sl-5500 ac adaptor and battery replacement

[Anonymous]

I thought my zaurus was damaged internally because the charging light would turn on and off, and only stayed on when the power cable was held in place with a rubberband at the right angle. I took it apart and inspected it and nothing was visibly wrong. I plugged in my peakcloudy (ebay) battery pack and was surprised that it worked perfectly. Apparently the connector of my ac adaptor is broken.

Without a doubt, an official sharp ac adaptor is going to be artificially expensive, so does anybody know of any cheap replacements? I really like how it isn\'t a wall wart and instead has the power convertor in the middle of the cable, and would like another one like that if possible.

Another option would be just cutting off the plug at the end with a knife and attaching another plug, if they are available in small quantities at a reasonable price.

I also remember a long time ago on the zaurus.com forums people were talking about cell phone batteries that fit in the zaurus that were cheaper and held more power. It required a small modification of the zaurus which doesn\'t seem too bad, but I won\'t do it without instructions. Does anyone know where that site was, or even if there is a better battery that doesn\'t require a modification?

[Anonymous]

Interestingly enough I just purchased one today from Radio Shack.

Part Number 273-1696 Digital Camera Power adapter with selectable voltage.
It comes with the correct tip.  $21.95

[jorvic]

I had to remake the cord on my adaptor because I broke it but I was pricing out other adaptors to see which route would be cheaper/easier/faster  It shouldnt be too hard to find an adaptor that works for your zaurus if I remember right the output the adaptor uses is 5v 2A has a positive center conductor. The connector seemed standard and should work with most adaptors. The ones I saw were around $20

[V-Man]

I bought the connector from Radio Shack.  It is the size \"B\" adaptor.  They used to be about $1.50, but another time recently I went to get another one, they wanted almost $5.00.  I thought that was a bit much and found some that I had bought years ago for a different project.  Don\'t remember who I got them from, was at a Ham Radio show.  I think they were about $0.50.  The ones I use are not the Radio Shack \"Adapaplug\" (although I have several of those) but the ones that are a solder connection with a strain relief.  Radio Shack used to sell those also, not sure if they still do.  If they don\'t check Allied Electronics (www.alliedelec.com), real nice people to deal with even for small quantities and my unusual requests (I buy strange stuff for wiring ham radio stuff together, only place I ever found for a 12v 200A relay).  Also try a google search for the connector.
If your real handy with a soldering iron, you can make one fairly cheaply.  I have two home made hardwired charging cables in my radio shack.  Maxim has a 5v 2A regulator chip that is only slightly bigger than a LM7805.
Let me know if I can be any help.

V-Man

[ran]

Sounds like your adapter might have the same problem as an aftermarket iPaq adapter I bought for my Z:  one of the wires broke right next to the connector,  and wiggle the cable just so would bring the ends bak into contact.

I\'m pretty sure RS has solder-on connectors,  as well as the (now outrageously-priced) Adaptaplugs.  Check in the stacks of drawers that are usually in the same section.

A couple of months ago,  I found the 273-1816 cigarette lighter adaptor on clearance for about $8-10.  I comes with 6 Adaptaplugs (including the one you\'d need for the Z),  and could probably be useful for powering some other gadget in the car.  Like most such adapters,  it jumps in 1.5V increments,  but I bought one of the $3 Y-cables,  and plan to insert a diode in one leg.  That\'ll give me about 5.3V to run the Z,  and 6V to run the $30 GPS I also lucked into after most of the planet had sold out of \'em.

Ran