wall warts in China?

W

Walter Harley

Guest
I sell a device that uses a wall-wart transformer for power. The
transformer supplies 12VAC (that's AC, not DC) at 500mA, through a 2.1mm x
5.5mm coaxial plug. Since my company and most of my customers are
USA-based, I supply transformers with a 120V primary.

I have been contacted by a customer in China who would like to buy one, but
he needs it to run on 220VAC, with whatever plug style they use in China.
(I don't know whether we're talking mainland China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, by
the way.)

He could always just use a 220V-120V stepdown transformer, along with the
120V wall wart. But I'd rather just advise him to shop for an appropriate
wall wart locally. However, I have no idea where one goes in China to buy
things like that.

Are there mail order suppliers, like Mouser or Digikey here in the states,
that efficiently supply China?

Are there local stores that would have something like that? ("Radio Shack
China"?)

Any advice I can pass on to him would be welcome. It would be ironic if
something like this were unavailable in China given that's where they all
seem to come from in the first place!
 
On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:03:12 -0700, the renowned "Walter Harley"
<walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote:

I sell a device that uses a wall-wart transformer for power. The
transformer supplies 12VAC (that's AC, not DC) at 500mA, through a 2.1mm x
5.5mm coaxial plug. Since my company and most of my customers are
USA-based, I supply transformers with a 120V primary.

I have been contacted by a customer in China who would like to buy one, but
he needs it to run on 220VAC, with whatever plug style they use in China.
(I don't know whether we're talking mainland China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, by
the way.)

He could always just use a 220V-120V stepdown transformer, along with the
120V wall wart. But I'd rather just advise him to shop for an appropriate
wall wart locally. However, I have no idea where one goes in China to buy
things like that.

Are there mail order suppliers, like Mouser or Digikey here in the states,
that efficiently supply China?

Are there local stores that would have something like that? ("Radio Shack
China"?)

Any advice I can pass on to him would be welcome. It would be ironic if
something like this were unavailable in China given that's where they all
seem to come from in the first place!
Click to expand...
Hi, Walter:-

Tell me the city and I'll try to give you some useful advice. It's not
Taiwan if its 220VAC.

Not shipping the (useless) wall wart could significantly reduce the
shipping charges as well.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
 
"Spehro Pefhany" <speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote in message
news:pf3vg1hklq7sc2m1clgjjj7h8iocp0dgn5@4ax.com...
Tell me the city and I'll try to give you some useful advice. It's not
Taiwan if its 220VAC.

Not shipping the (useless) wall wart could significantly reduce the
shipping charges as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Spehro. Let me find out from my distributor and I'll get back to
you.

-walter
 
If anybody in the States has an answer to your question, Jameco
(www.jameco.com) will be able to answer you.

Jim



"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:YZudneUZk-weHpLeRVn-iQ@speakeasy.net...
>I sell a device that uses a wall-wart transformer for power.
 
"RST Engineering (jw)" <jim@rstengineering.com> wrote in message
news:11h1455lfquibba@corp.supernews.com...
If anybody in the States has an answer to your question, Jameco
(www.jameco.com) will be able to answer you.

Jim
Click to expand...
Old external modems used to use a 9VAC 830mA to 1A transformer wall
wart. The 9VAC was closer to 12VAC when unloaded, and would probably
work, if you could dig up an old external modem from somewhere in China,
where the primary was the right V. The Practical peripherals ones come
to mind.


"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:YZudneUZk-weHpLeRVn-iQ@speakeasy.net...
I sell a device that uses a wall-wart transformer for power.
Click to expand...
 
"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:YZudneUZk-weHpLeRVn-iQ@speakeasy.net...
I sell a device that uses a wall-wart transformer for power. The
transformer supplies 12VAC (that's AC, not DC) at 500mA, through a
2.1mm x 5.5mm coaxial plug. Since my company and most of my customers
are USA-based, I supply transformers with a 120V primary.

I have been contacted by a customer in China who would like to buy
one, but he needs it to run on 220VAC, with whatever plug style they
use in China. (I don't know whether we're talking mainland China,
Taiwan, or Hong Kong, by the way.)

He could always just use a 220V-120V stepdown transformer, along with
the 120V wall wart. But I'd rather just advise him to shop for an
appropriate wall wart locally. However, I have no idea where one goes
in China to buy things like that.

Are there mail order suppliers, like Mouser or Digikey here in the
states, that efficiently supply China?

Are there local stores that would have something like that? ("Radio
Shack China"?)

Any advice I can pass on to him would be welcome. It would be ironic
if something like this were unavailable in China given that's where
they all seem to come from in the first place!
I did just this, buy locally, for a US 110volt device imported to
Click to expand...
Australia some years ago.

The best thing is for the customer to take the requirements to a
supplier in China, afterall most wallwarts I see in Australia these days
are made in China.

Letting him purchase locally has several advantages, shipping weight of
course, correct wall plug and importantly (maybe not in China) the
device he buys locally will conform to code requirements in that
country. Even if your 110volt wall wart could be supplied from a
transformer it may not conform and if anything ever went wrong Well!!
--
John G

Wot's Your Real Problem?
 
hi, Walter.

I am in Shanghai,China.But I am confused about your question.

What help do you want really?
 
"eehinjor" <eehinjor@163.com> wrote in message
news:1125387574.582139.287700@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
hi, Walter.

I am in Shanghai,China.But I am confused about your question.

What help do you want really?
Click to expand...

I want to know where I could refer a customer (a musician, not an engineer)
in order to purchase a wall-wart AC transformer with a 220V primary and a
12VAC 500mA secondary with 2.1mm x 5.5mm coaxial plug.

If the customer were in the USA, for instance, I would tell them that they
could order the equivalent (with 120V primary) from http://www.jameco.com,
or they might find it at Radio Shack, which is a retail chain with many
local stores. In Europe I would refer them to Farnell, I guess.

But I don't know what retail or mail-order stores there are in China.

I have not yet found out where in China this customer lives - the question
is coming to me through my distributor.

Thanks!
 
Hi,Walter.

On my opinion,there are a lot of factories in China who sale such
transformer,at least in Shanghai city.

But the price depends on the amount.

You had better find where the customer lives.Of course if you let a
musician buy transformers,that seems difficult.

best regards.
 
"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:w92dnV2IjLL10ojeRVn-pQ@speakeasy.net...
"eehinjor" <eehinjor@163.com> wrote in message
news:1125387574.582139.287700@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
hi, Walter.

I am in Shanghai,China.But I am confused about your question.

What help do you want really?


I want to know where I could refer a customer (a musician, not an
engineer) in order to purchase a wall-wart AC transformer with a 220V
primary and a 12VAC 500mA secondary with 2.1mm x 5.5mm coaxial plug.

If the customer were in the USA, for instance, I would tell them that
they could order the equivalent (with 120V primary) from
http://www.jameco.com, or they might find it at Radio Shack, which is
a retail chain with many local stores. In Europe I would refer them
to Farnell, I guess.

But I don't know what retail or mail-order stores there are in China.

I have not yet found out where in China this customer lives - the
question is coming to me through my distributor.

Thanks!
Call YOUR distributor, get the facts. He is on the spot and should know
Click to expand...
how to proceed.

We have given you a few clues about what to ask.

If you pay I will talk to him.

Send air ticket and I will go and help him!!
--
John G

Wot's Your Real Problem?
 
"John G" <Greentest@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:4316c406$0$493$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
Call YOUR distributor, get the facts. He is on the spot and should know
how to proceed.

We have given you a few clues about what to ask.

If you pay I will talk to him.

Send air ticket and I will go and help him!!
Click to expand...

I think you guys have a slight misconception of the picture...

I make a little consumer electronic item (a headphone amplifier, used by
electric bass players) - street price $169. My distributor (in the USA) has
a potential customer in China who wants to buy *one* of these. The customer
needs to buy an AC adapter that will work for his local mains voltage.
Again: quantity *one*. I was just wondering whether there are retail
electronic component stores in China, the equivalent of Radio Shack or Fry's
in the USA; or mail order, the equivalent of Jameco, Mouser, etc; or some
other sales channel I don't know about.

There will not be anybody flying to China on the basis of this sale, I think
:)

In any event, I still haven't been able to find out where in China the
customer lives, so the question is probably moot.
 
"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:Ns6dnZVDhLiMo4reRVn-2A@speakeasy.net...
"John G" <Greentest@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:4316c406$0$493$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
Call YOUR distributor, get the facts. He is on the spot and should
know how to proceed.

We have given you a few clues about what to ask.

If you pay I will talk to him.

Send air ticket and I will go and help him!!


I think you guys have a slight misconception of the picture...

I make a little consumer electronic item (a headphone amplifier, used
by electric bass players) - street price $169. My distributor (in the
USA) has a potential customer in China who wants to buy *one* of
these. The customer needs to buy an AC adapter that will work for his
local mains voltage. Again: quantity *one*. I was just wondering
whether there are retail electronic component stores in China, the
equivalent of Radio Shack or Fry's in the USA; or mail order, the
equivalent of Jameco, Mouser, etc; or some other sales channel I don't
know about.

There will not be anybody flying to China on the basis of this sale, I
think :)

In any event, I still haven't been able to find out where in China the
customer lives, so the question is probably moot.
It was a good try but really I was only joking.
Click to expand...

There are certainly such places in Honkong where I lived for a while
some years ago but in China I don't know.
--
John G

Wot's Your Real Problem?
 
On Thu, 1 Sep 2005 10:44:48 -0700, "Walter Harley"
<walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote:

"John G" <Greentest@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:4316c406$0$493$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
Call YOUR distributor, get the facts. He is on the spot and should know
how to proceed.

We have given you a few clues about what to ask.

If you pay I will talk to him.

Send air ticket and I will go and help him!!


I think you guys have a slight misconception of the picture...

I make a little consumer electronic item (a headphone amplifier, used by
electric bass players) - street price $169. My distributor (in the USA) has
a potential customer in China who wants to buy *one* of these. The customer
needs to buy an AC adapter that will work for his local mains voltage.
Again: quantity *one*. I was just wondering whether there are retail
electronic component stores in China, the equivalent of Radio Shack or Fry's
in the USA; or mail order, the equivalent of Jameco, Mouser, etc; or some
other sales channel I don't know about.

There will not be anybody flying to China on the basis of this sale, I think
:)

In any event, I still haven't been able to find out where in China the
customer lives, so the question is probably moot.
Click to expand...
Walter:

Can you not get a multi-input voltage unit with leads in and out?

I know we can get this sort of thing commercially in the UK, sold by
Friemann & Wolf, but made in Germany. They are universal input
switching PSU's, their distributors in the USA might be able to
assist.

http://www.friwo.de/

or in the US:

FRIWO USA, Inc.
1340 Newport Road, Suite 130
Colorado Springs, CO 80916
Tel: +1 719 597-1620
Fax: +1 719 597-1628
sales@friwousa.com
www.friwo.com

Peter
Peter
--
Peter A Forbes
Prepair Ltd, Luton, UK
prepair@easynet.co.uk
http://www.prepair.co.uk
 
On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:03:12 -0700, "Walter Harley"
<walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote:

I sell a device that uses a wall-wart transformer for power. The
transformer supplies 12VAC (that's AC, not DC) at 500mA, through a 2.1mm x
5.5mm coaxial plug. Since my company and most of my customers are
USA-based, I supply transformers with a 120V primary.

I have been contacted by a customer in China who would like to buy one, but
he needs it to run on 220VAC, with whatever plug style they use in China.
(I don't know whether we're talking mainland China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, by
the way.)

He could always just use a 220V-120V stepdown transformer, along with the
120V wall wart. But I'd rather just advise him to shop for an appropriate
wall wart locally. However, I have no idea where one goes in China to buy
things like that.

Are there mail order suppliers, like Mouser or Digikey here in the states,
that efficiently supply China?

Are there local stores that would have something like that? ("Radio Shack
China"?)

Any advice I can pass on to him would be welcome. It would be ironic if
something like this were unavailable in China given that's where they all
seem to come from in the first place!
Click to expand...
Go to http://www.asiansources.com
This is a web site for magazines listing asian manufacturers for all
these sort of things. The customer can look for a manufacturer in
his/her city, phone them and either buy direct from them, or get a
local agent for their goods.
It is unbelievable how many manufacturers of these products are
in asia.

Regards
Anton Erasmus
 
"Spehro Pefhany" <speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote in message
news:pf3vg1hklq7sc2m1clgjjj7h8iocp0dgn5@4ax.com...
Hi, Walter:-

Tell me the city and I'll try to give you some useful advice. It's not
Taiwan if its 220VAC.

Not shipping the (useless) wall wart could significantly reduce the
shipping charges as well.
Click to expand...

The customer lives in Suzhou, Jiangsu. 60miles west of Shanghai.

What he'll need is a wall wart adapter with 220V primary, 12VAC 500mA
secondary, and 2.1mm x 5.5mm coaxial plug. Quantity one.

Thanks for any advice you can send my way!

-walter
 
On Mon, 5 Sep 2005 22:51:48 -0700, the renowned "Walter Harley"
<walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote:

"Spehro Pefhany" <speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote in message
news:pf3vg1hklq7sc2m1clgjjj7h8iocp0dgn5@4ax.com...
Hi, Walter:-

Tell me the city and I'll try to give you some useful advice. It's not
Taiwan if its 220VAC.

Not shipping the (useless) wall wart could significantly reduce the
shipping charges as well.


The customer lives in Suzhou, Jiangsu. 60miles west of Shanghai.

What he'll need is a wall wart adapter with 220V primary, 12VAC 500mA
secondary, and 2.1mm x 5.5mm coaxial plug. Quantity one.

Thanks for any advice you can send my way!

-walter
Click to expand...
Hi, Walter:-

If he can get to Shanghai, he could go to an electronics 'market' (at
Xujiahui, I think) and most likely get such an adapter over the
counter in quantity 1, probably for less than 20 yuan.

I don't know about the availability in Suzhou, but it's a fair sized
city (5-6 million) with some electronics manufacturing industry, so it
might have a similar place downtown, but Shanghai is only 45 minutes
away by inexpensive train.

Things like adapters are sold at such markets (similar to the tiny
shops in the Akihabara section of Tokyo) by many different merchants,
analogous to an Asian 'wet market' for produce, fish and meats.

He'll need the specifications (english is fine for those) and
something like a picture of a typical adapter (preferably without the
prongs showing so as to not confuse, and the coax plug showing) maybe
out of the Mouser or Digikey catalogs). I assume your design isn't
terribly fussy on the voltage so that regulation should not be an
issue.

A bit of trouble for a $169 sale, maybe, but you should only have to
prepare a specification sheet once.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
 
"Spehro Pefhany" <speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote in message
news:gdcqh11t52dqh2u45031r2tqulmla6ak14@4ax.com...
Hi, Walter:-

If he can get to Shanghai, he could go to an electronics 'market' (at
Xujiahui, I think) and most likely get such an adapter over the
counter in quantity 1, probably for less than 20 yuan.

I don't know about the availability in Suzhou, but it's a fair sized
city (5-6 million) with some electronics manufacturing industry, so it
might have a similar place downtown, but Shanghai is only 45 minutes
away by inexpensive train.

Things like adapters are sold at such markets (similar to the tiny
shops in the Akihabara section of Tokyo) by many different merchants,
analogous to an Asian 'wet market' for produce, fish and meats.

He'll need the specifications (english is fine for those) and
something like a picture of a typical adapter (preferably without the
prongs showing so as to not confuse, and the coax plug showing) maybe
out of the Mouser or Digikey catalogs). I assume your design isn't
terribly fussy on the voltage so that regulation should not be an
issue.

A bit of trouble for a $169 sale, maybe, but you should only have to
prepare a specification sheet once.
Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch! Visiting an "electronics market" sounds like it would be an
interesting experience.

It won't be hard for me to put together a spec sheet like what you describe.
And it would be useful to European customers as well.

-walter
 
Mouser, Jameco, Digikey ... all routinely ship overseas. I think you are
making a mountain out of a warthill.

Jim


"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:SeadnZ2dnZ0uk_PvnZ2dnfCzgN6dnZ2dRVn-y52dnZ0@speakeasy.net...

The customer lives in Suzhou, Jiangsu. 60miles west of Shanghai.
Click to expand...
 
"RST Engineering (jw)" <jim@rstengineering.com> wrote in message
news:11i61kajlb3mu8e@corp.supernews.com...
Mouser, Jameco, Digikey ... all routinely ship overseas. I think you
are
making a mountain out of a warthill.

Jim
Click to expand...
Warthill!? Wazza warthill??

Is that like Hogwarts? Just a figurative expression..


"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:SeadnZ2dnZ0uk_PvnZ2dnfCzgN6dnZ2dRVn-y52dnZ0@speakeasy.net...


The customer lives in Suzhou, Jiangsu. 60miles west of Shanghai.
Click to expand...
 
"RST Engineering (jw)" <jim@rstengineering.com> wrote in message
news:11i61kajlb3mu8e@corp.supernews.com...
Mouser, Jameco, Digikey ... all routinely ship overseas. I think you are
making a mountain out of a warthill.
Click to expand...
I know they ship overseas, but at least their US and online catalogs don't
list any 220V-primary adapters. Not that I found, anyhow.

Plus, I think these places will only ship overseas via private carriers like
UPS or FedEx. That can put the shipping cost for even small packages into
the > US$50 range, in my limited experience with sending things to Asia. I
can't tell a customer to buy a US$169 product and pay another US$60 for the
wall wart, especially when the wall wart came from China in the first place
and cost US$3 there!
 
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