Electricity Question - Amperage Output

[effowe]

I have a router that went dead that uses a 12V DC 500mA output for a power supply. I found a 12V DC 700mA power supply that works on the router.

Is it safe to run the router at the different Amperage, or should I find the proper 12V DC 500mA power supply?

 

[Jeff7]

That'll be fine.

For power supplies like this, match the voltage of the original (both the volts and the direction - AC or DC), polarity of the plug, and get a current rating that's greater than or equal to the original power supply.

The current rating of the power supply is its maximum possible output. So if you've got a power supply that can output 700mA, but the device it's powering is only rated for 100mA, that means that the power supply will simply have spare and unused capacity. The device will only take the 100mA it needs.


Voltage is essentially a measure of the amount of motivation to move that's been given to electrical charges. Current is a measure of how many electrical charges are available.
So you want to match the voltage of a power supply to what the device requires.

If a power supply is rated for a higher current output than the device needs, that means the power supply is capable of supplying more current, but the device will only take what it needs.
Your wall outlets are likely rated for 120V and 15 amps. If you plug a 60W 120V light bulb into the outlet, it will take 500mA. If you plug that same light bulb into a 120V 200A feed, it will still only take 500mA.

 

[effowe]

Great, plugging it in now, thanks.

 

[dmcowen674]

I have a router that went dead that uses a 12V DC 500mA output for a power supply. I found a 12V DC 700mA power supply that works on the router.

Is it safe to run the router at the different Amperage, or should I find the proper 12V DC 500mA power supply?

What caused the original power supply to die?

 

[dwell]

...

:thumbsup: Good info. I didn't understand any of this stuff until like two months ago. Pretty confusing to the non-engineer.

 

[effowe]

What caused the original power supply to die?

Not sure, it was working last night and wasn't this morning. My switch and modem which were plugged into the same power strip were working, so it was likely a bad internal component.