Will 4.5 or 6 Volts be OK for my FB3?

[laserLips]

Hi all, I accidently threw away my power supply for my FB3 when I cleared out my bedroom.

Someone at work has offered to borrow me one. I should just go an buy one but it's such a hassel getting down to the shop.

The supply they've offered me has a switch and can run from 3 to 9 volts.

the options are
3
4
4.5
(Oddly, no 5V)
6
7
8
9

Do you think it's safe to try 4.5 or 6 Volts for the FB3?

Cheers
Graham

[Insanity]

I found the FB3 to be very fussy about voltage when I had one....

Mark

[laserLips]

Mark, do you think it's safe to try the 4.5 volts?

[Xytrell]

I don't see why not. Worse case scenario - it doesn't work or doesn't work properly. You're not likely to damage something from under-voltage.

You could get a $1 5V regulator from radioshack I guess. More importantly, what is the measured voltage? And the measured voltage under load? If I have a 9V wall wart for example, it almost NEVER reads 9V.

[Insanity]

I don't think it will damage the board, but you might find a lot of crashes...

Mark

[laserLips]

Speaking of crashes my ShowRider crashes the whole time, but thast another story.

I'll use my volt meter and test the supply first to make sure it doesnt spike. Then I'll try the supply with the FB3 at 4.5 V.

If it doesnt work I'll go shopping.

Cheers.

[smogthemog]

You really need to use a switch mode PSU for it as those cheapo PSU's as you are describing are usually not very accurate on their voltages and may well damage your FB3.
If you switch it to 4.5V and put a meter accross it you will more than likely read 12v - until - you add a load to it!!
12v into an FB3 will not do it any good at all!

[f22warzone]

Why not just use the 5V from the USB cable? like the SE edition does?

[laserLips]

OK Smog, I wont risk it.
I'll go buy a 5v supply.
Thanks

[Doc]

As Smog said, those cheapo wall supplies are terrible, most of them don't have a smoothed output so will at the very best cause loads of crashes etc, at worst kill your FB3 and as F22 said; it's really easy to set for USB power.

You just need to connect these two pads together, I used a pair of pins and a jumper from an old motherboard so it's reversible (best to disconnect the power socket when you perform this mod).