Center Pin Polarity Check?

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

At least it shows center pin is +.

True on this one, most don't even show that - or they are so low res you can't make out if its a + or -. This one's not for the 850 elliptical however.

[budm]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

At least it shows center pin is +.

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

BTW, here's but one example of how these replacement adapters output specs get doctored out of sales page photos:

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

So what is the model number of this elliptical machine?

Its a Pro-Form 850 Elliptical Model # PFEL5105.1

I've just ordered a replacement battery cover for it but I'm not going to order an AC adapter for it since the batteries with the cover are fine for operation. But being able to use my adjustable power adapter until the battery cover gets here would be nice if I can figure that out with the 2amp USB splice.

SearsPartsDirect gave me free shipping on the cover and the grand total was less than $8 bucks. Hopefully it gets here sooner than the Sept 20 estimated arrival on the order confirmation!

[budm]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

So what is the model number of this elliptical machine?

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

A usb cable is cheap, often less than 1$. plug cable in the usb charger, cut the connector on the other end. you'll have 2 or 4 wires inside, ground (black usually), voltage (red usually) and optionally data wires (usually white and green)

I really appreciate your suggestion here.

But, I'm not clear on how you are suggesting that I connect the cut USB cable to the elliptical's DC input adapter. Its a barrel type AC/DC adapter female receptacle. How would I insert a cut USB cable into it? Perhaps you are suggesting that I splice a properly sized adapter plug into the cut USB cable and then plug that into the elliptical?

That would allow me to use the universal power supply I have since it will output 6v and 2.1amps to the USB. And if the USB cable's output end is a properly sized pin (rather than a USB socket end), it should work in concept.

However, if you are suggesting I use a USB charger (like the white iPhone chargers), rather than my adjustable univeral adapter (that I can dial up a specific output voltage matched to my machine's requirements) How do I know that the voltage and amperage are correct (need to be 6 volts 2 amps)

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

It was damn tedious getting those wires to stick with electrical tape, especially as I pushed them into their sockets on the console, but she lit up! The fan and the resistance motor appear to work as expected too.

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

I would do the research online to find out what the original power supply is capable of and it should also have polarity printed on the power supply itself. BTW, some of them may use AC output instead of DC, that is why you need to do research first.
BTW, the center pin of typical 5.5 mm barrel may be 2.1mm or 2.5 mm so you need to verify that also since 2.5mm of the adapter will fit into 2.1mm pin but it will not make proper contact.

Thanks, especially for the 2.1mm vs 2.5mm tip. Tightest fit that works?

About the first part of your response, I'm finding, when I search for power adapters for these machines, the output specs on the adapter pics are ALWAYS blurred out or removed, likely to prevent you from sourcing a generic adapter matched to volts and amps for the machine.

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

Grab a multimeter. Put it in continuity mode. Put one probe on the negative in the battery compartment and touch the outside of the barrel connector with your other probe. if there's continuity, you know the outside is negative and center is positive.

Exactly what I was looking for. Got it. Thanks.

A usb cable is cheap, often less than 1$. plug cable in the usb charger, cut the connector on the other end. you'll have 2 or 4 wires inside, ground (black usually), voltage (red usually) and optionally data wires (usually white and green)

worse case scenario , you can grab a couple of D batteries and either solder or tape (with some good electrical tape) the positive and negative wires, each to one battery .. then put the batteries in the compartment ....

your battery compartment is most likely this :

negative inside device --- [ - +] [ - +] [ - +] [ - +] --- positive inside device

so you only need to have 2 batteries inside or something that would press the wires onto the terminals, one on each edge of the compartment, with the wires connected to the metal that's touching the terminals inside the compartment.
the top lid just makes the connections between the batteries, and if you connect wires directly you don't care about it, no need to have 4 batteries.

apologies for the horrible typing, my main keyboard just died on me today and this is a horrible 3$ keyboard with crappy keys, have to punch the keys to work, so i may miss some letters and can't be bothered with uppercase.

Thanks for the explanation and covering all points. It's really appreciated. I'll do the tests as you indicate.

[mariushm]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

That would certainly make it brain dead simple, but there is no such diagram to be found. That's why I'm asking how to test the polarity without that diagram to guide me.

Grab a multimeter. Put it in continuity mode. Put one probe on the negative in the battery compartment and touch the outside of the barrel connector with your other probe. if there's continuity, you know the outside is negative and center is positive.
If needed, plug one of your jacks into the connector to make it easier to connect the probe of your multimeter to the exterior of the connector of your machine.

The machine has a barrel type connector. How would I connect a USB charger to it?

A usb cable is cheap, often less than 1$. plug cable in the usb charger, cut the connector on the other end. you'll have 2 or 4 wires inside, ground (black usually), voltage (red usually) and optionally data wires (usually white and green)

worse case scenario , you can grab a couple of D batteries and either solder or tape (with some good electrical tape) the positive and negative wires, each to one battery .. then put the batteries in the compartment ....

your battery compartment is most likely this :

negative inside device --- [ - +] [ - +] [ - +] [ - +] --- positive inside device

so you only need to have 2 batteries inside or something that would press the wires onto the terminals, one on each edge of the compartment, with the wires connected to the metal that's touching the terminals inside the compartment.
the top lid just makes the connections between the batteries, and if you connect wires directly you don't care about it, no need to have 4 batteries.

apologies for the horrible typing, my main keyboard just died on me today and this is a horrible 3$ keyboard with crappy keys, have to punch the keys to work, so i may miss some letters and can't be bothered with uppercase.

[budm]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

Why don't you just try with batteries first just to see the if the machine is even working instead of discussing on how to use your universal power supply to power up this bike.

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

The polarity is usually printed on the label or engraved in the plastic near the dc jack

you should see a logo similar to this near the connector:

That would certainly make it brain dead simple, but there is no such diagram to be found. That's why I'm asking how to test the polarity without that diagram to guide me.

if your choice isn't good enough, you should test with a usb charger designed for max 2a, it may be able to power your machine even if the voltage is less than 6v

The machine has a barrel type connector. How would I connect a USB charger to it?

[mariushm]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

The polarity is usually printed on the label or engraved in the plastic near the dc jack

you should see a logo similar to this near the connector:



majority of connectors these days have the negative on the outside and positive in the center. In older machines, sometimes the positive was on the outside because this was made it easier to disconnect internal batteries when the adapter was plugged in ...

in your particular case, I'm not sure that universal adapter would be suitable. The thing uses D batteries, which are designed to be able to output a significant amount of current, more than what regular AA batteries can provide. So either the machine used D batteries for very long life (unlikely) or the machine really does require that 2A of current (or gets close to that ammount)
So your 1.3A max adapter may not be enough to run the machine properly - at some points, if the machine pulls more than 1.3A , the adapter may reset or turn itself off, or the voltage could drop below some threshold.

On the other hand, you have 4 D batteries, and this means the product has to account for batteries going low... new batteries would be 1.5v..1.65v for alkaline batteries while empty batteries would probably go down to around 1.35v..1.4v ... so the product may actually work with around 4 x 1.3v.. 1.35v = 5.2v .. 5.5v

if your choice isn't good enough, you should test with a usb charger designed for max 2a, it may be able to power your machine even if the voltage is less than 6v

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

You can solder wire to each pair of batteries and try.

I may just tape the wires to the batteries. Its just to confirm the panel is working or not at this point before I invest in a proper matched power adapter and battery cover.

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

That is correct. It is only rated at 1.3A (1300mA) @ 3 ~ 12V! as printed on the package.
2.1A for USB.

So, if the machine specifies 6v 2a and I try to use a 6v 1.3a power supply (aka the "universal" adapter above), it may or may not work or it definitely will not work?

[budm]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

Frick! I didn't catch that! So, maybe the battery hack? Just connect two wires to each pair of batteries? Just for testing the console temp.

You can solder wire to each pair of batteries and try.

[vinceroger69]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

for testing joining the batteries will work but if soldering wires on watch the heat as batteries can explode.

[vestaviascott]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

That is correct. It is only rated at 1.3A (1300mA) @ 3 ~ 12V! as printed on the package.
2.1A for USB.

Frick! I didn't catch that! So, maybe the battery hack? Just connect two wires to each pair of batteries? Just for testing the console temp.

[vinceroger69]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

thanks budm i wasnt 100% sure if i was reading it correctly

[budm]

Re: Center Pin Polarity Check?

how i read that is the usb outlet is up too 2.1 amps?

That is correct. It is only rated at 1.3A (1300mA) @ 3 ~ 12V! as printed on the package.
2.1A for USB.