12 volt power source?

Carter Braxton · 2007-12-20T21:37:35+00:00

I don't know if this is a dumb question or if it just SOUNDS like a dumb question, but is 12 volts really 12 volts? I'm asking because I'm installing tortoise machines and in checking some of my old 12v DC power sources, I see that they actually measure about 16 v DC... even though they are labled as 12 volts.It seems odd that three 12 volt sources would all measure about 16 so I'm wondering if a 12 volt power supply is actually something other than 12 volts... much like a 2x4 is really 1.5 x 3.5.My concern, of course, is that I don't want to burn out a tortoise machine using a 12 volt power supply that is really 16.Any thoughts?Carter Braxton

Dec 20, 2007 208 Replies

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Charles Davis 18 years ago

"Capacity", I think you are referring to Voltage. [Nothing else would make sense.

The 'Regulator" (voltage regulation circuitry of the alternator circuit.) doesn't have anything to do with 'powering accessories and lights', it is only concerned with allowing the necessary current to flow in the 'field windings' to maintain the desired 'output wattage' from the alternator. NOTHING ELSE.

The following exchange shows that you couldn't see the 'forest for the trees' (U.S. idiom) -- I.E. there is no 'Magical Switch' which is why Ray couldn't tell me where to find it.

Sorry Ray, I do know of what you speak of.

I lead a rather circumspect life, so if you exclude the many dead PCs that I have, you would be hard pressed to find more than about a dozen if that many.

Chuck D.

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Ray Haddad 18 years ago

Nope. Highest capacity is right. I don't have to make sense to you.

In a car, it's both a regulator and a switch. Automatic. You don't have to go and look for the On/Off thingie. Ok?

Well, trying to explain how a refrigerator works to a buffalo is just as hard as trying to explain to you how an automotive voltage regulator works. Can't be done. No worries. Even if you knew all about it and I gave you a roadmap, you'd not find it.

Clearly. Don't worry. Tis all magical. Magic is how everything works. Don't break the side of your car battery or the magic will leak out.

Your TV, DVD player, VCR, furnace thermostat, all of your remotes, your stereo, your refrigerator, your DCC encoder, your air conditioner controller . . .

I could go on.

-- Ray

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Charles Davis 18 years ago

O.K., You say capacity is the correct term. What is the measurement unit for that capacity?

O.K., What's YOUR definition of a 'switch'? Physical disconnect?, or 'High Impedance but still connected?, or possibly something else?

I won't bother, till you describe something that could possibly be there to find. Ok?

You don't need to explain something that basic! Either the "Old way" (electro-mechanical), or the present day (Self regulated Alternator).

ROFLMAO Good one Ray, you do have a sense of humor after all!!

(1)

Ok, forgot that one (2)

Forgot that one too (3) > furnace thermostat, (4) > all of your remotes, (5) + I forgot one (6)

Please do, since we've now covered all my 'Hi Tech' household possession.

Yeah 15 IS more than a dozen, but still in the ballpark, and I have included some things that probably don't have FPGAs in them.

Maybe we should be sure that I'm understanding your use of FPGA correctly. I understood FPGA to be Field programmable Grid Arrays.

Chuck D.

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Ray Haddad 18 years ago

Give it a rest. Go study something else.

-- Ray

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David Nebenzahl 18 years ago

On 12/29/2007 7:19 AM Charles Davis spake thus:

Field-programmable *gate* arrays. Dunno what a "grid" would be in this context.

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Charles Davis 18 years ago

Yeah, that does in fact make more sense. I was in fact puzzled at the time, having been thinking FPLAs, and realizing that wasn't what Ray had said. [FPLAs being Field Programmable Logic Arrays -- Useful in prototype electronics, usually being replaced by 'custom chips' for production (consumer) units.]

Chuck D.

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