An E-Safety Warning
Electrical transformer / adaptors are common place in many organisations. They simply convert the mains AC current into the fixed DC current required by electronic devices.
They do need to be used correctly as this warning shows.
The issue given to us was that the device wasn’t working, please could we sort it out. “It’s plugged in and everything, it just doesn’t work”
The device was connected to a mains adaptor of the correct voltage, with the correct polarity end fitting for the device. But it didn’t work.
When we removed the adaptor from the mains it was hot – very, very hot. Here are the labels on the 2 items
The device
The maker’s name and device model have been removed – the problem was NOT of their making, and it may not be appropriate to suggest it was.
Note the ‘Intput’ of 12V 2A
Now here’s the label on the mains adaptor
In this case Pri means Primary – the input voltage, frequency and power.
Sec means Secondary – the output voltage and current.
Note that the ‘Sec’ is indeed 12V but the current is 250mA (0.25Amperes).
The consequence of this is that the transformer / adaptor was running flat out to provide 0.25A – whilst the device was trying to take 2A to work.
Luckily for the school the adaptor was not tucked away in the typical rats’ nest of cables we often find. That would have been a serious fire risk.
Have you come across similar problems? Were you lucky enough to find them before they became a serious problem?