Nintendo DS Lite Charger

[Northern Man]

I bought a Nintendo DS Lite for my daughter for Xmas while I was in the US with work. However, the supplied charger is 110V, not dual voltage as I had expected. I have bought a DS lite/USB cable for charging via my PC, and I also have a Griffin travel charger which I use for my iPod. The Griffin charger is the same voltage, but the power output is stated as 1000mA versus the Nintendo charger at 400mA. Can anyone tell me if the power differences are likely to cause a problem i.e. overcharging the battery?

Many thanks

[Scubee]

I may be completely wrong here, but I beleived that the way chargers worked, simply, was that they had a transformer which changed the power input (i.e. 110, or 240, or, as with a car charger, 12v) and converted it to a power level that the battery could deal with, so theoretically, so long as the charger fits, it should be fine.

But please don't blame me if it blows up

[abucksdiver]

You can get a new one at "Game" shops for £7.99
(I know, my daughter managed to loose her power supply, and between Christmas and new year, I had to queue up with all the un-employed chavs and their multiple off-spring, each spending £50-60 on games)


Andrew

[Northern Man]

Cheers for the replies. I've seen replacement chargers on eBay too but I'd like to use my Griffin chargers if possible as I can then use it to charge on holiday or in the car.

I'm no electrician, and I'm just unsure how the charger/battery work together - does the battery only take the power it needs or would the higher power Griffin charger effectively overcharge the battery in the DS?

[dry suit diver]

Originally Posted by Northern Man

Cheers for the replies. I've seen replacement chargers on eBay too but I'd like to use my Griffin chargers if possible as I can then use it to charge on holiday or in the car.

I'm no electrician, and I'm just unsure how the charger/battery work together - does the battery only take the power it needs or would the higher power Griffin charger effectively overcharge the battery in the DS?

if you left it too long then you could in theory overcharge the battery but it is highly unlikely. As long as the output polarity is the same and the voltage rating is the same there shouldn't be a problem.

[Narked@50]

It will be fine.

Think of a normal household appliance, they run with a 13 to 16amp supply but only draw the ampage they need as long as the voltage is OK, otherwise you would blow most appliances whenever you switched them on as they use very little on the whole. You would have a problem if it was the other way round as a 400ma charger could not supply enough power for the 1000ma demand, it would probably still work and just take longer to charge, but there would be more chance of incompatability.

James

[Northern Man]

Thanks everyone, feel a lot happier about plugging it in now

All the best

[Paul Oliver]

You can get a proper charger lead from HMV for £5. They have the adapter element built into the plug.

I bought my kids a Nintendo Lite each in France, on Xmas Eve (talk about saved by the bell, could not get them anywhere in the UK) and we saw the ones in GAME a couple of days later, que was too long though, then found the same item £2 cheaper in HMV with no que

The French leads they came with will do us fine when we are abroad.

The savings i made buying them in France more than made up for the cost of the new plugs.