Need help with power supply info for Radio Shack 15-1172 Distribution Amplifier

[Foxhack]

Whew.

I recently picked up one of these for cheap, but it didn't include a power supply. The side of the thing has the polarity information, but it doesn't specify the amount of amps required for this to run. All I've been able to find says that it needs a 110V AC Power Supply, but it doesn't specify the amps. I've already searched on Google but nobody seems to know what amps this needs.

Can anyone help? Do I have to use a power supply with these exact specs or can I use one that's got more power?

[SLK001]

More power is fine. But, it also depends whether or not there is an internal voltage regulator on the unit.

If you can, go to a nearby Radio Shack and see what is included in a new unit. If you can't, then a 12V, 200mA DC supply would be a good place to start. Mind you, too much voltage applied without an internal regulator, will quickly burn up the unit.

[Verify]

Found one at: http://www.smcelectronics.com/acadapt.htm

Model: 15-1172.
(Stock #: ACADRS50) Rated at 9 VDC/100 Ma.
$5.00 Each

[Foxhack]

There's a problem. See... I'm in uh. Mexico. And there's no such things as Radio Shacks down here. (Radio Cabañas? Ha ha.)

Verify, I did stumble upon that, but the product page mentions that the power has to be 110V AC. Wouldn't that one be too weak for the item to work?

I'm sorry, I'm new at this and don't understand all these fancy electronics things.

[edDV]

Power bricks are spec'd for input and output voltage, amps and plug polarity.

In your case the input voltage would be 110vac 60 Hz.

Output voltage and amps need to be known. That unit will probably consume less than 0.5 amps but we can't guess the voltage.

Maybe somebody owns one and can read the specs off the power brick.

You can almost read the PS spec in this Google search picture.

[Foxhack]

Maybe somebody owns one and can read the specs off the power brick.

Which is exactly what I'm hoping.

[Verify]

The link that I provided states that it is an original Radio Shack unit for the Radion Shack 11-1172 distribution amplifier and is available for $5.00.

It accepts 110V 60Hz AC from a wall socket and outputs 9V DC at 100mA to the amplifier.

[redwudz]

Just to add, 9VDC @ 100MA is a very small amount of power. If you aren't able to get that particular unit, most any 9VDC battery eliminator would work. But the connector might be wrong. Apparently the polarity is marked on the unit and you would need a adapter or plug that has the same polarity with either + 9VDC on the center conductor and the outside conductor being ground, or the opposite setup. And it would need to be the correct size to fit the socket on the device.

Worst case is you could get a 9VDC battery eliminator and get someone to solder the correct connector on the output lead, with the correct polarity. But I would try to find a power unit with the right connector and polarity before you do that.

[Foxhack]

Yeah, luckily, the polarity is noted next to the power connector (positive center). Why they didn't note the power requirements is a mystery, though.

So tomorrow I'm gonna go look around at some flea markets and pawn shops in hopes of finding something that will work. I'll take the device with me and hopefully I'll get one that fits.

Thanks for your help, everyone.

[edDV]

If 9VDC, you can test it with a 9V battery. Good for 2-5 hours (alkaline ~550mAh).

[Foxhack]

I have no idea how to do that, though.

Anyway, I ended up using a 150mA converter (I couldn't find anything lower than that) and the item works... but it didn't do anything to the video signal I was trying to boost.

I appreciate the help. Too bad I couldn't do much of anything with it.

[edDV]

I have no idea how to do that, though.

Anyway, I ended up using a 150mA converter (I couldn't find anything lower than that) and the item works... but it didn't do anything to the video signal I was trying to boost.

I appreciate the help. Too bad I couldn't do much of anything with it.

A normal passive 4 to 1 splitter would attenuate each output to 1/4 amplitude and change source impedance at each output. A distribution amplifier is an active splitter that delivers unity gain with consistent impedance and frequency response. If is not intended for boosting gain.

There are special video distribution amps intended to compensate gain/equalization for extremely long video cable runs. Those are only needed for coax runs longer than 150 to 300 feet depending on cable type.

High impedance "RCA" consumer audio is only good for ~25 ft even with well shielded cables. noise rises with cable length. If you want long analog audio runs, you would use balanced low impedance "600 ohm" line or mic level connections.

[Foxhack]

I didn't understand a word you just typed. Sorry, I'm not very good at understanding these things. But here's the issue I'm having, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDUczlMR9Ng

In short: The Sega Genesis outputs video to a TV just fine, but some video capture cards can't process it properly, and only get a heavily distorted signal. I hoped that the device would in fact fix this, but it hasn't. I got a suggestion to plug my system into a VCR (or in my case, a DVD recorder) and then run the video feed through it, and it worked, but the resulting video was very fuzzy. Stable, but fuzzy.

So I think I'm stuck like this unless someone manages to find a fix for it, at the hardware level.

Thanks anyway.

[edDV]

I didn't understand a word you just typed. Sorry, I'm not very good at understanding these things. But here's the issue I'm having, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDUczlMR9Ng

In short: The Sega Genesis outputs video to a TV just fine, but some video capture cards can't process it properly, and only get a heavily distorted signal. I hoped that the device would in fact fix this, but it hasn't. I got a suggestion to plug my system into a VCR (or in my case, a DVD recorder) and then run the video feed through it, and it worked, but the resulting video was very fuzzy. Stable, but fuzzy.

So I think I'm stuck like this unless someone manages to find a fix for it, at the hardware level.

Thanks anyway.

Your problem is loss of horizontal sync. A distribution amp just maintains levels when you split video and audio.

The problem is either with the Genesis or the input horizontal sync lock on your capture device.