Psyclone Psp Charger For Pandora?


Mjlink

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I just picked up a Psyclone charger from Target. Model PX4502, $19.99 plus state/local tax. It includes a car charger, usb to usb, & a wall charger.

Should I open this and try it? Has anyone else? Or take it back?

Thanks!

Peace & Pandora,

Link
 
Mjlink said:
I just picked up a Psyclone charger from Target. Model PX4502, $19.99 plus state/local tax. It includes a car charger, usb to usb, & a wall charger.

Should I open this and try it? Has anyone else? Or take it back?

Thanks!

Peace & Pandora,

Link

I also would like to know if the above one works or what is the recommended alternate charger that can be used.
 
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I picked up a $20 non-Sony charger - from a trusted brick & mortar store, not online. Can't test it yet of course, but I'm sure it will be fine. (Put that on the QC label. "Gruso is sure it will be fine.")

The problem with (most of) us testing these things is that we aren't equipped to truly test them. 40 different chargers might appear to do the job, but that doesn't tell you how clean or stable the supply is, or if it's doing damage (especially relevant for $5-$10 adapters, or anything bought from DealExtreme / Ebay etc).

One thing you can do is take a look at the information plate (or sticker) on the adapter and see if it says "5vdc regulated" or something to the effect of "5vdc @500ma". If it's the latter, then it will only be supplying 5v when the load is 500ma. Different loads will cause the voltage to fluctuate - not an ideal situation. If it says "regulated" then you have a better starting point - in theory it won't matter what current the Pandora draws, it will stay at 5v.

It starts to get shady when a power supply claims to be regulated, but isn't. MWeston had some horror stories about the units he went through before they found decent ones. If you have a multimeter you can test how well regulated it is by putting your meter on the plug, then dropping various resistors across the meter prongs and seeing how it affects the voltage readout. It's a pretty back yard method, but if you see the voltage dipping or spiking considerably, then it's not so well regulated.

I'm not a scientician, advice provided for entertainment purposes only etc :p

Come to think of it, I didn't even check if the one I bought was regulated. D'oh. I'll post details later.
 
^ Wear safety glasses and gloves when putting those resistors in the circuit, though :p
 
After opening this thing up and reading the labels, here is what I've gathered, note that USB connections are what connect the power supplies on both the car adapter and the wall adapter. 2X cables are supplied.

Wall Adapter:
Input: 100-240V-50/60Hz
Output: 5.0V - with ... under it 500mA 5W

Car Adapter:
Input: DC 12V
Output: DC5V - with ... under it 600mA

Nothing regarding regulation or not....

Waiting for a go ahead from someone mightier than Gruso.

Peace & Pandora,

Link

Edit: It's a USB that plugs into the wall adapter or the car adapter, what plugs into the Pandora is the standard power jack, not USB.
 
I'm bumping this. Don't want to fry my Pandora and am not an electrician, dropped physics my senior year of high school because I was more concerned with things much more fun than physics. Like drinking beer and playing SFII on a Friday night.

So am I safer using this since it is a USB setup or what?

Thanks in advance!

Peace & Pandora,

Link
 
have got a non-sony PSP charger bought from a gaming shop in my city
works nice to charge the pandora though the output is 1500mah (pandora charger = 2000mah)

use it beside my bed so i don't have to change chargers each time i go to bed and want to use my pandora :)

by
KK
 
I picked up one of these at walmart a few years ago, and it works like a charm. The best part is by far the retracting cord cause it makes it easy to deal with, since you don't have to roll it up or anything. I plan to use it with my pandora (if I ever get it... :p ), so hopefully it'll work.
 
The problem you will find with these chargers is they can't 'keep up' when the Pandora is turned on - thus the battery will eventually go flat.
 
I take this as a new rule that third party chargers are allowed. Until now I advised against it, as we had discussions about it back then.
 
Agreed, I wouldn't have gone to such length describing it above if we hadn't been given very specific warnings about this in the past.

My general advice would be, if people are going to buy third party PSP chargers, spend $20-$30. And a regulated supply if you can.
 
mali said:
I take this as a new rule that third party chargers are allowed. Until now I advised against it, as we had discussions about it back then.
Gruso said:
Agreed, I wouldn't have gone to such length describing it above if we hadn't been given very specific warnings about this in the past.

My general advice would be, if people are going to buy third party PSP chargers, spend $20-$30. And a regulated supply if you can.
I think we should still be making very strong warnings against chargers from eBay and the like, however.
 
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Yes, assume anything but a real Pandora charger won't work.

Also a lot of those cheap chargers are NOT SAFE in general.
 
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