If you plug a 6v or 9v or 12v adapter into a hole that accepts 5v it would break, right?

[niwi7]

j/w because based on my other thread i lost my 5v adapter and those are the only ones i have

 

[Mark R]

Not necessarily. Most wall adaptors are not regulated, this means that the voltage they produce varies with load. For a "5V" adaptor with minimal load the voltage may be as high as 12 or 15 V.

For this reason, most equipment designed to run off cheap wall adaptors contain internal voltage regulators to protect the sensitive electronics.

If you can be sure that the original PSU was unregulated, then yes a 6V or 9V adaptor will work (as long as the polarity is right and the PSU is powerful enough - mA high enough). The problem is that the higher voltage produced by the PSU will mean more work for the voltage regulator - as the heatsinking for the regulator was designed for the original PSU, it may overheat.

If the PSU is a higher voltage and a lower current rating, then you can overheat or burn the PSU.

I've got a cheap network hub which takes 7V - internally there is a 5V regulator. I lost the original PSU and ran it for a bit from a 12V PSU - it worked fine, but the voltage regulator would get so hot that even the case of the hub got painfully hot to touch.

 

[Hanpan]

If you are talking about an ac adapter, then using a 9V or 12V adapter where 5V is required is not a good idea. 6V is only 20% off. I would not chance it but it might work. Also note the mA rating. Make sure the adapter can supply the correct number of amps.

 

[Mday]

Originally posted by: niwi7
j/w because based on my other thread i lost my 5v adapter and those are the only ones i have

what device is the adapter for?

 

[niwi7]

creative nomad jukebox 3 mp3 player

 

[Dantzig]

Um...I wouldn't think that you would want to risk frying that.

 

[niwi7]

lol of course not im not gunna try anything i was just wondering if it was like proven that they work and there was noth8ing to worry about

im not pluggin anything into it lol

on the back it says DC IN 5V


so can i get a 5V adapter from radioshack and taht will work?

 

[sharkeeper]

so can i get a 5V adapter from radioshack and taht will work?

See if they still carry the camcorder adapter. It has selectable voltage output, is of switching design and decently regulated.

-DAK-