5Volt, is only half-story. How much current, amperage, does the Optacon eat?
In its basics, would it be possible to run the Optacon on an USB cable? The USB
standard is 5V, and it is meant to be pretty stabil - or you would have burned
a ton of computerized electronics, some of which might be even more vulnerable
than what the Optacon is. And a modern USB charger is capable of up to a couple
of ampers, which might well cover the consumption of the Optacon. OK, I do
understand that the cellphone and tablet that you are connecting to the USB
charger does hold some regulation of their own, as a measure of extra security.
And I am aware that the USB port on your computer, might have a chunk of noise
generated from the surroundings. We don't want that on our Optacon, of course.
Still, if you run a stand-alone USB charger, and get hold of a cable with the
round connector found at the rear of your Optacon, Would that do? The USb
chargers are supposedly stabilized both in voltage and amperage, besides being
secured against short-cutting; even hold electronics that protect them from
overload.
Guess noone has dared trying, in fear of burning their Optacon. Why I am
asking, those with more technical insight as regard the electronics of the
Optacon. Again, an USB charger you will always have at hand, and getting the
necessary cable is not too complicated. But if you have to drag along an extra
charger exclusively for your Optacon... Oh well, not a big deal. Only,
everything these days runs on the USB, and our homes are overflowing of that
kind of chargers and cables. So would have been nice if we did not have to keep
track of one particular charger, you know.
At least, should anyone ever develop next gen Optacon, let's hope they stick
with something more commonly designed charger.
David
On 3/20/2020 8:33 AM, Noel Runyan wrote:
Richard,
No, it is definitely not safe to run an Optacon
without a battery, when powered by the TSI
Optacon charger, as it is not regulated, which
means that the voltage will be higher than the
required 5 volts and may pass through surges of
higher voltage. The higher voltages can easily burn out an Optacon's
circuits.
Richard Oehm and I have discussed this and agree
that, if not using a battery, only a regulated 5
volt adapter should be used. These 5 volt
chargers are cheap and easily available.
Cordially,
Noel
At 03:38 PM 3/19/2020, you wrote:
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bitto view the list archives, go to:
Thanks for the reply, but it isn't the smart
phone app, it is whatever Freelists does with those messages.
This is the only list anything like that has happened.
I wrote that previous note and this one from my
computer since I am actually home and using the computer.
I'm usually on my iPhone for these sorts of things.
Are the original AC adapters safe if the battery is disconnected?
Richard
ðŸ Live long and prosper
Check out my web site at: www.turner42.com
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Noel Runyan
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 1:58 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: I'm not the card shark and freelists is the issue
Richard,
Thanks for clarifying that you are not the
obsessive card mechanic we thought you might be.
Your last message has come through without the
scrambling that was evidently being added by
your smart phone's braille keyboard app.
Regarding your comment about your own Optacon,
as you probably already know, Richard Oehm does
a good job of converting Optacons to run off AC
lines directly, without a battery.
It is also possible to set your Optacon up to
run without a battery by yourself, without any
tech assistance. What is required is to replace
the normal TSI unregulated AC adapter with an
off-the-shelf regulated 5 volt AC
adapter. Additionally, the battery needs to be
disconnected from the Optacon, which can be done
in either of two ways. If you can remove the
screws on the sides of the Optacon case and open
it up, you can easily find the battery stick and remove it.
The other method is to pop the circuit breaker
that is the small button that is next to the
finger plate, just above and to the right of the
finger plate. Some of the circuit breakers
buttons are easy to pull out with a fingertip,
but others may require grasping and pulling with pliers.
The battery needs to be disconnected so that it
does not drag down the current from the AC adapter.
The AC adapter needs to be a regulated 5 volt
adapter so that it does not permit higher
voltage surges to damage the Optacon circuits.
Most often, disconnecting the dead battery is
the most common reason that an old Optacon appears to be totally dead.
If anyone has questions about this, feel free to contact me or Richard Oehm.
Cordially,
Noel
-
Noel H. Runyan
Phone: 1-408-866-7564
Email: Noel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-
At 06:53 AM 3/19/2020, you wrote:
First, to clear up one of Noel's comments, the Richard Turner, cardsubscribe by sending a message to:
shark, lives in Texas, and form all the intereviews I've seen uses no
accessible technology, especially braille.
I am on multiple email lists and this one is the only one that has
scrambled my messages.
Those scrambled messages were written on my iPhone using an app called
MBraille, that allows one to use the screen like a braille keyboard.
All the other lists run by Googlegroups and groups.io receive those
messages just fine.
I've had an OPTACON since 1973, though I seldom use it these days.
I hope to get it set to AC only and set up a place where I can use it more.
I had attempted to send the web link to the Graphity when all this
nonsense started with my scrambled messages.
I hope whomever had not heard of Orbit
Research got their answers.
I'll go back under my rock now.
Richard
Check out my web site at: www.turner42.com<http://www.turner42.com/>
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