Power supplys for 880

Have just purchased two 880's (one for me, one for AN Other). One came with the genuine NEC power adaptor (13.5V, 2.6A) the other came with a generic adaptor, 13.5V but - a bit alarmingly - a different amperage (1 A). The vendor insists this worked okay for him.

I have two questions/ puzzles.

1) First - I was surprised to find that the genuine NEC adaptor will not plug into the 2nd unit. The socket on the end of the (NEC) adaptor has a prong (male) in the middle - as does the entry socket on the second 880. Male to male just won't go.

The other Mobilepro's socket is female (or actually it has two mini prongs, which the adaptor's prong merrily slips into). That's the first puzzle - both units seem to be otherwise identical - anyone any idea what's going on here? Why would two 880's have different receptor sockets?


2) The amperage issue. My school Physics is very rusty but somehow I've picked up the idea over the years that an adaptor having a lower than 'required' amperage is definitely not healthy - risks frying the device. My question is ... is it indeed not a good idea ' to use an adaptor outputting '1A' when it's supposed to be 2.6A? To add to the story ... having been reassured by the vendor, I decided to live dangerously as it were and went ahead and used it (the 13.5V, 1A adaptor). At first all was well ... the 880 merrily started charging okay. Then after 20 minutes or so, I started getting a pretty potent burning aroma ... hard to tell if it was coming from the adaptor or the transformer (I had it plugged into a new transformer from US 110V to UK 240V) - happily it was not from the 880.

Hmhh. So I guess I should add a Q3, does anyone have a NEC adaptor for sale for an 880? Any illumination on (2) will anyway be welcome!

I've mentioned it before. IMO, undercurrent can be just as fatal as overvoltage.

If I use a generic adapter on a hpc I make sure it's compatible amperage wise as well as voltage wise. It's not worth the risk doing otherwise.

Gonna do the ROM switch with one of the 880s and your 790, RJ99?

Sounds like someone modded the machine and stuck in a different adapter plug to either match the a/c adapter or something. Both my 800 and 880 use the same adapter and plug. Just like the pictures I posted in another thread.

If your a/c adapter doesn't supply enough current, you risk damaging it as the device will draw more than the adapter is rated for. If you have no choice, then it is a good idea to charge it with the unit off to minimize the danger of excessive draw. I've used underated adapters in other devices and ended up not getting a full charge on my battery to the point where it wouldn't charge period...eventually requiring me to get another battery. Not had that problem with the Mobilepros though.

Rich

Yep, that's the big plan. But I need to sort out the power adaptor first. As mentioned, I bought two 880's from separate vendors - both have slight problems:

One had a duff battery - drains in 20 minutes. The guy who sold it to me on eBay says 'He didn't know - it had been in a cupboard for years and he was surprised it worked at all'. No mention of that before I bought it. Grhh!!

The other, the battery was fine & the unit is 'like new'. Great. But it came with the generic AC adaptor, correct voltage but only 1Amp - so despite the vendor's assurances I'm going to play safe & not use it. And bizarrely I can't plug the good (orginal, NEC) adaptor into this 880 because it won't go in!!

So I've put the good battery into the one which we can use the NEC adaptor with. Unfortunately I've bequeathed this unit to A.N. Other.

So I'm left with the other one, which I'll just have to let 'die' till the new battery arrives AND until I can source a proper adaptor. Then it will get the surprise of its life when I upgrade the O.S. as well!

RJ99

well... what can i say... i use a 12V 800 mA ac adapter for my nec 800 which has the same power specs as your 880...

i recently wasted a 12V 1.2A for a dead phenom ultra, so maybe i'll use that (ah.. again have to wait for someone to do the soldering )

but just to let you know... used 12V 500 mA for a jornada720 for months, worked fine... its original ac adapter is rated at 12V 2.5 A.
should've been more wise to use at least 1A though. when i gave it 1.25A, it drew 800 mA to charge the battery... so maybe that's better for the batt

so all i can say is that it is not particularly dangerous to use a lower amperage, just make sure it is not too low: check if ac adapter is starting to overheat or not, and if the charging LED on the hpc is continuous (if it is supposed to be like that. on most of the hpc's) because if it is blinking it is not charging well (too heavy load on ac adapter).

the real pain is not amperage but voltage, that should be close to the original specs.. (so what about my 12V nec 800 adapter?)

Again, the quality of the power supply is the most important thing. I'm sure a good 1A adapter could provide 2A continuous without damaging anything or overheating.

A crappy 2A adapter might begin to overheat at 500ma. You can't tell the quality by looking at an adapter, too bad.

I have a great 4A 15v adapter which is designed for Rayovac 15 min. nimhs to power my Amity. It doesn't even get warm.

Monica, you should learn to solder. It's really easy if you're shown properly. Then you don't have to depend on others.