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View Full Version : Electronic gadgetry technical question (concerning mad science!)



Fri
2009-02-01, 05:57 AM
No, it's not actually about mad scientry. Sorry. Though as a product design student, I'm always open for ideas for mad gadgets. That's a serious sentence, I'm taking the 'experimental creative product design' class that's basically just asking for a mad gadget for an end product.

What I want to ask in this thread is something a bit more conservative. I want to buy a vacuum cleaner for car. You know, the one where you put one end of the cable into the car's lighter hole.

The twist is, I don't have a car. I want to use it in my room to clean things around my bed and pc. No, I don't want to use that tiny usb vacuum cleaner. Nor a real vacuum cleaner (it seems like an overkill). Or I'm just bored and want something to do and those two things seems a bit too easy for my taste.

So, I figured that what I need to do is, buy an AC/DC adaptor, and connect the cable from the adapter to the vacuum cleaner using mad scientry and a whole load of duct tape. I already got the vacuum cleaner that I want, it uses 65 watt of power and, because it use Car Accu, I suppose it uses 12 volt of DC voltage. But what I stumbled upon is this.

Electric Current (you know, that thing measured in Ampere or coulomb/second).

It's been a while since my highschool physics class, and I kinda almost totally forgot about electronic (I'm more a conventional analog rube-goldbergesque gadgetry guy).

Does electric current matter in this case? I know the definition of electric current, but what does it matter in practical sense (I know what voltage and power do in practical sense, but not electric current)?

There are a few adapter in that electronic store, all differ in the matter of... something like max electric current? Anyway it's like, 500 mili ampere, 650 ma, 1000ma, and 1200 ma, though I don't know what difference they have except their prices. Does it matter which one that I use?

Thanks for your help.
you guys will be spared when I got the world under my control later

KnightDisciple
2009-02-01, 06:11 AM
....Don't a lot of places have those little hand vacs, too? That still plug in like normal, but are just a foot long or something?
Or are those dead and gone?

Fri
2009-02-01, 06:18 AM
I try to find them, with no luck, on three different electronic store. Sigh. If I keep looking, I suppose I'll find one small enough for my taste, but tinkering with electronical things is much more fun.

edit: and generally I don't shop online. If I do, I would be bankrupt years ago or found dead by drowning in book inside my room.

KnightDisciple
2009-02-01, 06:21 AM
Hm. Might try Amazon; it's got everything.
But as far as love for tinkering...I'm fresh out of suggestions. :smallsmile:
I'm not much of a gadget builder typ. :smallwink:

unstattedCommoner
2009-02-01, 07:14 AM
If the adapter can't handle the current your appliance is using, it will fail.

An approximate value for the current is (power)/(mains voltage). Use an adapter rated for significantly more than this value and you should be safe.

Fri
2009-02-01, 09:13 AM
I see. Thanks guys. After some quick counting and asking to the store's technician, it seems that their adapter can't handle the vac. I'll need at least a 5 ampere adapter, and probably bigger one if it exist. Oh well, let see whether I can find a vac small enough for my taste or an adapter big enough for my problem first.