External DVD burner Watts??

Ed_282

OSNN Newbie
Joined
15 Oct 2004
Messages
4
Hiya,

I bought myself a bargain price external DVD burner for my laptop while in Canada - which I would now like to use while in Europe. The burner is a Mercury (cased by Kobian) - nothing fancy, but it does the trick.

Since Canada is on 110v and Europe is on 220v - and there's no power selector switch on the burner - I will have to run it through a transformer in order to power it up.

Question is this:

I've got a power transformer with me for "50 Watts and up", but can't find anywhere how many Watts an external DVD burner actually uses -> does anyone know?

If a DVD burner only draws 25W, then using this transformer will fubar the unit (and vice versa should I use a low Watt transformer and the burner draws more...).

Help please ;)
 
hmm dont u have a stabilizer? that u can plug into any wall socket and then supplies both 110v and 220v? thats the thing here we have both 110v and 220v in saudi arabia, but most my stuff is auto 110v/220v but my toothbrush is 220v cuz i got it from dubai, so i have to charge it down stairs in the kitchen :S
 
Sounds like a great solution - but probably an expensive one as well, no (even if I could find one - I don't seem to see anything like that online in Sweden)... :rolleyes:
 
yeah ull find them, they are cheap btw like max 50 -100 dollars, and they offer many socksets like 2 of each voltage i think
 
I certainly appreciate the tip on the stabiliser...

...but I'd first love to know if anyone can provide an answer?! No point spending $50-100 on something I might not need, given that I already have a 50W+ transformer that could suffice ;)

So I'll still monitor this thread if anyone has an idea of how many Watts an external DVD burner might draw...
 
Depends on the speed of the burner. The faster the more power it uses.

The power requirements should be clearly labeled on the burner case (or power block). If not it is a violation of standard electrical practices and indicates substandard equipment.

If there is no label on the case open it up and read the label on the burner. It will use +5V, and maybe +12V if it's an older unit. Multiply the voltage by the amps for each voltage type. Add all the types up and add 10%. Then add 20% more to account for the case power supply. That will be your power requirement. (BTW 50W should be enough for a DVD burner unless it has a bunch of extras in like LED, etc.)

While looking at the case label (or power block) see if it mentions a voltage range, it should. many units today are designed to operate from both 110V@60Hz and 220V@50Hz so they can be sold anywhere in the world.
 
The specs of the cd burner in question:

CD Read Speed 40XCD Rewrite Speed 10XCD Write Speed 24XData Access Time 150ms DVD; 130ms CDData Buffer 2MBDVD Read Speed 12XDVD Rewrite Speed DVD+RW 4X; DVD-RW 2XDVD Write Speed DVD+R 8X; DVD-R 4XIncluded In Box USB 2.0 Cable, Software, ManualInterface USB 2.0Internal/External External


I opened up the casing to find the following info on the actual unit: +5/+12V ~2amps (nothing more).

On the external casing, the plug for the power cord reads 15A 250V - which I guess is the most important info. So that's 15*250=3750 ... 37.5 Watts?
 

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