🚀 go-pugleaf

Michael Schuster (schuster@panix.com) wrote:
[ concerning Bradley G. Kaiser's need for a special Sony power connector ]
: I ran into the rame problem with my ICF-SW55 when looking for a car power
: adaptor. Sony has you by the "Balls". The new "Unified" power connector
: has not yet been cloned.

The problem with different power connectors did not just suddenly
appear when Sony came out with their "Unified" power connector.  There
were already a few different sizes of the coaxial power connector in
use.  I found this out the hard way when I purchased a CD-to-FM-radio
adaptor for my car.  It supplies power to whatever portable stereo you
want to connect via a cable with a `standard' power connector at each
end.  The trouble is, the supplied connector ALMOST fits each of my
portable stereos (except the new Sony CD player).

My solution was to fit a truly standard connector in-line in the AC
adaptor for each of the portable stereos, and also put the same
standard connector on the end of the power cord coming from the
CD-to-FM adaptor.  The connector I chose was a 3-conductor (stereo)
1/8" phone jack/plug.


  ------------
  |          |
  |   AC     |                     ______         _____             _______
  | Adaptor  |---------------------|    |       --|   |-------------|     |
  |          |                     ------         -----             -------
  |          |                      1/8"           1/8"             original
  ------------                     stereo         stereo           AC Adaptor
                                   in-line         plug               plug
                                    jack


When I want to use the portable stereo in the car, I take it AND the
`pigtail' adaptor cord, and plug it into the 1/8" jack on the end of
the car adaptor's power cord.

The reason I chose a 3-conductor (stereo) rather than a 2-conductor
(mono) connector is that for some stereos, the `ring' of the connector,
rather than the `tip', is the positive voltage connection.  All of the
2-conductor plugs I've seen have exposed metal which is connected to
the ring.  I didn't want any chance of shorting that conductor to the
grounded metal of the car's gear shift, etc.

-- 
Roger Chaplin / Instruments Division Engineering / "This land is your land,
chaplin@keinstr.uucp / CI$: 76307,3506          / This land is my land,
#include <disclaimer.h>                        / One of us has a bogus deed
#include "disclaimer.h" /* cover all bases */ / to this land."  - George Carlin