Walkabout Baby Monitor power adaptor - I cocked up my order!

[MM]

Here's the story: I just ordered the wrong power adaptor for my Walkabout Baby Advance Monitor.

mistake I ordered the Walkabout Classic Advance Adaptor. rang Tomy, who said they can do nothing to change the order once I've clicked the Submit button. It is out of their hands. The adviser said the only thing I could do is refuse delivery saying "incorrect item".

This seems incredibly stupid (okay, I'll admit *I* was stupid in not paying attention to the exact wording on the web page!)

Anyway, my question is: The two adaptors on the Tomy Spare Parts & Accessories page look identical. They are the same price (£9).

Would the Classic Advance Adaptor be so very different as not to work with the Baby Advance monitor? My Baby Advance monitor has this on the back, near the connector pin:

(Sorry about the crap drawing!)

MM

[MM]

Since I wrote the above I've downloaded the PDF manuals for both monitors and the Technical Specification for the power adaptor is identical for both:

"Power Supply:Mains adaptor rating: PRI: 230V 50Hz SEC: 7.5V 200mA

2VA"

However, the sales website says "not for use with any other monitor". Each adaptor has a different order number, yet appears to be identical in every respect with the other. Okay, granted that *other* Tomy baby monitors *are* a completely different design, but not the Baby Advance and the Classic Advance. These are very similar and I reckon the power adaptors are interchangeable.

MM

[Owain]

You can use your rights under the distance selling regulations to send it back.

But it sounds to me like they are identical - unless the connectors are different?

Owain

[Andy Cap]

My wife recently ordered the wrong size from Dorothy Perkins, I think it was and they said exactly the same, simply decline delivery. The postman was a bit bemused, but still willingly gave us a receipt, saying he had tried to deliver it, otherwise the item could just simply disappear.

Andy C

[Terry Casey]

> I rang Tomy, who said they can do nothing to change the order once

well there is a very good reason why both units look identical - the same picture is used for all four models!

The two you listed have different part numbers - P1242A & P1243A - but the difference could be as little as a different name printed on the box!

Your label translates as 7.5 Volts DC @ 200mA with the positive connection to the centre pin.

Unfortunately the label on the adaptor is too small to read, so you'll have to wait until it arrives.

If it supplies 7.5V DC @ 200mA *OR MORE*, it will be ok

I couldn't find any details on Tomy's website of the differences between the different versions but it is common to produce a range of items like this which are virtually identical electronically with minor additions to offer more bells and whistles for increasingly expensive models - it is virtually guaranteed that all the mains adaptors will be identical and capable of providing enough current for the greediest model in the range, so that 'one size fits all'.

If you're still worried when you get the charger, post a picture of the label and ask again

[MM]

>>> By mistake I ordered the Walkabout Classic Advance Adaptor.

>>> I rang Tomy, who said they can do nothing to change the order once

Thanks, Terry, and also to all the others who replied.

Question: If I accept delivery, then open the package and only then discover it really is the wrong product, will I still be able to send it back?

I am actually pretty confident, having done a bit more research, that the adaptor is identical for either the Baby or the Classic Walkabout. In fact, I found an entry on eBay with someone requesting a power adaptor for their Tomy Walkabout *Premier* and the model number printed on the front of the adaptor (they quoted it in the eBay enquiry) is exactly the same as the one I need! So if the same adaptor is used for the Premier and for the Baby, it's highly likely that it will be the same one, too, as for the Classic, which is what I mistakenly ordered.

MM

[MM]

>

>

This "ordering the wrong one" scenario is beginning to drive me mad - for myself in my doddery old dotage! I have been kicking myself all day since I hit the Submit button. I'm sure I'm going senile at 64. It's not the only time. A couple of months ago I ordered a pizza stone from Amazon and only after placing the order did I think of measuring what 23cm actually amounts to! Of course, 23cm is fine for a mini pizza, but a family pizza would flop over the sides. Sending it back to Amazon would have cost almost as much in postage (pizza stones are heavy!) as the ruddy item itself. I've tried shifting it through Tesco's customer board, but no joy, so it will become some niece or nephew's Christmas present. I think I'm going to start saving for a coffin and hope I can get that right!

MM

[Jeff Gaines]

You can't go far wrong with a 6' 6" coffin :-)

[D.M.Chapman]

We have 3 different flavours of Tomy adaptor for baby monitors (long story). All three have different P12xxx numbers, all three say not to be used with other monitors, all three are completely interchangable.

Check the voltage - some are 12v, some are 7.5v. Apart from that they appear identical (the square ones the OP is looking at at 7.5, the 12v ones are more "rounded" IIRC).

Darren

[Dave Liquorice]

Is that "any other Tommy monitor" or "any other baby monitor". I suspect it's a marketing get out to stop people buying a "baby minitor power supply unit" then compaining that it damaged their baby monitor from A.N.Other company.

As it appears the technical details in the manuals are the same, I'd accept the delivery and look at the lables on the new and old PSU's for the voltage, polarity and current capacity.

Can't help wondering what a 64 year old wants a baby monitor for though, grand kids? Parents should bring the one they have...

[MM]

I can hear when Royal Mail or City Link arrive if I'm in the garden or garage. I originally got the monitor secondhand for a tenner to listen to my central heating boiler to time how often it switched itself on and off. A monitor is a useful little gadget. You can set it up so that you can follow a TV programme (sound only) in another room. Anywhere where you want to relay sound, it's ideal. Mind you, I wouldn't have paid full whack for a brand-new one, but secondhand they can be obtained quite easily, since babies do, indeed, turn into toddlers and monitors are no longer needed. I expect the cupboards of Britain are groaning with the things, redundant, forgotten.

MM

[MM]

That's the news I like to hear!

The one I've ordered is deffo the same spec as the one I *should* have ordered. But yes, Tomy do, or did, do other types of monitor and their adaptors are indeed different.

MM

[MM]

I've just received the new adaptor.

IT WORKS!

Panic over.

Many thanks for comments.

MM