Chess challenger overheated!

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microhenri
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Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2016 7:58 am
Location: Netherlands

Post by microhenri »

Scally wrote:I was just wondering what would happen if an American plug was removed and a U.K. plug put on in its place before I bought them, as we're twice the voltage and 16 is nearly twice 9, could that be the problem?


Guessing,

Al.
Hello Alan,
Does the US plug fit in a UK socket? The pins of a UK plug are thicker and wider apart then the US plug isn’t it?

So what happens when you put an 110V adapter in a 240V socket:
When I calculate rectifier voltage when you put the US plug in the UK socket, then the DC output voltage of the adapter can be up to (240/110)*16.1=35.1V. I don’t think that the adapter itself will hold this very long. The adapter is not designed for such high voltages. The internal capacitor for example is mostly dimensioned to about 16V or 25V.

When you connect 35Vdc to your CC7 for example the power regulator will get hot. The input voltage of this regulator is 35V max and 25V recommended so at the edge of specification. The temperature of the regulator will be (7°C/W*0.24A*(35V-5V))+20°C=70°C. It will survive but it will degrade in time.

I do not know the current of the other chess challengers, but higher currents means higher temperatures. The regulator will go into temperature protection and the CC will stop working.

The internal capacitor of the CC in my opinion the weak spot. It is only 16V. 35V is too high so it will not survive very long. Especially when it is 35 years old.

When a CC is working on a DC voltage (CC3 is not) then you can easily reduce the input voltage to 9Vdc. The computer will be less hot and age not so fast.

I hope this answers the question.

Kind regards, Henri
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