Non-US AC-USB/wall adapters

[somethingbeginningwithk]

I'm in New Zealand and I'm going to be ordering a Volt kit next week. I'm a bit stuck on wall adapters however. Are these pretty much interchangeable? I have a wall adapter for my current KR808's. I bought them here in NZ, so they have the NZ angled pins. SI doesn't offer the NZ configuration as an option with their wall adapters so I'm hoping like heck that the one I have will do the job...

However, I notice that the SI adapter is 1.5A. As far as I can tell, mine is only 0.1! Am I reading this correctly? I'm no electrician, I don't have much of a clue what this specification means, I mean, there's volts and Hz and VAC, but those seem to equate with the SI wall adapter more or less...

I'd be eternally grateful if someone could explain this to me in plain english

 

[Brittlebrittlemoon]

I'm also not as tech savvy as I used to be but if you try and the USB wall adapter you have doesn't work (I tried hooking one of mine into a random USB phone charger/wall adapter thing my roommate had plugged in and it wouldn't charge it; no damage done to the battery or the USB charger for this attempt), you could always just plug the USB into your computer to charge.

 

[somethingbeginningwithk]

Yeah, that's an option, though I'd have to plug it into hubby's computer and he might not like that so much considering I've always got a battery on the charger (could be my inferior 808's) and he only has two usb ports and uses them both.

My other option is buying a kiwi wall adapter from Health Cabin that is .5A. Would this do the job? Aren't computer usb ports .5?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Konstantine]

0.5A is fine. You can get usb wall adapters at any electronics shop. Get anything above 0.5A (500mA). Just to be safe.
I get them from chinese shops at 1A (1000mA) for 50 cents each.

 

[somethingbeginningwithk]

Is there a reason my 0.1A adapter charges my current 808's (unsealed autos, so I assume gen 1?) but will be no good for Volt batteries? I'm curious and I'd l like to understand

ETA: and what would happen if I plugged my gen 1(?) battery and usb charger into a 0.5A adapter? I fried an older style ipod by plugging its usb cord into a cellphone wall adapter once, so I'm wary and very keen to understand how it all works.

 

[CatLady007]

Maybe Konstantine can explain it well. He's pretty good, that way.

 

[Konstantine]

Is there a reason my 0.1A adapter charges my current 808's (unsealed autos, so I assume gen 1?) but will be no good for Volt batteries? I'm curious and I'd l like to understand

ETA: and what would happen if I plugged my gen 1(?) battery and usb charger into a 0.5A adapter? I fried an older style ipod by plugging its usb cord into a cellphone wall adapter once, so I'm wary and very keen to understand how it all works.

Yes! 0.1A means 100mA, a volt battery needs at least 110-130mA charge current or even more. If you draw so much current from the 0.1mA you will burn it eventually, or burn your house

If you have a 0.5 or a 1A (my adapter is 2.5A) that doesn't mean that the device you connect will draw all the this power. It only takes as much needed from the PSU.

For example you have a 5V 3A power supply and you connect a volt battery, it will draw around 0.13A from the adapter, if you connect a second one they will draw 0.26A.
As long as the voltage rating of your devices is correct the devices will draw a specific amount of current.
It is generally better to use bigger power supplies cause if you use one to the limits , for example if you draw 2A froma 2A power supply it will get hot and depending of the quality of your PSU (most of them are bad designed chinese ones) you might fry it. Drawing 2A from a 5A power supply will leave your power supply cold and working for many years without problems.

 

[somethingbeginningwithk]

Awesome, thank you, Konstantine

One last thing. Will I be able to use my soon to be purchased .5A wall adapter to charge my gen 1 808's? I'm hoping so. I don't mind using separate usb chargers to charge the different batteries, but it'll be annoying to have to use a separate wall plug

 

[Konstantine]

Yes you can use it.
Doesn't matter if you have a higher amp wall adapter, your device will only draw what it needs. You can charge both the volt and the other thingy you have with the 0.5A adapter.

 

[somethingbeginningwithk]

Yay! Thank you so much, you've been an awesome help!

 

[somethingbeginningwithk]

Argh.

Turns out I was reading the wrong numbers on my adapter. I was looking at input when I should have been looking at output, right? My adapter is (output) .5A.

*head desk* Don't I feel foolish!

 

[Konstantine]

Great! Know you know!