[NTLUG:Discuss] OT battery substitute

[Ralph Green]

On Sat, 2011-04-30 at 22:31 -0500, Fred James wrote:
> let me ask a few questions to be sure, please?
> (a) I spent <$5 on my "wall wart" so in fact I have a "noise" generator?
> (b) there really isn't any "cheap" way to solve that?
> (c) are there any 5 or 6 volt "wall warts" that aren't "noise" 
> generators, and if so how can I tell, or at what price range should I be 
> able to expect it to be "quiet"?

Howdy,
  There are decent wall warts.  There are even really good ones that go
for $100 or so.  There was an article on Hacker News about them a year
or two ago.  I don't remember what they were needed for, but they exist.
But, a decent regulated wall wart should do.  I would recommend you
visit Tanner Electronics.  They had some nice dlink brand regulated 5V
adapters for $4.95 the last time I was there.  I use them to run my
firewall.  The Embedded Workshop was given some nice firewall hardware.
The computers themselves were real nice, but they had awful power
adapters.  The dlink adapters from Tanner's have been very reliable.
 Tanner's labels the adapters as to whether they are regulated.  If in
doubt, ask them.  They are very helpful.
Good luck,
Ralph