Confusing power issue, advice needed!
 

My father has a wave generator that runs on either a 9V battery, PP3 type or DC through a 9V charger rated at between 500mA and 1000mA. He's lost the original charger and i'm having the dickens of a job locating a similar one. The original charger was 110/120V US and was used in europe with a transformer. Am i being stupid (don't answer :rolleyes:) to think that as long as the european charger is 9V and between 500-1000mA that i could just get him that as a replacement ?

Also, because the device is rated at 500-1000mA, what would be the appropriate or best fit in terms of mA ? Any helpful replies much appreciated.



SHJ

Yes providing the plug on the charger is the same size and the connections are the same way round.

A 1amp device would be fine.

Pretty much any 9V adapter will be fine. If it takes a PP3 battery, the device is very low-power. You say "the device is rated at 500-1000mA", which would give it a battery life of 15 minutes or so on a PP3.

I've just done the same thing with my wireless doorbell (replaced the 3xAA batteries in the chime unit with a 4.5v DC transformer.

I'm glad I checked the voltage of the cheapy cheap adjustable Maplins device first though because when set to 4.5v it was actually delivering 11.8v under no load and 10.9v under load!

The replacement delivers 4.9v (no load) and 4.2v (load) and works fine.

Thanks for the replies chaps!

By this do you mean the physical size ? Same way round ?, well without me x-ray specs i couldn't tell as the connector is a typical female into the wave unit's male power port :} I'm assuming that the polarity is a standard.

So 1Amp would be fine, would lower rated chargers be suitable, such as 500mA or 750mA, or would these reduce the effectiveness of the unit to perform ? I've had a look at maplins, but dear google hasn't so far provided me with a good source other than US based websites. Any leads ?



SHJ

Given you've said it runs on a PP3, then a 1A supply is vast overkill. Almost any regulated (as opposed to unregulated) 9V supply will work fine. No, polarity is not standard. A cheapo Chinese one-adapter-fits-all supply with a selection of user-replacable plugs should suit you fine. Expect to pay around $10.

Since you mention the UK, the Hibaba Hibaba Mains Universal Power Adaptor 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo would seem to fit the bill, at 7 quid. As would Ex-Pro, and several other brands I've never heard of. Buy one, and if it doesn't work for you, buy another one but don't tell anyone.