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Connecting to battery terminals? (without ruining)

So my wife gets my kids a battery operated device for Christmas. It's some kind of slurpee making machine and a real battery eater. Goes through 4 C cell batteries in about 4 cans of pop. I'm thinking, hey, I can hack a

120VAC/6VDC converter that I have lying around up to it and just have it run right from a wall outlet. Except I'd rather not hack and ruin the battery connection terminals in the device. Does anyone have any ideas or know of any parts that I can make a nice solid non-permanent connection to standard battery connection terminals (and not ruin the battery connection terminals in the process)? I'd really rather not make a solder connection on this one, I'd like it to be able to run on batteries again in the future without having to give it a major overhaul to convert it back. Any help/advice appreciated. Thanks,

Joe (joemagiera at ameritech dot net) snipped-for-privacy@ameritech.net

Reply to
Joe Magiera
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There are two things you could do.

1) Buy a small DC barrel female plug and open up the machine, splice it into the power wires, drill a hole through it and mount it. After that you can just plug the adaptor straight into the machine.

  1. Get 4 D cells that are discharged. Solder a the positive wire from the wall wart to the positive terminal of one of the batteries, the negative to another battery, and the other two remaining batteries will simply be used to hold everything in place. After that, I would just put some electrical tape in between a battery-to-battery contact to avoid accidently recharging the batteries.

Reply to
Captain Napalm

"Joe Magiera" wrote in news:BLEsf.39549$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com:

Cut some dowels of a similar diameter of the cells,and use a screw and washer in the end to connect to your external DC source. You may need to make a notch in any battery compartment cover for the cable.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net
Reply to
Jim Yanik

Are you sure the converter is up to the job? It isn't just the voltage that is important, it needs to supply enough current or it will cause the appliance to malfunction. It will also cause the converter to overheat and fail at best, or at worst potentially cause a fire.

It sounds like this gadget uses a lot of current if it flattens C cells quickly, you'll need to measure the current draw before deciding whether the converter is suitable. My guess is it's probably drawing well over an amp, many wall wart type converters are only good for half that, and some even less.

My advice is to forget about modifying the gadget, especially as your kids are using it, and try a set of rechargeable cells in it. Much safer than guessing with mains derived supplies.

Dave

Reply to
Dave D

A fuse might be a wise addition. That's certainly the proper way to do it if it must be done though, provided the power adaptor is up to the job and suitable for the purpose.

You're kidding, right? I wouldn't let my kids in the same room as that arrangement. It only takes a tiny breach in the tape for a potentially serious accident to occur. It's a time bomb, especially around kids.

Dave

Reply to
Dave D

Reply to
Mike Berger

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 22:57:37 GMT, "Joe Magiera" put finger to keyboard and composed:

Use a switched panel mount DC power socket. Wire it so that the device runs off its internal batteries until a plug is inserted, at which time a switched contact opens the battery circuit and switches across to the external adapter.

- Franc Zabkar

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Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
Reply to
Franc Zabkar

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