Sponsored amble - and chucking out time

[ffutures]

I seem to have volunteered for a sponsored walk/crawl/whatever on the 25th, covering the massive distance of a mile, to raise money for my school's new labs - hey, we're a registered charity, it's not like I'm asking for the money for me...

Don't have the details yet, but at some point I will probably be asking for money. I suspect that this will be done somewhat chaotically, but hopefully it'll be possible to take money via PayPal - if not it may be a bit difficult to organise, we'll just have to see.


In other news, I need to discard various bits of lab gear etc. that are surplus to requirements. First on the list will probably be a couple of fairly large and extremely heavy chart recorders, I think one measures voltage and the other temperature, both possibly useful for components or retro-tech stuff. We can't sell them since they don't have electrical safety approval. Anyone interested? Needless to say, they'll have to be collected from Central London.


Finally, does anyone have a spare regulated 12V 1A power supply? The power pack for our best balance has died and the manufacturers want silly money for a replacement - I know because it has been running on the power pack from one of my old scanners for the last three years, and that's what's finally died.

Comments

[were-gopher.livejournal.com]

AC or DC? We have a pile of bits in the corner that Harrys diving through.

[pengshui-master.livejournal.com]

If it's DC , maplin sell PSUs . Most of them these days are switched mode rather than a simple stepdowns +rectifier.

If your really worried about the regulation put a 7812 on PCB, they are rating at 1A.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Sorry, DC.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

So far three Maplins I've tried are out of stock, except for the next size up which is 18 quid.

[murphys-lawyer.livejournal.com]

Found something:

It's a 12V / 4.16A (60W) DC switching PSU. Positive on the inside of the 5mm circular plug. Needs a 2-socket mains lead (think they call them "EU standard"), but can probably find one of those in a pinch.

Interested?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That's possibly overkill - I think the actual rating of the balance is 12V 800mw, the power supply we used was slightly over-specified. If I can't find something more suitable I'll get back to you, but I think that it's probably better to stick near the correct value - slightly less chance of frying things if something goes wrong.

[nojay.livejournal.com]

As long as the output voltage is correct a PSU with a higher current capability is not going to cause a problem -- the balance will only take the current it needs.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

In fact 12v 500mw when I took a close look at the label, which I think means I have something suitable at home.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

So long as it's working OK, but if there's a problem it'll take longer for its internal fuse to blow. See my other comment anyway - I think I can sort it with the PSUs I already have.