Our baby monitor is rated for 6 volts, and comes with an appropriate adaptor.
In my part of the world, electricity supply is unreliable (we get cut off for a couple hours at a time).
As such, we've gotten used to using these little Lithium Ion battery kits to power small appliances (such as the WiFi router) - they work great!
I have a spare little battery kit as described above, and it has two voltage output options, namely 5 volts and 7 volts (I can select between the two with a switch).
The baby monitor is rated for 6 volts, so I'm wondering - can I use this battery kit? And if so, should I switch it to 5 volts or to 7 volts?
Any significant risks at such low voltages given that it won't be exactly 6 volts?
My knowledge of electronics is minimal, so apologies in advance if this is an ignorant question ^_^
Thanks a bunch!
I would definitely not plug in the 7 Volt adapter as if the current is too high it might damage the circuit.
Whether the 5 volt source can be used would depend on the current. If its a standard USB 5 Volt output most modern day ones are 2 Amps, which would mean the power output is 10 Watts, which may be too much for the circuit. If its 5 Volt, 1 Amp output then it might be okay to connect and test out without damage to the circuit.
What I would recommend is a DC to DC regulator or converter. Something like the following from amazon that would take an input of the 5 Volts and give you 6 Volts out. Make sure to test the output voltage and current with a multimeter before plugging into the monitor.
DC to DC buck converter from amazon: https://a.co/d/9jiA7Ls
There is also a current rating, but it seems likely that the monitor would not have a huge requirement for current. IANABME (I am not a baby monitor engineer).
So, if getting a 6 volt source is not an option, I would try the 5 volt first, and if it doesn't work then try the 7 volt, with the knowledge that there is a small chance it could break the monitor. But (in the USA anyway) anything made for 6 volts would normally be able to handle 7 volts. Normally.
Higher voltage may result in damage, but if it won't run at 5v, or it runs poorly, and the baby monitor wasn't too expensive or hard to replace, I'd personally take the chance at 7v. But I'm just some internet person. You're unlikely to have an exciting failure at 15% over spec voltage if it normally runs from a wall wart; those things often don't have great voltage regulation, especially if they're runnig from iffy utility service anyway.
It's probably unlikely but an over voltage could result in some component going through its breakdown voltage level (although I think 7v rather than 6v makes this unlikely). And from Ohm's law (V=IR) current and voltage are proportional and so more volts and you'll get more current and that could burn something up.