Advice needed. Dc-Dc converter

[Stephenuk]

Hi. I'm building electrics in my camper van. I brought a 12v to 5v converter from Amazon to wire up a 5v unit to my 12v leisure battery. I wired it incorrectly at first by wiring it in reverse. When I wired it up currently it

started to burn. So I have sent the item back. But I was wondering if this was a result of a faulty item or by what I did?

Thank you

Stephen

 

[sagor1]

90%+ what you did. Wiring the input backwards probably blew some component inside, possible creating a short circuit. When you wired the right way, it just short circuited itself and burned something else.

 

[Stephenuk]

That's great, we'll not great but glad that I know it was me not the product. Thank you for your advice

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

90%+ what you did. Wiring the input backwards probably blew some component inside, possible creating a short circuit. When you wired the right way, it just short circuited itself and burned something else.

I would have gone for 99%+

It's almost always catastrophic to connect power the wrong way.

 

[Diver300]

There are lots of devices that have reverse polarity protection in them, but cheaply-made converters like that tend not to be protected.

LED car bulbs are usually protected, because they are replacing a component that would work either way round. Some will even work both ways round.

Very low power devices are often protected, as all that is needed is a diode. Higher power devices like that converter would loose a lot of power in heat if an extra diode were to be added, and other solutions are expensive, so it is the kind of device that will be damaged.

 

[audioguru]

It is Chinese. They saved a 10 cents cost by not including an idiot diode.