bitfixer
Veteran Member
Whenever I see a device that uses a barrel-jack DC adapter where the center pin is negative and the shield is positive, I feel a mild annoyance. Seems like the device is daring me to destroy it by accident. I was wondering if there was an actual engineering reason for doing this, apart from perhaps only having that type of DC adapter available in quantity or something like that.
This seems to be something that is not done much anymore, at least not any device I've seen made in the last couple of decades or so. But I could be wrong.
One thought was that it could be useful for devices with batteries, where inserting the plug interrupts the battery connection and completely disconnects the battery from the rest of the circuit. But I feel like I have seen some that do this with center positive as well.
I am just curious to know why this was done, and if there was a real reason for it other than lack of standardization. Any ideas?
This seems to be something that is not done much anymore, at least not any device I've seen made in the last couple of decades or so. But I could be wrong.
One thought was that it could be useful for devices with batteries, where inserting the plug interrupts the battery connection and completely disconnects the battery from the rest of the circuit. But I feel like I have seen some that do this with center positive as well.
I am just curious to know why this was done, and if there was a real reason for it other than lack of standardization. Any ideas?