If a camera needs 7.9v, can I use a 7.5v adapter or a 9v adapter?

Oct 18, 2007 2 Replies

I have a video camera. I can't find the power lead. A replacement can not be purchased anywhere now. I am trying to get a universal adapter to power the camera. The camera says it needs a 7.9v DC power supply. Would I get away with a 7.5 or higher than 7.9v supply?



The reason I ask is that I can't find ANY universal power supplies that output at 7.9v.



Any advice on this is highly appreciated!.



Kind Regards, David



7.5V would be a safer bet than 9V. Given you don't know if this was a regulated or unregulated supply, make sure that you get a regulated 7.5V supply, or it will probably be over 10V off-load, which might damage the camera.

D1 D2 ----- +12 --->|--->|---+---in|LM317|out---+------+-----> + 7.9 | ----- | | + [.1uf] Adj [240R] [10uF] | | | | | +---------+ | | | | | [1276.8R] | | | | Gnd -------------+--------+----------------+-----> Gnd

The above circuit will provide ~7.9 volts at up to

1.5 amps if you put the LM317 on a good heatsink, but I would recommend adding a pass transistor if the camera needa more than 1 amp. You can use a 1200 ohm and a 75 ohm in series for the 1276.8R resistance, and the output voltage will be 7.89, which will be fine.

Ed

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