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Supplying DC when appliance wants AC

Leezihno

Nov 14, 2013
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Nov 14, 2013
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I have a (fairly old) battery charger (Radio Shack Cat. No. 23-243) that came with a power supply (transformer) that delivered 12 volts AC to the charger.
I assume there's a rectifier in the charger.

The transformer has stopped working. I bought a new, generic transformer that can deliver 12 volts, but found that its output is DC.

Question: If I supply the charger with direct current from the new transformer, will damage result, or will it merely make the charger's rectifier redundant and do the job?
 

duke37

Jan 9, 2011
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Jan 9, 2011
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It all depends on the circuit inside the charger. It may use the AC to generate several voltage rails for electronic circuitry.

The power supply you have could perhaps be modified by by-passing the rectification/smoothing parts but not if it is a switched mode supply.

You would be better off to buy a 12V transformer or mend the old one.
 
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