Variable voltage chargers.

Sknoop · January 28, 2023

*I am sorry if this is already been discussed*

I am a new father of a 16 month old son and a soon to be new born son, March 1st. We have already a mast a plethora of chargers for various toys. My wife, bless her hart, like to keep things clean and picked up so these chargers end up getting misplaced or lost. I was wondering if there was a good “universal” variable voltage barrel charger, with interchangeable barrel plugs. I would like to use one charger to rule them all. I have tried a couple off Amazon but they both smelled like burning plastic when you plugged them in.

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciative!

Poinkachu · January 29, 2023

1 hour ago, Sknoop said:

*I am sorry if this is already been discussed*

I am a new father of a 16 month old son and a soon to be new born son, March 1st. We have already a mast a plethora of chargers for various toys. My wife, bless her hart, like to keep things clean and picked up so these chargers end up getting misplaced or lost. I was wondering if there was a good “universal” variable voltage barrel charger, with interchangeable barrel plugs. I would like to use one charger to rule them all. I have tried a couple off Amazon but they both smelled like burning plastic when you plugged them in.

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciative!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=variable+power+adapter&crid=ZLI0AON45HFW&sprefix=variable+power+adapte%2Caps%2C508&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Make note of voltages you usually need and see if there's a power adapter that matches your need

But yeah, also pay heed to what @Caroline said about currents usage. Although I doubt 16mnths old toys will use much Amp to charge, but better be sure.

artuc · February 21, 2023

Unfortunately what you want doesn't really exist yet, especially with things like toys.

USB PD will hopefully become mainstream and widely used and devices will magically just use one cable and can draw the voltage and current they need.

You can get switchable power supplies, often from my experience though quality can be lower than fixed. The set voltage points and current may also not suit everything.

You also run a slight risk that it is set incorrectly for a certain device you could do some damage, although you also run that risk with using the wrong plugpack that fits. (Someone on a site plugged a 15VDC plugpack into a usb hub and fried a cctv keyboard and jog wheel worth thousands)

I'd tend towards just don't lose them and maybe have a few spare of the most crucial devices or common values with some overhead on amperage. Eg 12VDC 1-2A with a tip set can be handy to have in the parts bin/drawer, possibly a variable one as a spare or emergency use but I am not a huge fan.

Also on a tangent, as the bubs grow up handy to have plenty of rechargeable AA/AAA for toys. Just be aware that some toys don't work as well with the slightly lower voltage so can be handy to have alkaline as well to test if you need.

Heats with Nvidia · February 21, 2023

These external power supplies are basically a never ending problem. I have repaired plenty of devices that got damaged by using the wrong power supply. The only real advice, i can give you, is, label these power supplies with what they belong to. So you can at least be sure, its the correct one.

This problem will most probably become a little alleviated by USB PD, but then, i will most probably change a lot broken USB-C connectors, because even the nowadays common barrel jack is not really sturdy enough for some of its applications and the newer USB-C jack is much smaller and breaks much more easily. But at least, then things won`t break as much when you use the wrong power supply and will work with most of them.