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I everybody, sorry for my english :D .

i'm a begginer of electronic and i'm learning a lot of electronic component, voltages, current and so on.

My question is about a charger (phone charger for example) or a power supply (if it's comparable).

I know that if i use a battery for the motor, this only take the current that need (for example, 200mAh).

If i have a 5v and a 500mA phone charger and i use to power a motor. The motor it's going to receive 5V and 500mA (and maybe, blow up (?)) or 5V and the current that they need ?

If the 2° answer is the correct, can i suppose that the 500mA is the MAX current output that the phone charger can give?

Thank you very much !

Facundo Mariano Pomar
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Every system that is connected to a power supply draws respective current. 5V and 500mA means that "this power supply provides maximum 500mA and 5V", but it does not mean that your motor will always get 500mA. Long story short, you can say (as you said) "it receives what it needs" in terms of current.

On the other hand that does not mean "you don't blow up" your device when a relatively more powerful supply is connected. There must be upper limits on the motor specs, but this generally applies to voltage, because voltage is the only thing that needs to be same in both ouput of the power supply and input of the device (in your case, motor).

I tried to explain in a non-scientific terms, since you said you are not very familiar with it.

Zgrkpnr
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What Zgrkpnr said is absolutely right... There's one more thing... when the motor starts to run from rest, it actually consumes a lot more current than the nominal... you should make sure your power supply can supply this current or your motor won't even start (because of static friction). so if your motor is rated for a nominal of 500mA... You should not use a 500mA-current limited-power supply...

example of DC motor datasheet: http://www.akcesoria-cnc.pl/pdf/silniki_dc_dunkermotoren.pdf look for the current curve

fhlb
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  • This is explained in more detail here: http://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/613/what-is-stall-current-and-free-current-of-motors/644#644 – DrFriedParts May 05 '15 at 18:18