Portable Wall Sockets

[Romanian]

Hey all, I just bought these headphones from Sharper Image. They are
"wireless", which means that you don't need to plug them into a CD
player, just wear them and walk around a radius of 150 meters while
listening to your favorite music. Thing is, you need to plug the CD
player into a transmitter, which means that you can't cary the
transmitter in your backpack to carry to school and listen to your CD
player. I was wondering if there was any way that I could build a
battery (or other) powered "wall socket" combined with a 12V adapter?
Because I just got the headphones so I could stop using my other broken
ones... Any help, please?

Thanks

 

[James Thompson]

Hey all, I just bought these headphones from Sharper Image. They are
"wireless", which means that you don't need to plug them into a CD
player, just wear them and walk around a radius of 150 meters while
listening to your favorite music. Thing is, you need to plug the CD
player into a transmitter, which means that you can't cary the
transmitter in your backpack to carry to school and listen to your CD
player. I was wondering if there was any way that I could build a
battery (or other) powered "wall socket" combined with a 12V adapter?
Because I just got the headphones so I could stop using my other broken
ones... Any help, please?

Thanks

Are you saying the transmitting part only has an ac adapter, and you want
to run it on battery power from your backpack? If so, get you some c cell
battery holders to ( two: 4 cell holder ) and connect them is series so you
have + and - between holders. Also get a plug that matches the wall wart
plug.
Note what part of the plug is the possitive and match that with the battery
pack.
The transmitter will work from the battery pack ( 8 1.5 volt cells = 12
volt)
same as the wall adapter output. You can use aa cells, but c or d cells are
better.
JTT..

 

[[email protected]]

does the thing have a transformer? meaning like a little square box u
plug into the wall then the wires run out of it to the unit? if so
find out the voltage and the amps and hook some batterys up to get as
close as u can to the voltage and at least the amount of amps it needs
to work and ur good to go.

 

[Robert Baer]

does the thing have a transformer? meaning like a little square box u
plug into the wall then the wires run out of it to the unit? if so
find out the voltage and the amps and hook some batterys up to get as
close as u can to the voltage and at least the amount of amps it needs
to work and ur good to go.

Seems to me you know very little about electronics.

 

[ent]

You want a new one?

 

[[email protected]]

Seems to me you know very little about electronics.

Maybe, but is their something really wrong with his advice?

I'd point out that battery cells are usually rated in amp hours, and
confusing that rating with the ampere rating of the transformer would
mean the unit would run for about an hour, but this may not be the end
of the world.

If there's a serious oversight, it might be checking if the power
supply output is AC or DC, but again, there's a moderately good chance
of getting away with that oversight. I can think of a case where
marketing designed an automotive version of a product, replacing the
12vac adapter with a cigarette lighter cord. Engineering dissaproved,
since the average voltage would be too low and the peak voltage spikes
potentially to high, but it did sort of work, though with a greater
tendency to distortion.

 

[Romanian]

Hey, thanks, but now I have questions.
1- How long will this last me?
2- Can I get rechargeable C or D batteries?
3- Can I get a cheap recharger for them?
4- Where do I get the equipment to make this?

Thanks again! This is what I needed!

 

[Romanian]

Also, I just rememberd that I was thinking about how those flashlights
you shake and then use work. I was wondering if I could make one of
these for 12V? Thanks again

 

[[email protected]]

robert baer, screw you. what i was saying would work, i dont know much
about electronics, but at least i offer help, not put people down. i
know a fair amount about electronics, but for some reason i never have
bothered with batterys, as a kid i used to read something about amps,
and thats how i got the idea, i design electical systems for cars, that
includes the efi unit, i know enough to suit me, so **** you ass hole.

 

[[email protected]]

hey romanian im not 100% on this but i beleive those flash lights
charge a capasitor and the light is an LED and they barly use any
power... i dont think something like that could power something like
that

 

[James Thompson]

Also, I just rememberd that I was thinking about how those flashlights
you shake and then use work. I was wondering if I could make one of
these for 12V? Thanks again

Forget the flashlight shaker. I was also thinking, look into a sealed lead
acid battery to make it last probably 2 days if its low power. What are the
current needs of the transmitter? Also again if you go with sealed lead
acid, get an inline fuse to connect at the battery ( just in case, dont
want the fire trucks come to put out your back pack) Let us know your
amperage needs of the transmitter and we can size the battery you need.
JTT.. KF4HUF

 

[Romanian]

Alright guys, thanks for all the help! I'm gonna run down to Home Depot
tomorrow afternoon and get me some batteries! Thanks again guys! And
yeah, thosewhohatedemectragio;haiohfgd or whatever your name is..... I
think you're right about the flashlight. I found one in my attic, it's
pretty small-scale. Thanks to all!

 

[Romanian]

Hmm.... screw my last comment, I didn't see James Thompson's. The AC-DC
converter says "12V DC, 150mA". I'm guessing that the 150 mA is the
amperage needs? And what do you mean by by sealed led acid (I will tell
you that I'm just 15, a sophomore in high school... I don't have much
access to Potassium Sulfate and Nitroglycerin or any other crap that
you might have if you work in a lab.... and I don't have much money
either)? If there's a way to give simple step-by-step instructions to
make some portable thing with rechargeable batteries so I can keep
using them, that would be the best choice. If not, I could try and
follow your instructions of "I will put the ownage powder inside of the
tube and you will get uber headphones" and will probably blow myself
up.

Step-by-step instructions possible?
Thanks

 

[Rich Grise]

Hmm.... screw my last comment, I didn't see James Thompson's. The AC-DC
converter says "12V DC, 150mA". I'm guessing that the 150 mA is the
amperage needs? And what do you mean by by sealed led acid (I will tell
you that I'm just 15, a sophomore in high school... I don't have much
access to Potassium Sulfate and Nitroglycerin or any other crap that
you might have if you work in a lab.... and I don't have much money
either)? If there's a way to give simple step-by-step instructions to
make some portable thing with rechargeable batteries so I can keep
using them, that would be the best choice. If not, I could try and
follow your instructions of "I will put the ownage powder inside of the
tube and you will get uber headphones" and will probably blow myself
up.

Step-by-step instructions possible?
Thanks

Yes. When posting from googlegroups, DO NOT click the obvious "reply"
link at the bottome of the post you're replying to - click the "Show
Options" link near the header, then click _that_ "reply" link. This
will quote context. Then trim appropriately, and bottom-post your response.

What exactly is it you're trying to accomplish? Please be specific.
It sounds like you have a wireless headphone with a transmitter that
plugs into your CD player, and you want to make the whole system portable.
To do that, you'd need to buy or build a battery pack of some kind, or
maybe two, depending on what you've got now, i.e., do the CD player
and transmitter use separate wall warts? that sort of thing.

Try and draw a word picture of what you actually have, in as much
detail as possible - even ASCII art could help; and what it is you're
trying to accomplish, again is as much detail as possible.

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[James Thompson]

Hmm.... screw my last comment, I didn't see James Thompson's. The AC-DC
converter says "12V DC, 150mA". I'm guessing that the 150 mA is the
amperage needs? And what do you mean by by sealed led acid (I will tell
you that I'm just 15, a sophomore in high school... I don't have much
access to Potassium Sulfate and Nitroglycerin or any other crap that
you might have if you work in a lab.... and I don't have much money
either)? If there's a way to give simple step-by-step instructions to
make some portable thing with rechargeable batteries so I can keep
using them, that would be the best choice. If not, I could try and
follow your instructions of "I will put the ownage powder inside of the
tube and you will get uber headphones" and will probably blow myself
up.

Step-by-step instructions possible?
Thanks

Sealed Lead Acid is a Rechargable Battery Like what a car uses, but sealed
so it wont leak acid. Robotics people use them as well as emergency lights
and the good old Battery backup we use on our pc's. With only needing 150
ma, you could get by with using 8 c cell battries and it will last quite
some time. For low cost try out the alkaline c cells. Do you have a volt
meter to check polarity of the plug?
Jtt...

 

[Romanian]

Rich: I have a transmitter from the Sharper Image, which uses a 150mA,
12V DC plug/ It also has L-R audio inputs, which fuse into one
headphone jack and connect into an audio device. The only thing that is
not portable is the transmitter, seeing as it needs to be plugged in. I
want to make a type of battery pack or something that hooks up to the
transmitter instead of having to plug it in. This would allow me to
take it everywhere I go.

By the bye, what is a wall wart?

And yes, I do have a volt meter. But my preference towards batteries
was to use rechargeables so as they would "never" run out and I could
recharge them at my every whim. Is it possible to get these batteries
in rechargeable form?

Thanks again,

 

[Rich Grise]

Rich: I have a transmitter from the Sharper Image, which uses a 150mA,
12V DC plug/ It also has L-R audio inputs, which fuse into one
headphone jack and connect into an audio device. The only thing that is
not portable is the transmitter, seeing as it needs to be plugged in. I
want to make a type of battery pack or something that hooks up to the
transmitter instead of having to plug it in. This would allow me to
take it everywhere I go.

OK, you need 12 VDC. You do that with eight 1.5V alkalines - I believe
you can still get battery holders at Radio Shack:
http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=battery holder&origkw=battery holder

By the bye, what is a wall wart?

It's that black box that plugs into the wall socket (hence, "wart") that
gives you your 12V, 150mA.

And yes, I do have a volt meter. But my preference towards batteries was
to use rechargeables so as they would "never" run out and I could
recharge them at my every whim. Is it possible to get these batteries in
rechargeable form?

Then you'd use probably NiCds, or you could get a 12V gel cell - you can
get one of those almost anywhere:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q="gel+cell"&btnG=Google+Search

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

Rich: I have a transmitter from the Sharper Image, which uses a 150mA,
12V DC plug/ It also has L-R audio inputs, which fuse into one
headphone jack and connect into an audio device. The only thing that is
not portable is the transmitter, seeing as it needs to be plugged in. I
want to make a type of battery pack or something that hooks up to the
transmitter instead of having to plug it in. This would allow me to
take it everywhere I go.

By the bye, what is a wall wart?

And yes, I do have a volt meter. But my preference towards batteries
was to use rechargeables so as they would "never" run out and I could
recharge them at my every whim. Is it possible to get these batteries
in rechargeable form?

Thanks again,

Oh, yeah, and please learn to post properly from googlegroups: Don't
click the "Reply" link at the bottom of the text, click the "Show Options"
link up in the header, then click _that_ "Reply" link. This quotes context.
Then, trim appropriately (excise nonapplicable material) and put your
reply at the bottom.

If there are several points you wish to respond to, then interleaved
posting is acceptable, as long as the natural flow of the thread is not
interrupted.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[[email protected]]

Rich: I have a transmitter from the Sharper Image, which uses a 150mA,
12V DC plug/ It also has L-R audio inputs, which fuse into one
headphone jack and connect into an audio device. The only thing that is
not portable is the transmitter, seeing as it needs to be plugged in. I
want to make a type of battery pack or something that hooks up to the
transmitter instead of having to plug it in. This would allow me to
take it everywhere I go.

Okay, I understand what you're trying to do, and I'm not going to offer
any more advice on that since it's been done. However, isn't a CD
player already portable? If you're carrying the CD player with you
anyway, why do you need to use wireless headphones?

 

[Roberto Waltman]

Hey all, I just bought these headphones from Sharper Image. They are
"wireless", which means that you don't need to plug them into a CD
player, just wear them and walk around a radius of 150 meters while
listening to your favorite music. Thing is, you need to plug the CD
player into a transmitter, which means that you can't cary the
transmitter in your backpack to carry to school and listen to your CD
player. I was wondering if there was any way that I could build a
battery (or other) powered "wall socket" combined with a 12V adapter?
Because I just got the headphones so I could stop using my other broken
ones... Any help, please?

May I suggest a different approach? It will not cover 150 meters and
the sound quality may suffer, but it is much easy.

Buy a "radio headphone", I mean a headphone with a built in FM radio
receiver, and a battery operated FM transmitter like those used to
channel music from any device into your car radio. (I have one that
runs for months on 1 AA battery.) They are both quite inexpensive.
Use those when you are roaming outside, leave the other one at home.