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PoloM Occasional Visitor
Joined: Jun 29, 2008 Posts: 6
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Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:14 pm Post subject: Newbie how to find car charger polarity? |
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Hi,
I bought an LG LN505 on sale it was new but no car charger included.
I phone LG and they wanted a staggering £45 for a charger which is almost the cost of the unit.
I've searched the manual but there is no information on the charger specs.
On the unit it says 5v dc at 2A but no symbol to indicate the polarity whether the charger should have a positive centre or negative centre.
It uses a jack type charger rather than a USB type.
I have borrowed a multimeter and was wondering if anyone can advise how to work out the charger polaity required from the Sat Nav unit itself?
Many thanks |
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Andy_P Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Jun 04, 2005 Posts: 19991 Location: West and Southwest London
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Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:24 pm Post subject: |
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I Googled for the "Lg LN505" and the first thing it came up with was this:
£3.95 power supply
Not even worth thinking how to work it out at that price! |
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PoloM Occasional Visitor
Joined: Jun 29, 2008 Posts: 6
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Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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Andy_P wrote: | I Googled for the "Lg LN505" and the first thing it came up with was this:
£3.95 power supply
Not even worth thinking how to work it out at that price! |
Hi Andy, thanks for your reply.
I received a charger from those people today, the company goes under various names on the net and eBay but is still a company called 'M-99'.
I tried the charger... the jack fitted OK but when plugged into the cigarette lighter I saw the unit power up then the screen went very very bright and then started to get lines appearing and then faded out.
Needless to say I'm very worried about this and am wondering whether the charger may have fried my unit. |
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Andy_P Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Jun 04, 2005 Posts: 19991 Location: West and Southwest London
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Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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Oh dear.....
That does sound pretty bad.
What you could do now is use the multimeter you borrowed to see what the output voltage of the charger is now (not plugged into anything!)
If it is significantly more than 5 Volts (either polarity), then I think you would have a case against them. |
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PoloM Occasional Visitor
Joined: Jun 29, 2008 Posts: 6
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Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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Andy_P wrote: | Oh dear.....
That does sound pretty bad.
What you could do now is use the multimeter you borrowed to see what the output voltage of the charger is now (not plugged into anything!)
If it is significantly more than 5 Volts (either polarity), then I think you would have a case against them. |
Hi Andy,
Just did as you just said and metered the charger and it turns out to be a Positive centre pin polarity.
The output when plugged into the cig-lighter was 5.58v ...is that above the normal tolerances for a 5v dc requirement?
Also if the polarity of the charger was wrong would it be the case that the sat nav unit would not have powered up and just burnt out? |
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Pocketgps Lifetime Member
Joined: Nov 16, 2004 Posts: 2145 Location: Midlands, UK
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Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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PoloM wrote: | The output when plugged into the cig-lighter was 5.58v ...is that above the normal tolerances for a 5v dc requirement?
Also if the polarity of the charger was wrong would it be the case that the sat nav unit would not have powered up and just burnt out? |
Just to cut in on your posts with Andy.
5.58v is fine under no load.
Can we ask how you obtained your gps unit and why did it not have a car charger included as they usually come with one as standard. |
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PoloM Occasional Visitor
Joined: Jun 29, 2008 Posts: 6
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Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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Pocketgps wrote: | PoloM wrote: | The output when plugged into the cig-lighter was 5.58v ...is that above the normal tolerances for a 5v dc requirement?
Also if the polarity of the charger was wrong would it be the case that the sat nav unit would not have powered up and just burnt out? |
Just to cut in on your posts with Andy.
5.58v is fine under no load.
Can we ask how you obtained your gps unit and why did it not have a car charger included as they usually come with one as standard. |
It was a Manager's Special at Halfords as a display unit kept in a cabinet but was not used powered. It came with all accessories apart from the charger which I thought would be easy to get. |
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aj2052 Frequent Visitor
Joined: Jul 03, 2005 Posts: 1431 Location: Leics,UK
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:49 am Post subject: |
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Quote: | Can we ask how you obtained your gps unit and why did it not have a car charger included as they usually come with one as standard |
Not neccesarily so, I bought the LG cookie retail 3 weeks ago and it did not come with a car charger, we seem to be getting into the situation where manufactures are dropping out the things we might consider standard, It started with printed manuals now on CD. most plugs nowadays are centre pin positive as standard, as most units now seem to be standazing on 4.7v batteries, all of my units are usb charging and to avoid the increasing collection of differeing charging leads I am trying to go the way of a car and mains charger with USB charging output, manufactures take note. _________________ Moto G5s Plus, Sygic 17.4.8 |
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aj2052 Frequent Visitor
Joined: Jul 03, 2005 Posts: 1431 Location: Leics,UK
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:00 am Post subject: |
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To Add to above most items nowadays most units are not polarity consious, because it only takes two diodes to make it so, but the then in these days of price cutting manufactures who knows,
In my opinion I would take back to halfords because unless it was marked as having a fault it would still be covered under the sale of goods act, explaining that you have bought a LG charger and found it faulty and unfit for purpose. _________________ Moto G5s Plus, Sygic 17.4.8 |
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Pocketgps Lifetime Member
Joined: Nov 16, 2004 Posts: 2145 Location: Midlands, UK
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 6:10 am Post subject: |
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PoloM wrote: | It was a Manager's Special at Halfords as a display unit kept in a cabinet but was not used powered. It came with all accessories apart from the charger which I thought would be easy to get. |
As aj2052 said, I would return it to Halfords and see what they say.
If you are unable to charge the unit, and LG want so much for a charger, then I cannot see how Halfords can refuse you a refund as it make it so expensive. I would not mention that you have bought a charger for it. Just that the unit does not work if that is the case. |
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