Universal adapter to Charge adapter

Shr00mS · 04-22-03, 05:22 PM

I was in radio shack looking for a AC adaptor to charge my axim. But they dont have a 5.4 V one. However, they do have a universal one which you can switch up the Voltage 3, 4.5 , 6 etc.
at 800 ma. i was wondering if these work to charge my axim up?

commoved · 04-22-03, 07:56 PM

I really recommend you buy Dell chargers. Just read the posts, and see the problems some people are having. The Dell car charger says it's 5V, but I measured the voltage and mine is 5.4 V. Do you think there might be a reason? Sometimes you get what you pay for. But if you insist ....

Buy a 6V charger. Make sure you have the polarity correct for the Dell. Then buy a 1N400x (1N4001, 1N4002, ...) diode. Cut one of the two wires to the barrel connector that will go to the Ax. Strip the insulation back and temporarily twist the wires around either lead of the diode. Plug in the Ax. If the charger light comes on, the diode is in correctly. If the charge light does not come on, unplug and change the diode around the other way. When you get the charger light on, solder the wires to the diode an cover everything with electrician's tape.

The diode will drop about 0.6 V. The voltage to your Ax will be 6V - 0.6V = 5.4V. If the diode is backwards, the Ax will not see any voltage.

Remember, you are doing something that works great in theory to save a nickle on a $300 Ax. You are responsible for your own actions. If you do it (or anything else besides a Dell charger), be a man (or a woman) and accept responsibility for what your did.

PS - I put a cheap RadShack charger on my portable cassette recorder some years ago. When the damn thing died, it shorted, sending 12 V to my recorder. The tape started going really fast. Think about "Alvin and the Chipmunks", if you're that old. Fortunately, the electronics held up and I unplugged it before the motor burned out. I'm not so sure the Ax would be as forgiving.