets the relevant standard of 10mA?
We can hardly blame our hard pressed reviewers for not testing something there is no numbers for! I guess if one of them had a particularly mA thirsty mic and it did not work on an AI they were in front of they would tell us?

I fell foul of weak spook juice with the otherwise excellent Native Instruments KA6 which struggles to deliver 2mA. I am pretty sure the Mk2 is better in this respect.

On the subject of external phantom power units? Beware of some cheap ones, they also do not deliver the full current. I had a USB powered one that was however very good.

Dave.