mA question

mindyourlanguage

Hello

I have just bought a spy camera and it has no power supply, the most it can handle is 200mA. Can I use a 800mA power supply on it?

C_Ronaldo

mindyourlanguage wrote: »

Hello

I have just bought a spy camera and it has no power supply, the most it can handle is 200mA. Can I use a 800mA power supply on it?

i may be wrong but would you need a power 200mA as the 800mA could be dangerous

iviv

mindyourlanguage wrote: »

the most it can handle is 200mA.

Seems like you answered your own question there.

fwor

mindyourlanguage wrote: »

I have just bought a spy camera and it has no power supply, the most it can handle is 200mA. Can I use a 800mA power supply on it?

An 800mA supply will be fine, as long as you get the voltage correct and use a regulated supply.

If the voltage is correct, the camera will only take as much current as it requires.

epninety

Ignore the other two, fwor is correct. The voltage is important, not the current. The voltage needs to be correct (or *very* close) then the device will draw as much current as it needs. The power supply needs to be capable of providing that much current or more. The only time the maximum current from the supply matter is if something goes faulty, or if there are specific needs (such as badly designed battery chargers). So try to get something in a similar range (say 1000mA or less) but don't worry too much about it.

Conor_3

C_Ronaldo wrote: »

i may be wrong but would you need a power 200mA as the 800mA could be dangerous

Electronics isn't a strong point for you is it?

A device will only draw as much current as it needs. You cannot force current into it. What that means in practice is that you need to make sure the mA figure on the power supply is LARGER than the one on the device it is powering. It will only draw what it needs from that.

How you can damage it though is by having the wrong voltage. If that is higher than what it states, it most likely will damage it. Too low and although there's a chance of damage, it probably just won't work.