Keep Your Old Power Adapters!!!

Don't let anyone convince you to throw them away. They might not fit anything, they might not even have their connectors anymore. But with a bit of ingenuity, we can power EVERYTHING!!!! MWAAHAHAHAHA

(Feel free to blame me when your significant other gets sick of seeing boxes full of perfectly wonderful AC adapters laying around. That's my holiday gift to you...)

Seriously though, as long as you understand a few basic things about power, you can likely mix-and-match your way into any combination of voltage, amperage, and connector-age you might need.

#nerdlings #power #TheyAreNotGarbageStopSayingThatYouMonster

[shawnpwers]

Just a note, there is a lot of nuance to the barrel sizes. They generally get larger as power increases, but not always consistently, and not in a one-for-one voltage/amperage/barrel ratio. The good news is that while putting a barrel connector rated for lower power on a power supply rated for higher would be bad — the connector that *fits* into your device is ideally designed for the amount of power it draws. So it should be OK to splice it onto an adapter even if it’s an adapter capable of providing more amperage. (Cuz the device won’t draw more than its connector can handle, ideally)

All that said, I am not a doctor. Or lawyer. Or licensed electrician. So be careful, and only use adapters made specifically for your devices, etc. This video is for educational purposes only, and, um… don’t try this at home?

[theonetazman]

Great advice. I've been collecting them for around 10 years now.
I agree with you. You never know if you might need one for what it was intended or to power something completely different.
💪🇺🇲🤘

[mikey]

thank you, i was confused if i needed to match the amperage or not and this has solved my problem

[fb]

I totally agree! I have a large box of power supplies, sorted by voltage range in large ziploc bags. I can't tell you how many times I've gone in there to find specific power supplies.

[Brandt]

Exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks a lot for sharing!

[Mr.wither_storm]

I knew this guy who plugged in a skinny but long indoor extension cord so he could use it outside. No plugs outside.
Once outside he attached a no name cheap Chinese made multi plug station with usb connections and plugs. He plugged in a few lights and string lights. A table top element for cooking. An Alexa, a heavy duty fan, a few phones were always plugged in. A portable table top AC and another skinny dollarama extension cord that wasn't long enough so another 4 dollarama extension cords plugged into each other that were skinner to plug in the spa heater for a hot tub and a pool filter. Problem was, the cords didn't have the ground hole to plug into. He CUT the ground off of the spa thing so he could use it. It was a 3 plug cord so the last one went to the giant commercial bouncy slide.
He was perplexed thinking his heater hot tub spa was broken. He bought a new one. Doesn't work either. It turns on but then gives an error or not and turns off.

I unplugged it all and replaced the plug he ruined on the spa then brought a heavy duty outdoor fat extension cord and a
Swapped a the regular outlet with a gfci one, then plugged his spa heater thing in and it worked.

The shock on his face.
🤦‍♀️

[blankblank]

I'm gonna trust what you say solely based on the fact that you have a picture of Mr. Roger in the background 😁.

[stargasm]

The AC power supplies are great when you need AC for electronics projects.

[KrotowX]

Indeed, found the usefulness of orphaned AC-DC PSUs long time ago. Good stuff to replace similar faulty power supplies and for DIY projects. Mind supported voltage and current though.

[a.wilson]

@Shawn Powers: I have tons of powers adaptors from dead or retired devices. I never discard them yet many people who dispose of a piece of equipment include the adaptor assuming it's unique to that item. I've found these days dc 5v or 12v have kind of become the standard like on computer power supplies. I would say 6v is the third most common voltage but the likes of 7.2/5v or 9v not so much now or days. I've done many adaptor splicing, soldering and heat shrink conversions. I needed a 5v 1amp adaptor recently for an audio converter (optical toss link to rca) but all my compatible 5v adaptors didn't have the correct jack so I chopped it off leaving enough wire for reuse later on and then did the same for a 9v which had the correct jack and now I have the required 5v 1amp power supply with the correct barrel. I keep the doner adaptors bare end for future repurposing either soldering on the correct jack if or when required or using a chopped off one.

[justaskin]

Thanks for the video, Shawn! It's been a year now since this video was made, and I wanted to share something I've observed. Fewer and fewer devices are being packaged with AC power supplies, even if the device has a USB-C "PD" port for additional power. Manufacturers are now just making these devices with USB ports, expecting you to use an existing adapter and a USB cable. Even old Apple adapters still work fine, even if you have to source a USB-A > USB-C charging cable.

[Rickzippo]

Hey Shawn had a merch idea I wanted to pass along.
Wanting to hook up a fan for my van so searched, picked and watched as a refresher. We'll the first few min I thought your shirt had that vintage microphone on it.suppose the cord went to a rats nest of wires and adapters.
Thanks for the skillshare.

[Jordas]

I actually just used a old proprietary dc comcast charger cord with a box on it for my hp monitor. I was just about to throw it away too but it matched my specs perfectly besides the end it had on it. I was able to make the cord alot longer in the process too.

[otto]

The first Brick is perfect for analog modular Synthesizers.
27V Power Supplys are mainly used by old Laptops.
And if your polarity of your Barrel Jack Wallwart is wrong you can snap off the connector, reverse its polarity and solder it on again. Use shrinking tubes to seal the solderjoints and make them look professional

[jeanius]

Thanks. I was wondering about supply that matched all the things but voltage. It was 9 volt and device was 6 volt. Your video helped me. Thank you! 😀

[CoolDudeClem]

As an electronics hobbyist, theese are in-valuable when I need a quick and dirty way to power up experiments. Theyr'e also good for powering projects. For instance the home made amplified speakers I'm listening to this on are powered of an old laptop adapter!

[robotname]

this is such a useful video, thank you

[MathCuriousity]

May I ask two questions:

1)
Why specifically does “polarity” matter and what really is this idea of polarity?

2)
Why exactly does the voltage have to be same? (I understand amps pull don’t push so amps is safe regardless of what they are). But as for voltage what specifically could happen if it’s lower or higher ?! Why don’t they make devices for volts to pull and not push also?

[nrwl]

Many times the wires you snip and try to figure out which is positive, the wire with some kind of stripe (usually printed in white or yellow) is typically POSITIVE. The unmarked is usually NEGATIVE. That is what the dotted or solid stripe on your wire means. Also, still please check with a multi-meter. It is just a good clue to help.

[lindakingsley]

even if it say it supplies lets say 12v, it rarely is 12v it can vary greatly, I've had 12v adapter output 20v, so if you appliance is sensitive to the voltage you should check the output with a voltmeter