wall transformer for project power supply

Wondering what to do with those old wall transformers? Use them for power supplies to run electronics projects!

You will need some of these:
power supply (go with a junker)
Alligator clips with plastic boots
wire strippers or cutters
needlenose pliers
multimeter
some tape
pen
about 10 minutes

You will be interested to know what the output values are. This one listed 9 volts DC as the output with 600 miliamps.

The label will also tell what the polarity is. This one has a negative on the outside, positive on the inside.

It also indicated that it came from a telephone. I think it was from the dump. Nobody will cry if this is gone. You should check with any potential owner before you perform this surgery on a wall transformer.

Step 1 Cut off the output plug

Make sure it has been unplugged for a while. They hold some charge.
Cut the wires.
Cut one wire shorter than the other. It is nice if the negative is shorter, but not essential. Mostly, you want to make it so that the two tips cannot easily touch each other. If they contact, you will probably blow the fuse, which you won't want to replace, and will probably cause you to toss the transformer.

Comments

[ideasboy14]

unless the ac adapter is regulated you probably shouldnt use that because those ac adapters are perfectly matched at the device it goes with because the device pulls the exact voltage and current on the ac adapter. using it to power any device or project that doesnt pull the 'exact' current and voltage the ac adapter will put out a much higher current and voltage than it should and that could destroy your project or device or whatever you have hooked to it. it does this because the ac adapter isnt regulated its unregulated and unregulated power supplies are not reliable, maintained, unstable, controlled and they put out very 'unclean dirty power'. use a 'regulated' power supply because the power is controlled, maintained, filtered and is pure, clean lab quality power.

[BRAVODOG]

Well I know I am new to the whole concept of tearing things apart and re-working them but I thought most transformer lines on the wires had some kind of marking on the positive lead IE: white stripe, lettering or small rib's ???? Am I wrong?

[speedyspy2]

 no you're right, but sometimes the white line means negative and sometimes it means positive and we use the multimeter to determine which is which and then we can just remember which one has the line. the line is usually on the negative. what I would do is measure the polarity before putting the clips on because then you could but on a red mask and a black mask.

[jeepmarine]

How do you use a multi meter to determine polarity?

[connors934]

Your meter will have two probes, black and red. The black should be in the COM port. on mine, the red is in a port labeled V/Ohm/mA. When you put the two probes on a battery or DC power transformer, you will get either a positive number or a negative number. If the number is positive and the probes are in the correct holes, then the one touching the red is positive and the one touching the black is negative. Try it out with a battery, which will have markings for polarity until you get the hang of it. Enjoy!

[jeepmarine]

thanks!

[sdtacoma]

I would also like to know how close your measurements are to the ones printed on the transformer. The actual Output voltage seems to differ a lot from the printed on output value. Does anybody know why these values don't match? I have a 9v (printed on) transformer that is actually outputting 12v.

[kanamin]

The performance for these wall-warts probably isn't linear (i.e. the voltage isn't the same for all current loads). Generally, the voltage goes down as more current is drawn. If you are measuring with a multimeter, multimeters are designed to have an extremely small current flow (ideally it should be zero) to measure voltage. 9v is probably what the transformer provides with a typical current load.

[Linux_Galore]

I have a very similar setup but use one of those transformers with a 6-9-12v switch on the back (found it thrown out). Also be careful about the amperage, if you use a 1A (Amp) unit you will blow out the regulators in many small electrical devices try go for 200-400mA unit and have a 1A unit just in case. Yeah I agree with a previous comment use different coloured insulated plastic sleeves for the crocodile clips. Also "never" throw a power brick out, they always become useful for either a project or fixing things.

[XHorntail]

I was under the impression that the Amperage rating was the maximum possible the transformer can provide. Since amperage is the draw of current, having a rating in excess shouldn't damage anything, because you're only using what the circuit draws. Going over in voltage though, that's a bad idea. Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though.

[japala]

Relatively old article written by me but shows you what the next step would be like :)
http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/modlab/index_eng

[sysadmn]

Way cool - you ought to reformat it as an Instructable. Two questions - is 12V enough to drive the 12V regulator? I though they liked Vout + 1.2V or so. If so, is it doing anything other than cleaning up the 12V input? Second q: Got any pointers to good output protection circuits that could be added, such as short circuit protection or crowbar circuits?

[LasVegas]

The 12 volt regulator is redundant since the wall wart would already have handled that part of the circuit. You're right though, If the regulators going to be used, you should start out with around 13.5 VDC input.

[sysadmn]

Thanks - I was going to mod the design for a 13.8 I had lying around, and wanted to make sure I wasn't misremembering. (Of course, I could just get off my butt and google the spec sheets...).

[XHorntail]

Quick question, I recently was using a 6v transformer to program one of my microcontrollers, but I had to take the voltage to 5v, so I used a 5v regulator, since that's not >= 1.2, it would fail, correct? Because the circuit failed to get power, but when my arm grazed the regulator.. Well I've worked at a pizza place and the burns I got from that oven were fun compared to this little guy. Lol, and of course, unsure of what burned me, I just had to grab it again and double check, which confirmed my suspicions and burned me yet again. Lol, anyway, my questions is, does under-driving a regulator cause extreme heat? The amperage wasn't high, and I believe the regulator was ated for ~50v.<br/>

[fegundez1]

they almost always send single color boots thats why some smart fellow created colored tape!!is there any way to reduce the output so i can use a stronger wart for weaker needs?

[smokehill]

I like the idea of marking leads carefully, and I've found a quick & dirty, cheap way of doing it. I go to a lot of yard sales, and noticed that there were always tons of nail polish bottles, usually for about a nickel apiece. Some were hardly used at all, and of course most were colors that would make a dog barf. However, it occurred to me that this would be an easy way to mark battery clamps on cars & tractors, etc., to keep family & drivers from being really stupid with the battery chargers. So I picked up a few bottles in not-too-repulsive colors, and marked all the positive clamps, battery terminals & btry charger clamps in Red Hot Love (or something silly like that, but still pretty red), and used some of the other primary colors for painting on useful stuff -- like the drive belt numbers of each mower (marked under the hood). Now one of the first things I look for at a yard sale is the nail polish :-) Can't beat a tough, quick-drying acrylc with a built-in brush, for a nickel. I draw the line, however, at going into the drug store and having them look at me REAL funny when I browse the nail polish. I'll just hit the yard sales until I find "Passionate Rose" to do my marking.

[!Andrew_Modder!]

nice, but it would be better to put a black, and a red clamp on the end (easier to identify + and -.)

[Coffeebot]

Keen. I've used the old wall warts for permanent power supplies on random projects, but never thought to add alligator clips! Great Instructable -- simple, yet abundantly useful!

[jtobako]

how close are your measurements to the info on the transformer?

[dataphool]

Good tip on inserting clip into boot; that is the only way to do it without losing your sanity.

[LasVegas]

Save yourself from a lot of heartache. Use both red an black boots and put the red boot on the wire with the white line (or textured edge). This will alway be the positive clip.

[connors934]

definitely. My gator clip shipment came with only black boots for some reason. I didn't bother to send them back. I have lots of blacks, but no reds. thanks