1 Topic by scruffy1 (edited by scruffy1 2013-05-19 02:05:06)

  • From: near the beach, sydney, oz
  • Registered: 2010-01-14
  • Posts: 7

Topic: power supply option

my chumby1 seemed to die, and googling led me to understand that it was actually the power brick from the symptoms

it was only then that i discovered the brick supplied with it 2nd hand was 12v @ 500mA .... eek!

still, the tough little bugger has survived for these last 2 years without issue... wink respect for the resilience of my abused toy

in my room was one only 6v @ 2100mA adapter, and lo and behold it works AND has a perfect connector


the original use was a usb adapter i thought, but it's origin is lost in the passage of time; for those looking for a plug and play alternative to the real thing, it is for 240v ac 50hz, and is listed on the device as :
AC-DC ADAPTOR
model : MWD48-0602100AS

a quick google of similar model numbers looks like it's a netgear thing, but your guess is as good as mine - hope that info is of use to someone

  • Registered: 2012-02-07
  • Posts: 535

Re: power supply option

IIRC most specialized tablet chargers actually put out much more than 5V! Most I've seen are 9V. Check the voltage and the amperage rating on the supply - if the voltage is anything other than 5V (±0.5V), or the current/amperage is anything less than 2A/2000mA for the C1 and 2.5A/2500mA for the C8, it's probably not going to work. Notably, this does mean that a supply that works for the C8 will work for the C1, provided you adapt it to the right size connector.

  • Registered: 2011-10-12
  • Posts: 326

Re: power supply option

That scruffy found any adapter at all with the correct connector is quite amazing. 

I don't know where that connector came from but the one on chumby is bizarre!   

I work at a place where we have maybe 10s of thousands of those AC adapters.  We scrap them. 

I looked through them for a few weeks off and on and I found very few that the plug would fit, much less appropriate specs.  I went to an electronic store, a big one. They must have had 40 or 50 coaxial plugs.  None that would fit a chumby.

  • Registered: 2009-04-05
  • Posts: 21

Re: power supply option

I've been running my Original Black Soft-Side on a 6 Volt supply since day one as it only made sense. Why put stress on internal regulation components to perform such a voltage drop since the primary circuitry only needs 5 Volts. Incase you're thinking, why not run it on 5V, because when you run through the regulation components, you do infur a small voltage loss. Chumby overall to today, runs cooler and the screen still has all the brilliance as when i took it out of the bag.