Power adapter question

[Harsky]

Up till now, I never gave much thought about power adapters but today, I bought an external HDD but the power adapter lead is really, really short. Then I was rummaging through my cupboard and found a plug with the same plug size input and the same voltage output but the difference is that one is 1.5A and the other is 0.8A. While it works, I'm worried about the longterm effects. Should I be?

 

[Armadillo]

No , 1.5A is just the max output of the adapter the hdd will just draw what it needs.

 

[Harsky]

No , 1.5A is just the max output of the adapter the hdd will just draw what it needs.

So what does it mean if the power adapter with the short lead that came with the HDD is 0.8A but the power adapter with the longer lead that I found in the cupboard is 1.5A? Also, one of them says 2000mA? Anyways, I did use the replacement adapter and it works okay but I'm still worried over the longterm effects

 

[Armadillo]

No , 1.5A is just the max output of the adapter the hdd will just draw what it needs.

So what does it mean if the power adapter with the short lead that came with the HDD is 0.8A but the power adapter with the longer lead that I found in the cupboard is 1.5A? Also, one of them says 2000mA? Anyways, I did use the replacement adapter and it works okay but I'm still worried over the longterm effects

It just means the one with the short led can only give a max of 0.8amps , while the one with the longer lead can give a max of 1.5amps and the hdd will just take what it needs. If the hdd only needs say 0.5A , the it will just take 0.5A from either of them. Long as the voltage is correct and the current it draws is less than what the power supply can give , then it's fine.

 

[Harsky]

So to sum up, I have nothing to worry about and I can just keep using the one which outputs more mA?

 

[Armadillo]

So to sum up, I have nothing to worry about and I can just keep using the one which outputs more mA?

Yes.

 

[Harsky]

Okay, just a curious question now (really sorry for all this because I had a bad experience with power adapters which blew out my device). If a device which requires 2A is suddenly downgraded to 1.5A, why can it still work?

 

[Armadillo]

Can't say I've really looked into it , but my guess would be either the device didn't need 2A , they just gave you a 2A power supply for it or the 1.5A on the power supply was it's sustainable current and not peak output , so it'll would of been ok for a while , but then more than likely died or killed the device it's attached to.

Only a guess based on what I know though , as I've never really looked into running something on a weaker supply than it needs.