82240B AC adapter?

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Jebem
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Re: 82240B AC adapter?

Post by Jebem »

Craig Bladow wrote:
Fri Mar 02, 2018 5:57 am
I'm using an adapter that provides 12 VDC at 2 amps. It came from an old external hard drive setup. Prints forever with no batteries.
Absolutely right.
No batteries needed when using the external power adapter.

Why?
Because the 6VDC battery cells are connected in parallel with the internal power supply 6VDC regulator using a solid state switch made of two schottky diodes. These diodes makes sure that neither power source can feed current into the other, while allowing both power sources to apply current to the printer components.

So only one power source at a time is needed to operate the printer.

That said, there is a catch in that design choice that looks like a design flaw by Seiko Corporation but I may be wrong of course:
Because both power sources have the same 6VDC output, both can actually apply current to the printer concurrently, depending on each actual power capacity at each moment.
Additionally, because electronic components actual behavior differs from the nominal specs between different specimens, the Schottky diodes forward voltage may vary slightly between them favoring one of the two power sources.
The same happens with the internal power supply regulator, a 7806 type, where its output regulated voltage will vary from printer to printer.
The same applies for the batteries.

A good design imho should make sure that when using the external power adapter, the batteries should be disabled.
This really is simple to achieve but Seiko/HP choice was different for reasons that are unknown.

Of course the external power adapter must have good current capacity and low internal impedance to be able to maintain at very least 10VDC at 2Amp.
This is because the 7806 regulators will require at least 3V higher at the input pin than the regulated voltage at the output pin. Additionally the input rectifier in front of the regulator will take around 1Volt.

So any AC or DC adapter will do as long as it can deliver the required consumed current by the printer while presenting at least 10VDC at the 7806 input pin.
I would use a 10 to 12 volt DC adapter, or a 9VAC adapter, both able to deliver at least 2Amp.
The printer consumes way less than 2Amp but the power adapter current rating is related to its internal impedance. The higher the current capacity the lower will be the impedance and therefore the better capacity to maintain the required voltage supply under load.

Another obvious reason to have the batteries depleted while using the external adapter woud be a defective Schottky diode (the one in series with the batteries).
These Schottky diodes tend to fail by presenting high reverse current leakage specially when operating a such high current levels.

I would recommend to have a look to the internal view by Kees here:
http://www.keesvandersanden.nl/calculat ... inside.php
The schematics will tell the full story for those interested in this subject.
keithdalby
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Re: 82240B AC adapter?

Post by keithdalby »

Well I've found a 12VDC supply that can deliver a current up to 2.5A, and the printer operates fine even if the batteries are left out. My new question is: could any damage be caused by running the printer with no batteries in? The manual says batteries should be used even when the adapter is used, but what harm would come if I didn't bother putting the batteries in?
grsbanks
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Re: 82240B AC adapter?

Post by grsbanks »

You should be OK without the batteries.

The reason you're told to keep batteries in is so that they can pick up the slack when the printer is sucking a lot of power out of its power supply and the official AC adapter can't keep up. If your adapter can supply enough juice then there's no need for the battery back-up.
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who do not.
keithdalby
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Re: 82240B AC adapter?

Post by keithdalby »

What do you reckon the consequence of too little power might be? I can think of a few possibilities:

Slower printing?
Paler contrast?
Missing bits?
Too much current drawn through the external supply circuit, causing too much joule heating of the internal components and permanent damage?

The first two are less of a problem. The last? Problem.

What do you reckon?
grsbanks
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Re: 82240B AC adapter?

Post by grsbanks »

The first two, definitely.

Missing bits? Unlikely.

Looking at the schematic for the 82240A at least, Joule effect could be a problem, especially if the input is at a comparatively high voltage, because the regulation is performed by a straightforward 7806 regulator. It's stepping your 12V going through 2 diodes in the bridge rectifier (i.e. making it go down to about 10.5V) down to 6V causing heat dissipation to the tune of 4.5W per ampere of current going through it. So yes, you're right, that could be a concern, especially as the regulator does not even appear to be on a heatsink.
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who do not.
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