The Smart Radio AIS Receivers do not come with power supply. You can easily get one from any electronic component shop. As we are dealing with radio equipment it is important to get a stabilized or regulated power supply which means that it is supplying exactly the voltage needed and not fluctuating. You can check this with a multimeter.
This power supply is a typical wall wart type (it has plug fitted on the back. It is nothing special and cost 8 euros. There is a choice of voltages but we will set it to 12V.
At 12v the Power Supply is not providing the 500mA advertised on the front of the box, instead it is providing 380mA. Smart Radio says their units should be provided with 9-15 Volt DC and consume 1.5W of power. They also note that the power cable of their units is protected with a 0.5A fuse. Actually it is a 1A instead. Therefore the 380mA at 12V provided with this power supply is fine.
The power cable provided with the Smart Radio AIS receivers has the red cable as +ve.
The red cable also has the fuse. The odd looking fuse holder is shown above.
The fuse is user replaceable, you just push the two parts of the white holder together and twist them to open it. It does not matter which way you put the fuse in. If you were messing with the power or trying a new power supply and the unit stopped working, one thing to check is that the fuse is not blown. We are dealing with small power and the fuse is only 1 amp so if it is blown the tiny wire inside will be broken in the case that more than 1 amp of current passes through the cable. These are not any special fuses, just ask at your electronic shop for 1 amp fuses.
So anyway all we do to use this power supply is to cut off the power supply plug and strip both it's cables and those of the smart radio power cable supplied with your unit. Then solder each cable and cover with electrical tape like above or better heatshrink tubing. Using a multimeter we figured out the cable of the power supply with the white stripe is the positive and we know the red cable for the AIS unit power is also the positive so we solder those together.
