> *long outlived the products they were originally designed for* Don't take your chances on a 15-20 year old AC adapter. Chances of killing the device you intend on powering gets higher and higher the older the wall wart is. Many a Commodore 64 have been killed by their original power cubes. Okay, well.. that one is older than I am, but this applies to all cheap old DC bricks. This comment could go on and on and on with all of the different modes of failure.