[dorkbotnyc-blabber] voltage differences: powering a 9-volt thing with a wall socket powered device

[Chris Vecchio]

A screw-in outlet sounds like the easiest solution.
But if you're working with low voltage stuff in the future,
you might want to just get one of these:

    http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=16220+SC


	-------Original Message-------
  From: Jascha Narveson
  Subject: Re: [dorkbotnyc-blabber] voltage differences: powering a 9-volt
thing	with a wall socket powered device
  Sent: 21 Dec '07 15:01


Ah ha! I didn't know screw-in outlets existed - these combined with a
normal 9v-dc adaptor makes the whole thing suddenly pretty easy.


thanks, all,


jascha


On Dec 21, 2007, at 9:52 AM, jeb boniakowski wrote:


If its direct-wired to the lights, you could just unscrew the bulbs and
put in one of those adapters that converts a normal incandescant bulb
socket into a power outlet. that would probably be the easiest thing.

(oddly, my old roommate did a proj that involved doing this exact thing
last year, and as you would expect there's some simple circuit in there
that flips a relay to power the lights. For a variety of reasons, though,
he said once you start taking it apart its actually much easier to just
build a new circuit using the sensing element then to adapt the one in the
box.)


On Dec 21, 2007 9:47 AM, douglas repetto <[LINK:
mailto:douglas at music.columbia.edu] douglas at music.columbia.edu> wrote:

It's probably just a relay that's switching the 110v wall current on and
off when it detects motion. Check it with a voltage meter to be sure! If
it is, then you can simply plug in a 9v DC power transformer ("wall
wart", available at Radio Shack). That way when the sensor turns to
power on and off it'll be just like you plugging and unplugging the wall
wart from the wall.

What does the physical connection between the sensor and the lights look
like? If it's a 2 or 3 prong jack then just plug in the 9v DC
transformer as you would plug it into the wall. If it's directly wired
to the lights then you'll need to get a bit creative -- but be careful!
Wire it up with the sensor UNPLUGGED and make sure you understand what
you've done before you turn it on. You're dealing with 120v AC wall
current, and if you make a mistake you can get hurt! Maybe best to ask
someone who's done it before.

best,
douglas


Jascha Narveson wrote:
>
> Hello, Dorkbot -
>
> Quick question: i've got a 9-volt battery powered circuit which I want
> to power with an off-the-shelf
> turn-the-lights-on-when-the-bad-guy-gets-near-your-house motion sensor.
> The sensor runs off normal 110 AC power, and I'm not sure what kind of
> power it's feeding to the light bulbs, but it's higher than 9 volts. Is
> there an easy way to change the output of the sensor to safely power the
> circuit?
>
> thanks,
>
> jascha
> ........................................................................

> .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity..........
> ..........................http://dorkbot.org............................
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