Using generic power adapter for Wi-Fi accesspoint

Mar 31, 2008 5 Replies

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Jonas 18 years ago

Hi guys,

My Wi-Fi access point (D-Link DWL-700AP) ceased to work, but I found out what the problem was. The power adapter is dead. However, in my junkpile I managed to find a generic power adapter from some old appliance, and it seems to work with the access point.

Now, I have a question: Is it safe to use the generic one? I am afraid of burning down my house or something like that.

The original adapter for the access point (now dead) said: Input: 100-240V, 50-60 Hz 0.5A Output: 5V 2A

The "new" one (don't know where I got it from) reads: Input: 230V ~ 50 Hz 140 mA Output: 6V 2.1A

(We have 230V 50Hz here in Denmark where I live)

Thanks,

Kind Regards, Jonas

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jakdedert 18 years ago

Probably going to work okay, but I'd be more comfortable if it was a 5 volt unit. That's a 20% overvoltage, but likely there is voltage regulation within the router, and tolerances on power supplies is not all that tight anyway.

jak

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Arfa Daily 18 years ago

You could always open it up and place a 2 amp rated standard silicon diode in series with the output. that will drop the output voltage by 0.6v or so to a more 'comfortable' 5.4v

Arfa

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Geoffrey S. Mendelson 18 years ago

It depends. Some things don't seem to care, 5 volts or 6 volts or even

8 or 9 (not recommended) work e.g. EdiMax and D-Link routers I have. Other things will work with only 5 volts e.g. a Linksys PAP2 I have.

The Linksys simply will not turn on if the voltage is too high. :-(

Geoff.

Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm@mendelson.com N3OWJ/4X1GM

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Jonas 18 years ago

Hi guys

Thank you everyone. I'll consider try dopping the voltage as described.

Thats interesting. Mine is a D-Link, and it seems to be doing fine so far at 6V...

Regards, Jonas

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whit3rd 18 years ago

As for safe-against-fire, it's probably OK. All the adapters have similar fire-safety requirements... but your WiFi access point might burn up tomorrow. Either reverse-engineer the DWL box, or find a more suitable adapter. "5V" might mean 5V +/- 10%, but it isn't a match for "6V". In a pinch, you could tap your (presumably nearby) PC power supply, the red + black wires on the dangling disk-drive connectors have plenty of power to spare. So much, that you should only run wires outside the box after placing a proper (3A) inline fuse.

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