is it safe to operate a radio at 6volts instead of the manufactures suggested 5 volts?

Question

the reason i ask this question is because i will be using a universal adapter that does not have a 5 volt setting it has 4.5 then 6 volts would it maybe be the safest wayto set the adapter to 4.5 volts instead of 6 volts what effect if any would .5 volts short of the 5 volts suggested buy the manufacture have or the other choice 6volts 1 volt over the manufactures suggested input any help suggestions greatly appriciated --thanks

the device in question is the sirius reciever in the car its powered at 5 volts --well i want to use it indoors so i have purchased a universal adapter that doesnt have 5 volts --closest i can get is either 4.5 volts or 6 volts ----thanks for all your speedy responses

Answer 1

Actually the higher voltage would be better. The lower the voltage, the more amperage the unit will draw, which will not save power. The unit uses a set amount of power (watts) and voltage and amperage will adjust to equal that.
amps x volts = watts
if your unit takes 45 watts to operate then..
7.5a x 6v = 45 watts
10a x 4.5v = 45 watts

Higher amperage means more heat and shorter life of the electronics. Most electronics have a decent tolerance for variation anyway. You can probably safely go either way, but I would go higher if it were me.

Answer 2

Try the 4.5 and see what happens. But I doubt if 6 would be unsafe. It might fry some of the circuits, but I doubt it, I would suspect 120% of maximum would not wreck the radio, but you never know.

I know that a lot of rechargable batteries are 1.2 volts instead of 1.5. I use them in a radio that requires 4 batteries, so I'm coming up short by 1.2 volts and it works fine. So being under is better than being over if you have a choice.

Answer 3

Either will work fine. AA batteries are rated for 1.5volts, but i've read them at 1.7+ volts.

If you won't be turning the volume up all the way, you could do 4.5v to save a little power (EVERYthing helps, right?!). If you will, and it won't hurt if you won't anyways, then you could use 6v.

Have Fun!

BTW, is this related to car audio? Are you maybe using a portable CD player in your car? If so, it might have a 'line' output and a headphone ouput (same jack). Use the 'line' output and set it to 4.5v as 'line' is about as loud as the headphone output with the volume at about halfway.

Answer 4

It should work at 4.5 because normally batteries don't have full voltage anyway. But if it doesn't work at 4.5, go for 6, it will likely handle the extra voltage fine.

Running at a lower voltage carries almost no risk. Running at higher voltage carries some risk (but I'd do it).

Answer 5

use the 6 volts setting it will be fine no problems also there is a voltage regulator inside this unit that will protect it

Answer 6

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