wrote in message
ups.com...

My new family owns a large selection of light toys collected over the
years. Unfortunately, in many cases the adapter is missing. Now, we
also a cache of old adapaters of varying voltages, ampages (is that a
word?) and polarities - AC/DC and AC/AC. Without the benefit of manuals
and, in some cases, no information on the toy casing either, I have had
a few mishaps blindly attempting to match up adapters to toys (mishaps
involving the smell of burning component).
My question is, in the absence of the usual information (or a
multi-tester), is there a way to determine what adapter is required for
a particular toy/appliance? Maybe opening up the toy and calculating
something from the components used inside?

If all else fails, I hook up a multi voltage unit and check the current
being drawn. I set the polarity for maximum current, then increase the
voltage to either a reasonable current if charging a battery or until the
device works.