AC Adapter -- AAA battery replacement?

[danr_18@yahoo.com]

I don't know the best place to post this, but is there some way of
"plugging in" an electronic device which accepts AAA batteries, but
doesn't have an AC adapter power jack (without opening up /
soldering)?

That is, there are AC adapters which have 9V battery plugs, but I've
never seen anything which fits into AAA (or AA) battery compartments
(which I don't get, since the batteries are a standard size).

Thanks

 

[HC]

On Jan 3, 8:48 pm, "danr...@yahoo.com" <danr...@yahoo.com> wrote:

I don't know the best place to post this, but is there some way of
"plugging in" an electronic device which accepts AAA batteries, but
doesn't have an AC adapter power jack (without opening up /
soldering)?

That is, there are AC adapters which have 9V battery plugs, but I've
never seen anything which fits into AAA (or AA) battery compartments
(which I don't get, since the batteries are a standard size).

Thanks

Hey, Danr, what I've done in the past is just find the right power
supply for the device and then "southern-engineer" an adapter. I've
done an old "boom box" in the '80's when they were called that. It
required 8 D-cell batteries which is 1.5 volts x 8 = 12 volts and
since I wanted to run it in the car (I was a kid and I wanted to
listen to my stuff while my parents drove Florida) I cut a wood dowel
rod and ran one wire to a screw at the end of one rod and one wire to
a screw at the end of the the other rod. Then I cut the two dowel
rods (so they would fit in sorta like batteries (one goes in and hits
the positive lead, one goes in an compresses the spring at the
negative end), and put them in (each dowel rod was roughly the length
of four D-cell batteries) cut in half to make four pieces of wood, two
with screws in the end with wires attached, so the rods filled in the
space of the batteries. Then I ran the wires to a cig lighter
adapter. Done!

Much more recently I did a similar mod for a Creative Labs Zen Nano
Plus 1 GB. It runs on one 1.5 volt AAA battery but I was using it in
my shop to provide audio source to my big stereo out there. I hated
having to feed it AAA batteries so frequently and I had a surplus of
D-cell batteries so a mod was in order. I took a Bic Round Stic pen
(I love those pens, it was a sacrifice) and cut it down to length to
fit in the AAA socket/pocket of the Zen. I then put some phone wire
(solid core, thin (maybe 24 ga?)) wire between then tip and the butt
and ran them to a D-cell battery. It worked. The pen held the wires
against the contacts and viola! Power! The D-cell ran for weeks at
my usage rates instead of days.

All that said, basically, what you need is a way to "southern-
engineer" your device. There is not, that I know of, a commercial way
to connect a power supply into the battery cavity of a device. What
you can do, though, is simply find the right power supply and then
find a way to lodge the conductors against the pickups in the device
(be careful of polarity (make sure you get + to + and - to -). You
could just try pinching the wires from your alternative source into
the springs/coils pickups of the device (I did) but it doesn't seem to
work so well (my attempts SUCKED; kept breaking contact
intermittently).

Hope this helps you. When you find a solution that works for you,
please post back to let us know and help us all.

--HC

 

On Jan 3, 10:20 pm, HC <hboo...@gte.net> wrote:

On Jan 3, 8:48 pm, "danr...@yahoo.com" <danr...@yahoo.com> wrote:

I don't know the best place to post this, but is there some way of
"plugging in" an electronic device which accepts AAA batteries, but
doesn't have an AC adapter power jack (without opening up /
soldering)?

That is, there are AC adapters which have 9V battery plugs, but I've
never seen anything which fits into AAA (or AA) battery compartments
(which I don't get, since the batteries are a standard size).

Thanks

Hey, Danr, what I've done in the past is just find the right power
supply for the device and then "southern-engineer" an adapter. I've
done an old "boom box" in the '80's when they were called that. It
required 8 D-cell batteries which is 1.5 volts x 8 = 12 volts and
since I wanted to run it in the car (I was a kid and I wanted to
listen to my stuff while my parents drove Florida) I cut a wood dowel
rod and ran one wire to a screw at the end of one rod and one wire to
a screw at the end of the the other rod. Then I cut the two dowel
rods (so they would fit in sorta like batteries (one goes in and hits
the positive lead, one goes in an compresses the spring at the
negative end), and put them in (each dowel rod was roughly the length
of four D-cell batteries) cut in half to make four pieces of wood, two
with screws in the end with wires attached, so the rods filled in the
space of the batteries. Then I ran the wires to a cig lighter
adapter. Done!

Much more recently I did a similar mod for a Creative Labs Zen Nano
Plus 1 GB. It runs on one 1.5 volt AAA battery but I was using it in
my shop to provide audio source to my big stereo out there. I hated
having to feed it AAA batteries so frequently and I had a surplus of
D-cell batteries so a mod was in order. I took a Bic Round Stic pen
(I love those pens, it was a sacrifice) and cut it down to length to
fit in the AAA socket/pocket of the Zen. I then put some phone wire
(solid core, thin (maybe 24 ga?)) wire between then tip and the butt
and ran them to a D-cell battery. It worked. The pen held the wires
against the contacts and viola! Power! The D-cell ran for weeks at
my usage rates instead of days.

All that said, basically, what you need is a way to "southern-
engineer" your device. There is not, that I know of, a commercial way
to connect a power supply into the battery cavity of a device. What
you can do, though, is simply find the right power supply and then
find a way to lodge the conductors against the pickups in the device
(be careful of polarity (make sure you get + to + and - to -). You
could just try pinching the wires from your alternative source into
the springs/coils pickups of the device (I did) but it doesn't seem to
work so well (my attempts SUCKED; kept breaking contact
intermittently).

Hope this helps you. When you find a solution that works for you,
please post back to let us know and help us all.

--HC

This is exactly what I did for my sons Sandisk player to use a larger
longer lasting battery. Cut a 3/8-inch dowel rod to length, apply
copper foil to both ends and a 4-40 screw to the '+' end. solder
twisted pair somewhere along the sides and run it to the larger cell
contained in a belt holder. Worked like a charm and I didn't have to
buy a gazillion AAA cells! File a small notch into the battery door
where the wires come out.
good luck.

al