HP Forum Archive 16

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HP97 adapter Message #1 Posted by Hal on 17 May 2006, 4:18 p.m. Hi Folks, I just purchased and recieved an AC adapter (supposedly) for my HP97, which appears to be not quite compatable with my machine. The problem is, my 97 has a partition between the contacts where the adapter plugs in, but the adapter does not have a big enough notch to accomodate the partition (there is a notch separating the female contacts on the adapter plug, but it's too small. It appears that if I either got rid of the partition or opened up the notch on the adapter, it would work. The no-load output from the adapter is about 12VAC. Can I just open up the adapter plug notch and use it? Any help appreciated. Best regards, Hal PS...link to item I purchased

Re: HP97 adapter Message #2 Posted by Tony Duell on 18 May 2006, 7:19 a.m., in response to message #1 by Hal I believe the ridge was added on later production Topcats (and AFAIK all HPIL peripherals), after some user discovered that the common 'figure of 8' mains lead (as used on radios, cassette recorders, etc) would plug straight into the calculator. Applying 110V (or worse 230V) to said machine did a lot of damage. I think the adapters are electrically the same for both the old and new models -- certainly I have never seen a warning about using a new-style adapter with the original type of machine. It should therefore be OK to just open up the gap in the adapter connector a bit.

Re: HP97 adapter Message #3 Posted by Hal on 18 May 2006, 11:13 a.m., in response to message #2 by Tony Duell Thanks Tony... That explains it. I did open up the channel in the plug and the adapter works fine with the machine. Best regards, Hal

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