Mdubz

I'm going to get a new DC charger, and I want to convert my old charger into a power supply. Is this possible? One wire runs from the wall to the fuse, and then to the little green box thing and then out the other side of the green box. The other wire runs from the wall and then straight to the green box and then out the other side. Is there a way to tell which wire is positive and which is negative? How can I tell how much voltage/amperage it puts out of the other side of the green box? I'm guessing I won't need the rest of the charger for anything, will I? Please help me out guys, and thanks in advance!

Edit: Also, what kind of balance connector did my Apogee 2200 mah 2s 20c Li-Mn battery come with? Thanks!

sketchy_larry

wow, you've set quite a tall order for yourself (and us), but here goes. the first thing you need to do is consider your safety while doing this little mod. if at any time you don't feel 100% about something, STOP. you might shrug off getting "poked" from a/c once or twice, but even a small amount of d/c CAN KILL YOU. ok, now that thats been said...
it sounds like you have the right idea about the "little green box". you first need to go to an electronics store (like radio shack) and pick up a multi meter. not a little analogue one, but basically a top of the line digital one. this alone might be enough cost to make you go out and buy a power supply. you need to make sure you have the most exact measurements you can, just so you don't fry out your new charger. after you get all the measurements you can (and i mean ALL that you can. amps, ohms, volts, everything) compare them to the manufacturers specs for the new charger, and if you can, the specs of a existing power supply. if they line up, you should be good to go. make some kind of housing for your new power supply and try it out. the rest you shouldn't need.
i don't endorse trying to "Frankenstein" your old gear for this, but heres a point in the right direction. again, i cant stress the safety precautions you should be taking. good luck though. if you decide to go this route, let us know how it goes.

hands without shadows

The "little green box" is a transformer, it turns your 120 VAC to probably somewhere between 12 and 16 VAC. That AC then needs to be turned to DC through some sort of rectifier, preferably a diode rectifier, and then the voltage needs to be brought up or down to "exactly" 12 VDC with a heavy duty voltage regulator. If you dont understand any of that dont even start trying because this has more than enough potential to kill you and isnt worth the price of a rectifier, if you did understand then you shouldnt need any further help. If you really want to mod something than mod simple and cheap, consider a [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5680951/tm.htm]PSU conversion[/link].

Im not sure where Larry got all his safety info but volts wont kill you, amps will, and its a lot easier to get electrocuted with AC current then DC current simply because you dont commonly find DC current over 100V.

Mdubz

Ack, I didn't want it to get this complicated... :P My dad actually threw away two perfectly good (but out of date) computers like a couple weeks ago, I wish I still had them so I could salvage a PSU. :l I do have a couple other options, my friend is willing to give me some sort of power supply that is 12v & 4 amp, but I'm guessing a charger would take more than 4 amps... Should I just play it safe and get a Vision Peak Ultra AC/DC charger? I want to be able to charge my battery at its full charging capacity (4.4 amps as per the pretty sticker on the battery), but I heard the charge limit is 2.5 amps for li-po on the vision peak. Can anyone confirm this?

sketchy_larry

i know the amps are what get you. i just wanted to stress that without testing it myself, i don't know what kind of juice hes working with, or what it could turn into. i think you're right about just going out and getting a peak ultra. the military trained me to do this stuff and i wouldn't even get into this with out some serious thought and planning. thanks for not throwing caution to the wind. i would hate to hear about somebody kicking it because something went wrong. (p.s. even though d/c doesn't get up to lethal range that often, strange things start happening when you mess with manufactures sealed devices)