Keep Your Old Power Adapters!!!
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- Опубліковано 27 лис 2022
- Don't let anyone convince you to throw them away. They might not fit anything, they might not even have their connectors anymore. But with a bit of ingenuity, we can power EVERYTHING!!!! MWAAHAHAHAHA
(Feel free to blame me when your significant other gets sick of seeing boxes full of perfectly wonderful AC adapters laying around. That's my holiday gift to you...)
Seriously though, as long as you understand a few basic things about power, you can likely mix-and-match your way into any combination of voltage, amperage, and connector-age you might need.
Also, to purchase a print of that awesome comic from the artist, go here: www.art.com/products/p1506302...
#nerdlings #power #TheyAreNotGarbageStopSayingThatYouMonster - Наука та технологія
Just a note, there is a lot of nuance to the barrel sizes. They generally get larger as power increases, but not always consistently, and not in a one-for-one voltage/amperage/barrel ratio. The good news is that while putting a barrel connector rated for lower power on a power supply rated for higher would be bad - the connector that *fits* into your device is ideally designed for the amount of power it draws. So it should be OK to splice it onto an adapter even if it’s an adapter capable of providing more amperage. (Cuz the device won’t draw more than its connector can handle, ideally)
All that said, I am not a doctor. Or lawyer. Or licensed electrician. So be careful, and only use adapters made specifically for your devices, etc. This video is for educational purposes only, and, um… don’t try this at home?
Your advice at the end - I didn’t read it. My house has burnt down - thx 😂
So if a laptop power adapter/supply has the warning, "For use with information technology equipment only", I can just ignore that warning and use it to power anything as long as voltage matches, amps, and polarity are satisfied? Ex. using it to power any and all LED monitors, that certainly will not fall under the "information technology equipment" umbrella, and many other examples.
@deependz3231
I am not en electrical either. However, I can tell you that if the power supply doesn't change voltage like some usb-c charger then you should be fine as long as the ampere is enough for your device.
thank you, i was confused if i needed to match the amperage or not and this has solved my problem
Thanks. I was wondering about supply that matched all the things but voltage. It was 9 volt and device was 6 volt. Your video helped me. Thank you! 😀
Thanks for the video, Shawn! It's been a year now since this video was made, and I wanted to share something I've observed. Fewer and fewer devices are being packaged with AC power supplies, even if the device has a USB-C "PD" port for additional power. Manufacturers are now just making these devices with USB ports, expecting you to use an existing adapter and a USB cable. Even old Apple adapters still work fine, even if you have to source a USB-A > USB-C charging cable.
The AC power supplies are great when you need AC for electronics projects.
Exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks a lot for sharing!
I'm gonna trust what you say solely based on the fact that you have a picture of Mr. Roger in the background 😁.
I keep at least 1 type of each cable that I have at the house then throw away duplicate ones.
this is such a useful video, thank you
The first Brick is perfect for analog modular Synthesizers.
27V Power Supplys are mainly used by old Laptops.
And if your polarity of your Barrel Jack Wallwart is wrong you can snap off the connector, reverse its polarity and solder it on again. Use shrinking tubes to seal the solderjoints and make them look professional
Indeed, found the usefulness of orphaned AC-DC PSUs long time ago. Good stuff to replace similar faulty power supplies and for DIY projects. Mind supported voltage and current though.
Fantastic video. Thanks for the info!
Awesome video dude 🤙🏼
Great video, thank you!
Thank you, very helpful
@Shawn Powers: I have tons of powers adaptors from dead or retired devices. I never discard them yet many people who dispose of a piece of equipment include the adaptor assuming it's unique to that item. I've found these days dc 5v or 12v have kind of become the standard like on computer power supplies. I would say 6v is the third most common voltage but the likes of 7.2/5v or 9v not so much now or days. I've done many adaptor splicing, soldering and heat shrink conversions. I needed a 5v 1amp adaptor recently for an audio converter (optical toss link to rca) but all my compatible 5v adaptors didn't have the correct jack so I chopped it off leaving enough wire for reuse later on and then did the same for a 9v which had the correct jack and now I have the required 5v 1amp power supply with the correct barrel. I keep the doner adaptors bare end for future repurposing either soldering on the correct jack if or when required or using a chopped off one.
Is that a metric or imperial Ton?
yep...very quiet...dont throw away.....
Voltage and amperage is key
Hi Shawn, Greetings from Bhutan.
It's a nice informative video you got there.
I've been having issues with not being able to get the connector head required for my Vox VT20X even though I have many rightly powered adaptors.
My question is : Is it possible to bypass the connector head and connect the adaptor directly to the guitar amp internals ?
Thank you.
Great video 👍.
:Video idea: I have a Jam man solo xt i believe it is called, and I think I popped the circuit on it by plugging in an adapter with the opposite polarity. I've rewired and soldered both a dryer and headphones earlier and I'd like to replace the resistor on the pedal if that is the problem to get it working again. Thanks
These things NEVER output voltage written on the device. Measure everything before use.
Tolerances in these power supplies are laughable.
Devices however also usually accept range of voltages plus minus 2 volts for something like 5 v and up to 3-5 volts tolerance for something that needs 20v lets say. So it kinda balances out.. because its all analog.
Good tip to measure the output voltage of these devices before putting into use - designs have changed over the years & it’s more than likely that people squirrel these dead supplies as they might have stopped working / or not performed after a period of time / been stored in damp places - so if you plug into the device & into the AC socket - it could go pop - & with your device connected with it! This another rabbit hole to go down!
God bless you
Great video, I got a drawer full of them
Thank you for your video. I'm trying to light up a led poll light and I never know which adapter goes with what device. Can I fry the light by putting the wrong one on. 🤷🏼♂️✌🏼️
The barrel size goes up with the power/amps needed.
Do watch out for old ones as the capacitors will go bad not only with use, but time as well.
It’s funny, I always debate on how far down the rabbit hole to go. I should pin a comment in case someone is less kind in their response. (The capacitor thing is interesting, and something I haven’t run into. But thanks for the info!)
@@shawnp0wersthe internal circuitry of these power adaptors have changed over time - Capacitors deteriorate over time & years in use - so adaptors will go “pop” eventually - & its the capacitors which is more than likely the first failure. It’s a huge rabbit hole & yes you should suffer & go down them all! 😂 Start with UA-cam’s re fixing switch mode power supplies / replacing capacitors. You’ll love it!
@messageobliquespe100
Yes. Capacitors seems to be the first point of failure for alot of power supply. Along with fuses maybe
is that a flamethrower on your wall? Bloody awesopme dude
Sounds like you might have just lost the 27v supply and found it again lol
Is there value in AC adapters ? Like maybe lotting them up or are certain ones wanted more than others...I know, this is such a weird question but I am just curious. I've got tons of them lol
Well *I* find value in them. My wife may not agree... LOL
(Generally those with a larger amperage are more useful, but I keep them all, hehehehe)
Ummmm…. Prob not enough value to make you a big hit with the girls imho! 😂 but you might make a local nerds day whose needs one in an emergency!
Question, so if a device says it'll take .5 amps, but you plugin a 4amp, it generally won't cause any damage?
Correct. A device will take what it needs, amp-wise.
I have a camera that takes 5.3 Vdc charger found a match for barrel connector but voltage is 6 vdc. It charged the battery okay but just concerned over time will it cause a problem?
It's *probably* fine. Most power adapters are just transformers, which means they take the wall current and change to the lower voltage with the different sized coils of wire. Then they rectify the AC current into DC. Since wall voltage varies pretty drastically (anywhere from 105ish to 125ish volts), that means actual measured voltage at the barrel connector is usually just a decreased factor of the wall current. (12v is easy to explain, as the transformer is generally a 1 to 10 winding ratio, so 120v wall current means 12v as it's reduced by a factor of 10)
The 6v connector is probably rated at 6v based on a 1 to 20 winding ratio, giving 6v with a 120v wall current. But since it varies up and down, there's usually wiggle room. It's possible a really fancy power adapter could have circuitry to supply exactly 5.3v, but that's expensive, and especially with battery charging, there's usually wiggle room. (batteries are charged at a slightly higher voltage than they provide, that's how we "push" the energy into them)
With less than a volt of discrepancy, I'd probably use the 6v power supply. That said, "5.3v" is an oddly specific voltage, so maybe the original power supply was a weirdly expensive model with fancy circuitry. If you have a multi-meter, you could always check what the actual voltage coming out of the barrel connector is. And if it's a particularly expensive camera, maybe buy a replacement original.
That was a long-winded way to shrug... sorry. :)
Perfect answer. The book for the camera actually said 5.2 v 1.0A the charger reads 6v 1.3 A. I tested charger and got 6.3V. Still okay? It seemed to work okay it charged battery fine. Bottom of camera a little warm but don’t know if that is normal when charging.
Can you build a device that plugs into anything, ups the power until the device is happy and then displays the correct adaptor specifications.
Yes, a benchtop power supply.
I have a dilemma. My original adapter has an output of 6.2v 700 mA has a broken cable.
The other i have to use 6v 500 mA with the same barrel configuration. Will it work in a pinch to charge a 4 D cell rechargeable battery pack that goes to rotating laser?
That 3% variance in voltage will likely make no difference at all. The 200mA will probably mean the transformer will get hotter than is ideal, but it would probably charge it up.
I'll add all the disclaimers that it's not ideal, it could overheat the transformer, in a closed area it could potentially start a fire, etc, etc.
All that said, I would personally probably try it in a pinch. Not long term though. I'd order something cheap like this and if the barrel didn't fit, I'd splice in the one that does fit, being careful of polarity: amzn.to/3GfiM0S
If original power supply is good, I would try to fix the cable at first.
hello Shawn.i have a 120 to 12 volt AcC to AC wall wart, rated 1000mamps.but I notice on scope and multimeter it only goes up to 9-10 volts.is this normal/?thanks
John
They’re soooo inconsistent, it’s frustrating. :/
I chanced upon this UA-cam by chance - I laughed as it was taking a while to load & I just had the first frame of this video - green haired chap - laughing at me.
I was researching efficiency / calculations for these power adapters - & yep, it wasn’t here! 😂 but I enjoyed the video - it made me smile & I’ve commented to others posts here as I’m amused
May I ask the author to go down the rabbit hole of efficiency regarding these type of supplies for his own interest - I point you to one’s friend “Google” & let’s say “efficiency VI ratings” - you will love it! I will send link after this message just in case links are banned -
Enjoy!
slpower.com/data/collateral/PW174KB_DS.pdf
There are no Standards!
I just can't get the image of you standing there pretending to be a "secret agent " with your wife's "massager" . I know I am a sad sick man..........
😂 I wondered what kind of massager it was 😂 strange it was the right one for the job that was squirrelled away in the hordes of adapters too! His n hers massagers 😂
Prob saw the adapter squirrelled away where it shouldn’t have been & nicked it! “Yes dear - I’m sure I have one to suit”….. thereby allowing to keep the hordes of adapters…..with the words….”you see… always come in useful…”
Yes, I don't know why, but most people get this idea that large power supply will damage something. Oh no.. 1000w psu in pc, it will blow up.
Power is DRAWN .. NOT PUSHED
Psu cant provide enough it shuts off or device will not work.. psu can provide more than required.. great!
I kept all those 20v 3-4,5 amp laptop bricks from older lenovos, because new crap 2 apm ones cant power jack shit!
Oh dear! Well, you should exercise a bit of caution tbh - yep, you can power items with higher rated supplies ie current as per this video BUT…..if the device connected ‘shorts’ or develops a fault - & it’s own protection circuitry doesn’t ‘react’ in time or circuitry not ‘clever’ then it’ll sink all that additional current - before it hopefully blows the fuses in itself - or in the power supply. You’ll be left with burnt traces & wonder why oh why didn’t I use the one it was rated for. It’s another rabbit hole!!
@@messageobliquespe100 Laptop power supplies are still relatively "safe". What you definitely must not use in newer PCs - a decade old ATX power supplies with group rail. Where all DC outputs are connected to same transformer output/rectifier. In systems with high load in +12V rail (think GPU or something else) PSU ramp up power to maintain stable 12V that rise voltage in other DC outputs at the same time. And suddenly you have above 4V and above 7V instead of 3.3V and 5V. I guess you already understood where it is going.
What if my adapter says 12v, but instead it delivers 15.7v??
Is it damaged?
So... I can give you a wishy-washy "maybe", but also probably not.
The frustrating part is, there's often a variance with transformers due to several reasons. Since they step down from household main voltage, they have to assume (in the US) that incoming voltage could be anywhere from around 105V up to 125V. If you measure your receptacles, you'll probably find your house sits somewhere in that range. (usually between 110 and 120, but I've seen 108V and 122V pretty frequently)
So if a device steps down the voltage by 10 (a 12V power supply makes the math really easy here), if the voltage is 120V at the wall, it will be 12V at the other side. But if the voltage is actually 108V, when stepped down it will be like 10.8V, which might not be enough to power the device. PLUS, there is voltage loss on the wire, which has worse losses the lower the voltage. So if 10.8V is coming out of the transformer, after it travels 8 feet down the wires, it might only be 10V, which is a significant drop in what the device is expecting.
It is certainly possible to add circuitry in order to make sure the correct voltage is coming out of the transformer, but more circuitry means more expense. So very often, devices will operate within a voltage "range", and transformers will try to "hit the middle" of that range.
I realize that was a lot of un-asked-for explanation, but yeah. 15.7V is pretty high for a 12V rated transformer, but it's possible it's just working as designed. And most 12V devices would probably be fine with that voltage, but admittedly it's getting a bit higher than I'd be comfortable with.
@@shawnp0wers is there a way to refurbish the adapter? It's a Microsoft adapter from 1997 so it's not the easiest to find.
@@luter82 Honestly, it might be working perfectly fine. If you have another, or know someone with one similar -- you could test it to see how close it is.
If someone else measures, have them check their mains voltage too, and you could compare the ratio of your mains vs 15.7, and their mains vs their transformer. Truly, that extra voltage might have been by design to make sure it delivers at least a certain voltage.
LOL -- ok, I was logged in with one of my other channels. But the response was from me, and holds true.
(lol, I can only imagine you're like, "WTF is a birdfeeder channel replying for?!?")
@@nerdlingbirdtopia I have just received an answer from a guy online that says that his delivers 16.1v.
Total nonesense. Why would you write 12v if then it's not. Just to confuse things?? 😂
I have a box of adaptors that I kept. I want to be able to power my 20 LED lights using the adaptor. The 20 LEDs will require a much greater voltage. Do you have a clue how to go about this??
Sadly, adding them together in series (which would add voltages) isn’t a good idea. The different amperage and gauge of wires would be unsafe. :(
Depends from voltage and power that these power supplies support. 20 LEDs in series most likely will require quite large voltage like in 30...120V range. Don't forget about current limiting too. You need not only a power supply, but also a LED driver circuit. That is why LED power supplies are special animals - they have two actual circuits inside.
I solved the problem. All the adaptors input is 120v but the output is different for every one. The output doesn't really matter. I calculated the total voltage/mA of 20 LED's and calculated the ohms required from 120v. This works fine. What I don't understand that even if the adaptor says 5 or 7 or 9v volts output and I am getting 120volts from the adaptors.@@KrotowX
@@Joh750 Seems your adapters are transformerless power supplies. Where voltage drop till desired voltage happen on capacitor or resistor and capacitor in parallel circuit. Works fine for light loads like LED strips. Require proper insulation because circuit have mains voltage present (thus 120V appear as you observed).
Hopefully someone sees this lol
Cord -
Input 100-240v 0.4A
Output 29.4 0.4 A
Device
Input 100-240v 0.4A
Output 26.5 V
On occasion I’ve burned the device by using the wrong one so I’m trying not to do this again lol
👍
Stupid question: can we use adapters as chargers?
That's... complicated. :)
A charger generally does a few things. It has a voltage slightly higher than the battery provides (battery chemistries are different, so the exact voltage delta varies by battery), and they "listen" to the voltage of the battery itself, so when it reaches a certain voltage, it stops feeding it power. Once the "fully charged" state (again, varies based on the battery and the battery chemistry) is achieved, most battery charges will keep a "float charge" going, giving the battery just enough energy so that it stays topped off, but isn't being actively charged at the higher voltage/amperage used for active charging.
So technically yes, you can charge a battery with an adapter providing a voltage higher than the battery's current charge, as the energy will flow from the place of higher voltage to the one of lower voltage. The amperage the adapter can provide determines how "fast" that charge will be sent. BUT (and it's a big but), an actual charger has circuitry to make sure the battery isn't overcharged. And especially with lithium-based battery chemistries, that's a very, very important feature, as lithium batteries which are overcharged tend to get explodey.
Hopefully that makes sense...
Can I use 5 Volt and 2 Ampere instead of 6 Volt and 0,3 Ampere ?
"And most importantly be Kind!"
There are soo many wars we stirred up in a World. We are not a 'kindly' kinds lol.
Don’t cut them you can buy adapters.
AC/DC 😎🤘