125v cable vs wall wart

[SavannahLion]

Given a choice for a very small cab (and the fact small children will play it), would it wiser to use the IEC cord or resort to using the wall wart?

I'm not using a true PC so I would actually be de-shelling a wall wart and installing it inside if I resorted to using an IEC cable. The biggest advantage I see to using the IEC cord is that they tend be a lot more durable than the wall wart wires and are going to be a lot more resistant to abuse. I can smoothly use an extension cord, if need be whereas the wall wart is going to turn into a brick. But if the wall wart breaks, it's not going to kill the kids (I don't think). I kind of prefer using the IEC cable because it's bone standard but then again, I've been installing them on much bigger cabs and the kids can't get behind them anyways.

My kids are generally very good about leaving the electrical outlets alone (they seem fascinated with the turtle lamp though ) so I don't see either being an issue. It's when we have those damn sleep overs and such. Most other kids seem to be grade A morons.

[BobA]

I think the wall wart wire is too flimsy with kids running around.   An IEC with a real cord is much more robust.  With the wall wart or whatever power source you choose locked safely inside the cab and and IEC cord on the outside you will have a good solid cab.

[MonMotha]

Look into an "open frame switching supply".  They're available with IEC inlets on them, so you could mount them in a place that exposes that inlet (through a hole) to the outside, then just pull wires off for your DC supplies.  These are quite a bit smaller than the supplies with an enclosure, but of course there's live parts exposed so take suitable precautions to ensure you don't end up with safety hazards.

[SavannahLion]

Look into an "open frame switching supply".  They're available with IEC inlets on them, so you could mount them in a place that exposes that inlet (through a hole) to the outside, then just pull wires off for your DC supplies.  These are quite a bit smaller than the supplies with an enclosure, but of course there's live parts exposed so take suitable precautions to ensure you don't end up with safety hazards.

I think I need to learn a little bit more about PSU's of this nature. Did a quick Google and some of their "features" are a bit of a mystery and I haven't located any spec sheets I can make ready sense out of. For example, I found a PSU made by Shindengen which puts out +15v/3.5A which also lists FG, ACL, and ACN as their outputs but nothing (readily obvious to me anyways) about what those notations mean. 

I've got plenty of time though. I'm using a PC PSU or a wall wart while I'm testing the circuits. I finally figured out the controls (thanks to a genius idea at a flight sim forum) and just need to get the parts for that and then figure out where I'm going to source some power hungry bits so it doesn't make sense to buy/hack/whatever any PSU of any kind until I know what I'm going to need.

[MonMotha]

An "open frame" supply is basically what's inside of a wall wart or PC supply but with no enclosure on it, which means it's a little smaller in terms of overall size.  You just have to make sure you enclose it well in the final application since it's otherwise something of an electrical hazard.  They're also often a little bit cheaper through production channels, but YMMV when hunting around in the secondhand/surplus market.

[MTPPC]

part or the purpose of the wall wart is to cut the voltage down at the wall for safety in cases where the kids damage the cable or wire.

[SavannahLion]

part or the purpose of the wall wart is to cut the voltage down at the wall for safety in cases where the kids damage the cable or wire.

There's an interesting discussion over on one of the HaD updates where this may not actually be true. It appears achieving UL approval doesn't seem to apply to an individual component but the overall product. In otherwards a damaged wall wart is no less safe than an IEC cord. I didn't bother saving the url but if there's an expressed interest i'll see if I can track it down.

I haven't gone any further to verify the claims but it was worth note.

[Mario]

part or the purpose of the wall wart is to cut the voltage down at the wall for safety in cases where the kids damage the cable or wire.

I always thought that the purpose of the wall wart is to keep bulky transformers out of the product itself.

Mario

[MonMotha]

The major reason for wall warts and external power supplies in general is to make the complicated device not require UL or similar approval at all by making it a low voltage device.  Instead, the manufacturer can just buy an off-the-shelf power supply that's already UL approved and go to town.  As an often secondary consideration, it does also remove the sometimes large power supply from inside the unit and also moves that source of heat away from the possibly more sensitive components in the device (which also makes it easier to cool the power supply, too, if the device being powered also generates heat).