Goldilocks and the three power adapters
Jun. 21st, 2006 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carbonelSome time ago, I got an Agfa 1212 USB scanner from Freecycle. The owner claimed that it worked. Somehow I never got around to actually connecting it until today. I plugged in the USB connector and the power adapter, and nothing happened. I'd rather expected the plug-and-play (or plug-and-pray) magic to work, but nothing happened. I mean, the light went on in the front of the scanner, but that was all.
So I went to the Agfa site, and downloaded and installed the scanner software. I started it up, and the software kept insisting that no scanner was connected. So I sighed, and figured that the scanner was worth exactly what I paid for it, and disconnected everything. And then I looked at the power adapter. The scanner said it used 16VDC at .9-1.0 A. The adapter said it was 6 VDC.
Could this be the problem?
So I hauled out my bag of electronic gear, and went rummaging through for adapters. Turns out I have several 6 VDC ones. I found a higher value one that made the internal light on the scanner light up, but the software still insisted that the scanner wasn't connected. I found one that was 15VDC at 2.1 A, and had high hopes for that, but apparently it was too strong, since I got a nasty clicking noise when I removed it -- and it also didn't work.
I'd gone through the entire collection (I could have sworn I used to have an adjustable one, but couldn't find it), and was about to give up, at least until I made a visit to Radio Shack, when I thought of trying the adapters that were already in use. It turns out my Actiontec router's adapter is 12VDC at 1.2 A. And when I plugged that one in, the "Found new hardware" function started itself up, identified the scanner correctly, and in general did all the things it's supposed to do.
So I now have a functional scanner -- or I will when I go out and buy a dedicated adapter with the appropriate power levels, since I don't really want to have to lose Internet access in order to scan something. And I don't know if it really matters how far off the power numbers are, if it does work.
So I went to the Agfa site, and downloaded and installed the scanner software. I started it up, and the software kept insisting that no scanner was connected. So I sighed, and figured that the scanner was worth exactly what I paid for it, and disconnected everything. And then I looked at the power adapter. The scanner said it used 16VDC at .9-1.0 A. The adapter said it was 6 VDC.
Could this be the problem?
So I hauled out my bag of electronic gear, and went rummaging through for adapters. Turns out I have several 6 VDC ones. I found a higher value one that made the internal light on the scanner light up, but the software still insisted that the scanner wasn't connected. I found one that was 15VDC at 2.1 A, and had high hopes for that, but apparently it was too strong, since I got a nasty clicking noise when I removed it -- and it also didn't work.
I'd gone through the entire collection (I could have sworn I used to have an adjustable one, but couldn't find it), and was about to give up, at least until I made a visit to Radio Shack, when I thought of trying the adapters that were already in use. It turns out my Actiontec router's adapter is 12VDC at 1.2 A. And when I plugged that one in, the "Found new hardware" function started itself up, identified the scanner correctly, and in general did all the things it's supposed to do.
So I now have a functional scanner -- or I will when I go out and buy a dedicated adapter with the appropriate power levels, since I don't really want to have to lose Internet access in order to scan something. And I don't know if it really matters how far off the power numbers are, if it does work.
