[SMCARA] [Non-DoD Source] walwarts and power supplies

[Clarke, Tom AIR4.0P NATOPS]

Jim,

You are not alone, Kemo Sabe!  I have one of those little Brother label makers and have tried to mark all the ones that I have identified.  Although there is still a box in the garage with plenty of "unidents"!

Some of these little rodents may be marked  with a voltage, but if you put them on a VOM, will show a higher voltage.  These depend on a particular load to achieve the correct voltage.  I recently sent a digital clock kit to its happy hunting ground, by plugging it into a wart marked 5 volts, which actually put out 7.5 not under load. Anyone got a spare blank 18F204 PIC laying around? (-;

FYI, I have found that the newer 5 volt switcher type cell phone chargers tend to be 5 volts within a couple of tenths of a volt.

Some of the newer switching supplies are noise generators in camouflage.  

Non-standard connectors are a pain. No solution in sight, except for mass conversion to Anderson Power Poles.

Some warts put out AC rather than DC.  Causes some interesting results on a device requiring DC!

Some warts purporting to supply DC actually supply "pulsating DC", created by a half wave rectifier and no filter capacitor. Even full wave bridge type rectifiers without a filter cap provide "dirty" DC.

It's all fun, right?  Well, except when you return all your solid state devices back to their original, sand (silicon) state!

My son claims that hanging them from a tree branch by the cord and plinking at them with his .22 is great fun!  I think I may have some candidates in the garage!

Have fun every day!

73 de Tom/W4OKW

-----Original Message-----
From: SMCARA [mailto:smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jim Wieldt
Sent: Saturday, April 16, 2016 8:27 PM
To: SMCARA at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Non-DoD Source] [SMCARA] walwarts and power supplies

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 

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