Is a GameStop Switching Power Supply (Model 6002-7431) safe to use with a Nintendo DS Lite

hardwarenintendo-ds

Evidently phone chargers are not good to use with a Nintendo DS Lite, as they're liable to damage the system. What about a GameStop Switching Power Supply?

Searching the Internet, most hits for those kinds of search terms lead to auctions and used sales, not good, firm descriptions of exactly what it's good for. I believe I remember using one consistently a few years ago to power my DS Lite at the time, and it does appear to charge them, but is it safe? Here are a couple of photos, in case they're needed:

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Best Answer

Generally speaking, using generic chargers is a bad idea. They're not as reliable as the official ones. With that said, theory says you should be okay using it, though it's not ideal for the DS.

The output voltage of an official charger it's 5.2V and the output current 450mA. Your charger is 5V and 1000mA. Lower voltage means the DS will not be charged as effectively as usual, but it shouldn't cause any damage. Higher current means the DS will have enough current to pull from, with the adapter having some excess, and there shouldn't be any problems either. So in theory the only issue here is that you're not charging your DS as effective as possible.

The problems usually come when using more voltage than required or lower current than required. Here is a more detailed explanation of the whole chargers issue.