I want to power my Arduino through an outlet, abd for this purpise I've got an used transformer which gives me 30 volts dc. Since the Ardoino can only take up to 12 volts, I need to lower the voltage, and for that i'm planning to use a dc to dc converter. Should work, it already worked with a battery i used previously. But i never worked with transformers before, so i'd like to know if theres anything i need to know before plugging the whole thing into a wall. I'm especially worried that i'll short circuit the house. Please just tell me what to look out for. Thanks in advance!
With any luck what you have is not a transformer which just does AC-AC.
It's probably a power supply. It should be fine but a few more details would make it easier to comment. It should have a label on it giving more detail than just 30V so a picture of that label would make it clear what exactly you have.
Steve
Curious, are you sure the output is DC? Would seem uncommon.
Is there a reason you wish to use this "transformer" with a DC-DC stepdown instead of a simple wall wart?
I would think a good quality wall wart would be a better low noise source than the DC-DC from eBay (if that what you are thinking).
Thanks for the replies, but we figured it out. I could just plug it in without any ill-effects, I was just a bit afraid, since it's my first project to actually use a power outlet.
Also, slipstick and JohnRob, here are the answers to your questions, if you're still interested. It is indeed a power supply, that was a mistake on my part, since we all just informally called it "Traffo" (short for Transformator) in german i simply forgot that "Transformer" wasn't necessarily the right term. It's the HLN-60H-30A from mean well. And yes, since it is a power supply and not a Transformer, again, sorry, it outputs dc.
And to answer your question, JohnRob, I use them becuase i already have them, reused from other projects or simply salvaged from old devices. The power supply actually came from an old mowing robot.
Thanks for the followup.
Good luck
John
It is generally far easier to use a readily available and cheap USB "Phone charger" to power the Arduino. This provides a regulated 5 V, up to 500 mA can be fed into the USB jack on the Arduino. If more current is required to power attachments, you have to split the power out from the "charger" and connect it to the attachments and the Arduino via the "5V" pin (and ground of course).
I am very concerned that you refer to "the Ardoino can only take up to 12 volts". This suggests you are thinking that it is actually practical to power the Arduino via "Vin" or the "barrel jack". I presume you will be using other parts than the basic Arduino ports, in which case these power inputs will be quite useless (if you must know, due to the limitation of the on-board regulator). For any serious project, the Arduino runs on 5 V and that is what you need to power it.