# Power supply ?



## cwbam (Feb 8, 2010)

Has anybody cracked onw of these open?
& used it for Power?
What are the 3 prongs for?
why not just 2 ? + -

I see no input & output specs

thanks for looking


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

The third prong is a activation / protection circuit for the battery, it can use that & tell when the battery peaks on charge and shut off the charger. Never thought of using one of those I would think the DC will have a ton of AC ripple in it, as I figure being just a battery charger there not going to have much in the way of a filter circuit to clean up the output.

Take a look at some of the laptop power supplies, they are very clean and cheap, I picked up 6 from the local Goodwill shop for $1 each. 

Boosted


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## warnergt (Feb 9, 2000)

I've had my eye on these 18 volt, 3.5 amp laptop power supplies on ebay for $5.98.
Heck, if you have a four-lane track, you can get one for each lane and have 
14 amps for $24.00!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/400337759986


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## sidejobjon (Jun 3, 2010)

cwbam said:


> Has anybody cracked onw of these open?
> & used it for Power?
> What are the 3 prongs for?
> why not just 2 ? + -
> ...


How long would a track run if you hook up outside to the cordless batterys
18 or 24 volt??? One per lane?
Thanks SJJ


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## SouthLyonBen (Mar 14, 2012)

One of my co-workers gave me a Dell power supply that had a bad end on it for free, and of course the bad end was no big deal since it needed to be changed anyway, I thought the cars ran pretty good off it, but it started acting weird so I stopped using it, no idea if the cars killed or just cuz it was old. But Boosted is right on the $ I see piles of the things at thrift stores, just have to find one that has the power you want, A lot of 'em seem to be 12 volts I've noticed. Not sure I'd buy a NEW laptop supply for this use but if you have one destined for the trash, why not?


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

I found 18v, 4 amp units for $1 each @ Goodwill store, You just have to sort thru the pile to find what you want. I spent another couple bucks on 1 and made an adjustable regulator for it and now I use it as my break in box as well. The big thing about these power supplies is they are very clean almost no AC ripple in the output, and they will last forever as they are rated for almost continuous use. 

Boosted


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## okracer (Mar 11, 2002)

could a guy wire them in paraell and get 18 volts at 8 amps to use for a rc car charger?


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