DC adapter work for airplane?

[Clueless Clier]

I just received my PEGA-DC10 "car battery" adapter, which says it is designed for 12 or 24 V DC operation only. It is my intention to use it on long flights, as I did my old "auto/air" targus adapter. I know the "cigarette" plug will be the right one; what about voltage? American Airlines web site notes that their seat power outlets deliver 15 volts of direct power.

Any reason why this adapter won't work there?

[Clueless Clier]

I'm leaving tomorrow for Germany and thought I'd try again to see if anyone had some imput. Don't want to fry my baby first time out!! Any help would be appreciated!

[Alistar]

Sorry I don't know anything about this. However you could ask the airline what the voltage in the plug is.

[Clueless Clier]

Thanks for the reply. As noted, American Airlines says its seat outlets are 15v of "direct power" which is why I wondered, given the specs of the adapter.

[Alistar]

Oh yea I really should read the entire post before I reply. I always miss the big points people say at the end.

You know I am an almost an electrical engineer. I should be able to answer your question, yet I can't seem to remember how it works off the top of my head. I feel so stupid.

[Clueless Clier]

YOU feel stupid!!?? I know nuthin', zilch, nada about electricity... I can turn switches on; that's about it!

Pretty pitiful for somebody who loves techie stuff, huh!? Thanks again.

[pSYc0de]

15V direct power is 15v dc.
car adapters use 12V

somehting you *could* do is buy a resistor and put it in inline.
(reducing the 15v to 12v)

use this formula:
R = (Vsupply - Vdevice) / Idevice

where Idevice is a rating of the adapter in amps.

[Clueless Clier]

Since the adapter also will accomodate 24v, does that mean that I could use it on a 15v system? Obviously, my concern is damage to the unit.

[Alistar]

Originally posted by pSYc0de
15V direct power is 15v dc.
car adapters use 12V

somehting you *could* do is buy a resistor and put it in inline.
(reducing the 15v to 12v)

use this formula:
R = (Vsupply - Vdevice) / Idevice

where Idevice is a rating of the adapter in amps.

There we go, I knew it was something simple. Basically the unit needs so much current (Idevice) and providing too little will result in sketchy performance and too much can burn out the chips and connections in the device. The adaptor probably has a transformer of some sort which works with 12 and 24V. The 15V power supply will result in the wrong current getting to the device. There is some leeway allowed because it is very hard to get a continually perfect constant current flow from a sin wave power supply, which is what your wall would supply. The plane wouldn't supply a sine wave, just as your car battery wouldn't so the leeway from the device will be a little more leniant in a constant power supply. Back to the specific topic at hand since the adaptor does support 24V I don't see a 15V power supply supplying too much current. Unfortunately without knowing the device resistance I can't do the calculations to see what you would get, but it seem like you probably see enough current that the Clie will see a voltage of about 3.8 or so. Actually the adaptor will give 3.8V and the appropriate current.


As a side note I believe my analysis of the situation is correct, but it would be better if someone confirmed it.

Although for a better solution psycode is correct.

[kdn102]

I used to be an 'almost electrical engineer'! And always have been an electronics nut, from the inside and out.

This topic has always been a mystery to me! Does anyone remembers those 9V adapters they made for the older N710C's?

I asked brando about it and they replied it will only pull the voltage it needs. This sounded a little fishy to me. Since he didn't mention any special voltage regulator I am assuming all they did was put 9V DC onto the +/- inputs to the CLIE. I never bought one so I don't know.

One thing I do know however is that the current is the most important thing. That's more or less what you pay for (kWH's) when you pay the electric bill.

The power company always supplies 120V (in the US) and the formula is P[power]=I[current] x E[Voltage], so since E is constant you're paying for the current you use.

So, after all of this I haven't gotten any closer to the answer to the post!

I personally wouldn't be too worried about the 3V difference. What I would do is bring a multi-meter with me and measure the voltage output on the CLIE adapter side to verify that it is correct. If it is, just monitor the temperature of the converter, if it gets too hot it is probably drawing too much current.

Hope that helps (and hope you haven't left yet ;-)

[boogie]

This is usually for laptops, but you could also buy some adapters to charge and use your handhelds too. If you use a laptop this could be an adapter for the laptop and the Clie.

Check out the Peripheral Powering System on the bottom. http://igo.ententeweb.com/mapfiles/juice.asp

It says Sony NR series but may work with the NX or NZ.

[Clueless Clier]

Well, I chickened out and did not use my auto adapter on the plane. Plus, we had trouble with our European converter which failed to give a constant charge to the Clie! Luckily, I took my extra battery and was able to use the device for four days with no problem. Took about 25 pictures, used my Gulliver, played scrabble and reviewed the pictures with Acid Image a few times. I changed to the second battery at the end of the second day; didn't have to do a hard reset. All in all, it worked great for a four day trip!