Family heirlooms

Thank you, USB-C (and the EU too).

Well, some stuff still has dedicated adapters, but hopefully those phase out sooner or later.

Usb C is nice, but fragile compared to barrel adapters. I don’t know how, but my so broke two USB C tips in the last week.
- Are you buying cheap ones? Cause I've never had one break on me. Either user error and cheap.
- USB-C seems to break way more often than micro-usb or the Apple connector ever did. For me the connectors will look fine, but the cable burns out or something. I stopped buying cheap cables on Amazon, and at the gas station, they don't last.
  
  Edit: some of you need to chill the fuck out with the voting buttons. What's your rational? "I like USB-C, so I downvote a motherfucker!". I like it too, but haven't had good luck with longevity. I specifically said "for me", as in "my experience with it so far".
- Somehow my USBC lead has stopped charging my phone at high speed, it still challenges the phone but really really slowly. What the hell?
As USB gets upgrades to provide more power, we will need those barrel jacks less and less. My laptop can only charge 65W from USB C, but 130W from the barrel jack. It's a couple of years old now, I think from before there was a standard for USB to provide over 100W, but USB C can provide 240W now. So new laptops shouldn't even need barrel jacks anymore.
- I don’t know how I feel pumping 240 W through these flimsy wires. I know it’s probably alright, but still… it doesn’t look like it’s meant to take 40 amps.
- You still need the PSU brick cable part to generate that kind of power.
Just because they'll be able to physically connect and give a non zero amount of power, doesn't mean they won't be obsolete.
- Hell of a lot easier to adapt USBC to USBD or whatever the next standard is.
Well, if the issue is just whether the adapter is inside or outside the stuff

Whoa dad is that a vintage 1970s 6.3VDC 400mA?

Yes, yes it is, son.

Oops, the jack is half a millimeter too big. Time to find another one...
- just wait until he learns about polarity

That's nothing I have an adapter kit that allows you to charge any type of. All of the big name brands like, Nokia, and Motorola.

It's a wild collection of 16 pins and barrel jacks and split connectors or if you want to go super futuristic mini USB B. I can charge any phone I want provided the phone I want to charge was manufactured before about 1995.

And no more radio shack to buy more of these!

I really don't know where to go any longer for some things like this. I know, interwebs has it but I usually have questions that scamazon won't answer.

Mouser or Digikey are your friends here.

You pay a little more than the cheap stuff on Amazon but you can be sure you're getting the exact specs you ordered.
- Mouser really is to me a neat lil store. You get in, ask the guy in the counter for the exact stuff you want, they type one or two things in a computer, check if that’s actually what you want and in less than 5 minutes they fetch it
- If it's important... Double check the output with a meter just to be sure. Only got burned by it once, but for expensive/complex circuits, just give the critical components a sanity check.
Thrift stores, maybe? It's been like a decade since I've been inside a thrift store, so idunno if they still have these

Last month, the power adapter to my router died out of nowhere. I wasted a ton of time troubleshooting literally everything else other than the power adapter because I've never had one die before the actual device itself.

Of course none of the other adapters I had on hand fit. I had to order a new one...

I've had that situation a few times.

Just cut off the end and soldered it to another power adapter of appropriate voltage/amperage/pinning (be especially watchful in case one is centerpin positive and the others centerpin negative)
- That feels like something I probably could do... But under no circumstances should do.
With a soldering iron and another supply with the same voltage and amperage, anything is possible.
- Seems like a fire hazard

My dad has been an electrical engineer since the early 70's. My inheritance in this regard is staggering.

The ferrite is strong with this one.

A lot of those work for other products. It's still good, don't throw it away.

The problem is you have to retain like 100 of them for the off chance that one of them fails in a device that you currently own.
- Also the older ones are not very power efficient

Virgin inifficent ac-to-dc converter user vs chad pure DC system user

I love that pretty much everything short of heavy appliances you can think of comes in 12v 10a max cigarette plug or USB now. USBC PD -to -dc plug adapter is fuck in awesome

Never really thought about it, but everything being powered by USB has been extremely convenient for the last few years. When did this happen? I'm sitting here watching my flashlight charge with my phone's power cord, and it never occurred to me that that's rad as hell
- I have a USB-PD wall plug and a battery that are both capable of 100W charging.
  
  I use the same charger and cable to charge my laptop, phone, headphones, wireless mouse, soldering iron, and the portable battery (which itself can also charge all the others) Probably a bunch of others I'm forgetting.
  
  It has significantly reduced the number of chargers and cables I need to carry around. I only buy usb-c capable accessories now.
  
  Anyone who ever has to do some soldering on the go should check out the Pinecil soldering iron from Pine64, it's a great tool at a truly incredible value and it can do 85W soldering from a USB-PD battery (or wall charger)
- I love it so much! Feels like we are finally approaching a true universal connector now (after like 30 years and half a dozen revisions since USB 1.0) My favorite USB thing currently is an extremely energy efficent electric blanket. It may only consume 10w (its just standard USB not PD) but it keeps me surprisingly warm during the winter night and doesnt eat into my limited power. No 3 hour shutoff either it stays on all night.
  
  The fact that USBC PD 3.0 can pump out up to 100w is just nuts

Micro USB cables are just as bad. They seem to multiply on their own.

Def the tribbles of the cable world.

I have a drawer full of these as well. But they wont move to the next apartment once I move.

You will need one within a week of getting rid of them and it will cost you $60-$80 dollars. It doesn't matter if you've had them for a month or 10 years without needing one, as soon as you get rid of them, you'll need them.
- Thrift store. There are always dozens there.
That's what you say now.
We should all get together and make a bank of these adapters, gather them all up in one place in every city so that when you have an electric razor with no power cord, you can just go down to the Adapter Bank and find something that fits

Having some spare AC adapters with barrel connectors is a pretty handy thing to have around if you do any electronics work

12v 900ma…. Hmm… let me check my box of assorted plugs
- Ah, negative tip!
- A good thing to keep in mind is that you should match voltages, but with amps the cord just has to be equal or higher than the device. It's a rating of what the cord can provide, not what it's spitting out at all times like voltage.
  
  So in your example of 12v 900ma, a 12v cord thats 1a or greater should work fine assuming the barrel is the same. This can also help declutter anyone's 'collections'...if you have a whole mess of 12v cords, you can safely ditch the lower amp ones.
Can confirm. Hmmm, 5V 2 A….
- Are you pondering what I pondering? Type A to barrel.

I think I have a big box of them somewhere. They have come in handy from time to time.

Yeah I use mine a lot. Especially the ones from broken open external harddrives ("shucking"). They're usually 12V 2A and very useful for a myriad of tasks. Like my Unifi USG that has a notoriously bad PSU. I didn't even have to change the plug!

The other day I noticed a device with an adapter that had wildly different amps and voltage but the Watts were the same and it fit so...

I think it goes there...

That is going to result either in a bang or nothing happening.

You can use a power supply if:

the plug fits

the polarity is correct ( - and + are at the correct location)

the voltage matches

the current and wattage is the same or higher
- #4 is subtle. It might work with less current, but this is a caveat not appropriate for novices.
You want to make sure the Voltage matches or bad things can happen. The current and Wattage can be the same or higher, it will only draw as much as it needs.

An effects pedal collector's dream, really.

I literally inherited a massive collection of these when my ex died because his family didn't want to deal with them. I tried to save one of each plug type but I couldn't store 50 lbs of adapters forever

As someone who designs and builds tons of gadgets having lots of random wall warts around is very helpful.

I started messing with microcontrollers a few months ago and I already have a box of adapters.
- But why would you ever need more than 3 + jumper wires?

When I was a kid my dad would spend hours in the surplus electronics shop avoiding my demon of a mother. I used to untangle and wind up these things just for something to do. They had like oil drums (but cardboard) full of them, all tied in huge knots.

I'm not the only one then

Internal monologue: well I haven't used a parallel cable since '93, I should probably toss this out.

remembers that one time I couldn't find this cable and it screwed me turning in an assignment

sky darkens, eyes become shadowed, teeth become exaggerated, skin goes pallid

Internal monologue: but after all, it's mine. Why shouldn't I keep it? Why shouldn't I keep the precious.

May I ask the artist/source? Is this something I should know?