Charging Cell Phone through PC Power

[Fijbak Efferzin]

I've been charging my cell phone using a cigarette lighter socket wired into
my computer's power supply, positive connected to the +12V line, negative
connected to the chassis. It seems to be working perfectly.

Is there any reason why I *shouldn't* do this? It's a 250W power supply
running an Athon 950 processor. I only have one hard drive, two CD drives,
and the cell phone connected, so the power consumption doesn't seem to be an
issue. Is there a chance that hot-swapping devices could produce a damaging
surge? If the phone is transmitting, is there a possibility of interference
being generated by the phone, traveling through to the power supply and
mucking things up?

 

[Ian Stirling]

Fijbak Efferzin <locutus@imsa.edu> wrote:

I've been charging my cell phone using a cigarette lighter socket wired into
my computer's power supply, positive connected to the +12V line, negative
connected to the chassis. It seems to be working perfectly.

Is there any reason why I *shouldn't* do this? It's a 250W power supply
running an Athon 950 processor. I only have one hard drive, two CD drives,
and the cell phone connected, so the power consumption doesn't seem to be an
issue. Is there a chance that hot-swapping devices could produce a damaging
surge? If the phone is transmitting, is there a possibility of interference
being generated by the phone, traveling through to the power supply and
mucking things up?

To be ultra-safe, you might wire a one ohm resistor in series with
the positive line and a .1uf capacitor from ground to the PC side,
to reduce the effect of any spikes on the PC.

 

[Fijbak Efferzin]

Thanks for the reply.

"Ian Stirling" <root@mauve.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news9qXb.3355$h44.570476@stones.force9.net...

Fijbak Efferzin <locutus@imsa.edu> wrote:
I've been charging my cell phone using a cigarette lighter socket wired
into
my computer's power supply, positive connected to the +12V line,
negative
connected to the chassis. It seems to be working perfectly.

Is there any reason why I *shouldn't* do this? It's a 250W power supply
running an Athon 950 processor. I only have one hard drive, two CD
drives,
and the cell phone connected, so the power consumption doesn't seem to
be an
issue. Is there a chance that hot-swapping devices could produce a
damaging
surge? If the phone is transmitting, is there a possibility of
interference
being generated by the phone, traveling through to the power supply and
mucking things up?

To be ultra-safe, you might wire a one ohm resistor in series with
the positive line and a .1uf capacitor from ground to the PC side,
to reduce the effect of any spikes on the PC.

 

[Ian Stirling]

Fijbak Efferzin <locutus@imsa.edu> wrote:

Thanks for the reply.

A 0.5A fuse in series with the 1 ohm 1W resistor too, in case someone plugs
a lighter in, or the cable to the phone shorts, but ...