[SMCARA] walwarts and power supplies

[Jim Wieldt]

I have recently come to realize that everywhere I look, there is an AC/DC 
powersupply adapter, charger, wallwart, the list of names and apps are 
endless.

I must have a few dozen in use like, I am sure most everybody else.  What I 
have come to regret is that when they first came around, I should have put a 
sticker on them as a label as to what they were for.   For whatever reason, 
the device that they powered had no resemblance to the power plug.  Usually, 
only the specs and of course, made in China.
Like most people, when a TV related electronic device is ready for the 
boneyard, the pieces that seem to stay behind are the remote and the power 
supply.  They seem to have color in common, they are either white or black, 
mostly black.

I thought that I would make myself smart and look up the standards for these 
things which vary in app from power chargers to USB power ports.   I quickly 
found that there are so many standards that there are really no standards, 
if that makes any sense.  There is an OD, an ID, length, color of the 
separating insulator and polarity.  Frustrating that some are positive OD 
and neg ID and vice versa.   I took to plugging in a few and checking the 
voltage only to find that they are not all that exact on output.  Maybe load 
related, who knows.

USB port cables and devices are also a runaway.   We have at least 5 size 
configs and a few current ratings for the big one.   And then, bring on the 
adapters.

I would venture to say that I need to recover the identity of this stuff to 
the extent that I can reuse them.   I have an aversion to electrical circuit 
smoke so caution must prevail.  Does anyone out there have a foolproof 
approach to determing if mating a wall wart power supply to a device is 
safe.

Regards, KC3WJA, Jim, Saint Inigoes, MD