Customer Reviews

JWIN JAC32 Dual Voltage Egg Power" Universal AC Adapter

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Works great for a great price - if you know what you are doing. There are a few steps you need to go through first:

1. Make sure you are using the correct amperage for the device. (If device uses less than the adapter's rating, that's ok)
2. Set the proper voltage in the hidden compartment on the adapter.
3. Find the right size tip for the device.
4. *** Make sure you are using the proper tip polarity!! *** This is very important. If in doubt, check the specs on the device - it usually is marked on the device. If you are still unsure, don't use the adapter! You will have a 50/50% change to possibly ruin your device if you guess.

The JWIN JA-C82 1000ma 110/220v AC-DC adapter is big, hefty and potentially dangerous. It's about the size and shape of a women's fist. Disappointing considering modern AC-DC 110/220v adapters that come with my travel electronics are much lighter. The scary part is that you'll have to figure out the DC polarity before plugging in. Not an easy task. Get it wrong and you might toast your electronics.

If you're an international electronics guru, this can be a bargain value.

Not the most reliable AC Adapter. The different pins fall off of the cord all the time.

This is one of those multiple-voltage wall warts which has a sliding switch to set the voltage to one of 7 values from 1.5 to 12 volts DC. You see these for $10-$15 in stores, but Amazon's 3rd party unit is $3 including free shipping (today 12/2/07). The shape is unusual, being roughly a sphere of diameter 2.5 inches. There are 6 different plug styles included that might include what you need. Polarity is selected by the way you attach the plug to the cable from the adapter. The box says that a load current of 300 mA is "required". Since this is an unregulated DC power supply, the actual output voltage (at each switch setting) varies with load current, so I presume at 300 mA load the official voltages are realized. At lower currents, the output voltages are higher than nominal and might cause damage. For my application, I built an external circuit with about $1 worth of parts to obtain a *regulated* voltage source at 1.5 volts to act as a battery replacement/AC adapter for an MP3 player, a Creative Muvo V100 1GB also from Amazon. This particular MP3 player allows the 1.5 volts to be supplied directly to the normal USB connector power pins, so my "AC adapter" connects to the player with a Dollar Store USB cable cut off at one end (warning: these cheap cables are fine for power, don't use them for USB 2.0 fast transfer). My goal here was to have an MP3 player run 24x7 for a special purpose without using a battery; the Muvo draws maybe 35 mA. So, the bottom line: this wall wart can serve as the basis of a simple regulated power supply putting out anywhere from 1.2 to ~12 volts as shown page 14 of the National LM317L data sheet (Google). The regulator uses this LM317L, 2 resistors (which determine the regulated output voltage) and 2 small caps. It is not easy to find "AAA battery replacement" regulated power supplies at low cost. As an aside, the Muvo is a good design, hardware and software. It's weakness is that it fails to support the fast USB 2.0 download rate, supporting only the "slow USB 2.0" download rate which is the same as USB 1.0 -- a bit of shoddy specsmanship. In my application, I download once so no matter. On the other hand, its battery life is long and current requirement low. This player was $33 with free shipping from Amazon, is now $35 without.

Once I found a plug that fit my device, this AC adapter worked fine. The problem is that none of the six plugs shipped with the device fit my portable cd player. One of them fit in the jack in my player, but the plug was too long so it didn't seat properly and the cd player would not turn on. Fortunately I already had another universal AC adapter (with no compatible voltage setting, hence me buying another universal AC adapter) with an appropriately sized plug, so I simply took that plug and used it with this device.

So, a word of caution to those contemplating buying this device: Unless you're sure that the plugs provided with it will work with your equipment, you might want to look for this or another compatible universal AC adapter in person where you can try it out before buying it. Had I not had an appropriate plug from another source, I would have been out my purchase price plus shipping costs since the marketplace seller from which I bought this would have not refunded my original shipping cost and would have charged me a 15% restocking fee, not to mention the cost of postage involved in returning the product. (Quite honestly, given the low price of this device, I would have just kept it even if I couldn't get it to work since it wouldn't have been worth my while to return it for a net return of a dollar or two.)

Great product. I used it on several different items and it works great and saved me alot of money on batteries.

This is a decent choice for people looking for a quick power solution. It certainly does it's job so the only detractions are physical. The egg shape can be a cumbersome work around in some situations, also there were no instructions to point out the small cover hiding the voltage control.
Other than that, it's an adapter.

Thoughtful design; solid construction. Easy to hold onto and plug-in to the wall. A+ !

It is what you see. a super cheap AC adapter. Works fine for me.

enjoy.