12V Power Supply

What is a 12V
Power Supply?

First of all, what in the world is it? Or perhaps a better question would be, what is it for? Someone sends you off to find the much needed 12V power supply that is essential to have a complete and functional "whatever it is".

Car Battery and More

Okay, let’s look at a familiar 12V power supply. One of the first images that come to mind, is your car battery. Yes, that is a 12V power supply. So is the series of batteries that most often power your cameras, computers, and cell phones. We are constantly dealing with all sorts of batteries that provide 12 volt electric power to our much used devices.

Battery Replacement and Disposal

With so many batteries in use, you would think that there would be an easy and efficient means for replacement, but one of the problems we have with the batteries is the disposal of the used ones. With car batteries, when you buy a new one, you may be charged a fee which is refunded when you return the old one. But with the small batteries, there are very few places where you can recycle them.

AC or DC Current

The laptop computers that we use run off of direct current, generally 12 volt, but our house current is nearly universally alternating current or AC. When you are working on your laptop and you have it plugged in, you are using a 12V power supply. The big rectangle that bridges the two types of power cords you use, one from the computer to the ‘brick’ and the cord from the ‘brick to the wall outlet carry the different currents to the desired places. The ‘brick’ changes the AC current that comes in from the wall to DC current that keeps the batteries charged in the computer and supplies the power to run the computer.

Current Converter

It works the same way when you charge your cell phone. There is a converter that changes the wall current (AC) to DC that the battery in your cell phone uses to recharge. An inverter is a converter that goes from the direct current to alternating current. The converter goes from alternating current to direct current.

Anytime you see a ‘brick’ between two ends of power cords, you now know what is going on inside the ‘brick’ and why. The appliance cannot use AC current directly and must use a converter to change the alternating current (AC) into the direct current (DC) it needs.