Continuous power Source?

[Enderwiggins]

I found an old car battery charger (Schmacher Model SE-82-6) it has the following specs:

6A/2A Dual Rate Manual Charger, Steel Housing, UL, Schumacher's Best Selling Charger, Designed For The Economy Minded User, 2 Charging Rates, Charges Both 6 & 12V Batteries, 6A Medium Charge Rate For Most Everyday Needs, Charges In 6 To 8 Hours, 2A Trickle Charge, Charges A Small 12V Battery In 2 To 12 Hours.

Anyone know any way I could go about making this suitable for powering a robot?

[i-Bot]

I would avoid using this for a power supply. Battery charger outputs are usually unsmoothed and unregulated.

There are a lot of small 12V (or other) 5A switched mode PSU now available at reasonable cost. I would get one of those.

[Enderwiggins]

What about a regulated 6V 2A DC adapter? or better yet what is it that i should be looking for in a power source? other than voltage and current what other thinks can i look at in deciding whether something will or will not work?

[i-Bot]

The motors or servos will determine the voltage and the current you need. also the controller needs powering too. The power supply is the last and often easiest part to find.

Will you also use batteries and will these need to be charged by the PSU ?

I find flea markets and car boot sales best to find power supplies at 1 or 2 UK pounds (or less !) each. You need to read the labels carefully, the voltage and current must be OK, also make sure it is a DC supply (some give AC out). Also if it says regulated, this is a bonus.

The connectors are fairly common, but be careful to get the right internal pin diameter as well as the external. You can cut off the plug and use your own of course. Get a voltmeter which measures DC and AC and check the output to be DC, and also the polarity.

[Enderwiggins]

Thanks for all your replies! I is a very nervous man so it really helps to hear that things can be as simple as I hoped! ^^