Re: Power Supply for AAA Charger

[banditofernando]

Is it safe to use the AC power brick from the old two-slot charger (the blue one that shipped starting back in 2004) to power the new AAA charger? If that is a bad idea, is there a good replacement available? Is it possible to buy a new power brick from VEX?

I am asking on behalf of a school that has lots of old chargers, but has misplaced the power supply for some of their AAA chargers.

Thank you!

Responding back to you Rick Tyler, my past experience with this has resulted in a bunch of cool looking sparks and 2 broken charging slots. So no, this does not work. We opened it up and saw melted plastic inside, so if you want a cool lights show and a broken charger, it’s your way to go. If you don’t, I’m sure you can buy a universal charger for the AAA battery charger.

Robert

[Rick_TYler]

@banditofernando

Responding back to you Rick Tyler, my past experience with this has resulted in a bunch of cool looking sparks and 2 broken charging slots. So no, this does not work. We opened it up and saw melted plastic inside, so if you want a cool lights show and a broken charger, it’s your way to go. If you don’t, I’m sure you can buy a universal charger for the AAA battery charger.

I already told them that I thought it was a bad idea, but on the behalf of the students, and in case anyone else wanted to try it, I thought it best to get an official response from VEX.

[jpearman]

Spec for the AAA charger is 12V 1A DC supply.

[ATTACH]5668[/ATTACH]

I don’t know what the spec for the old 2 bay charger was, they can check if it’s 12V DC but they would also have to check the polarity of the plug (is it positive on center or outer contact).

This looks like a suitable replacement, it’s center positive so compare to an existing charger (I don’t have one here at work) to see if it is the same. Check the plug diameter as well.

This is the spec for the Pololu device

This 12W, “wall wart”-style switching power adapter supplies up to 1 A at a regulated 12 VDC. The AC adapter works with input voltages of 100 – 240 VAC and has a 1.5 m (5 ft) DC power cord that is terminated by a center-positive, 5.5 × 2.1 mm barrel connector.