power supply

[Arlen moulton]

I have a small Nokia 5volt transformer is there anything simple yet awesome I can do with it that doesn't envolve blowing it up?

[Seekonk]

You could power that one transistor amp.  It is what it is.  If you bust it apart it probably has a zener in series with an opto isolator to control voltage.  Replace that with a TL431 and it could be adjustable from about 4 to 12V.  For those into solar, many of these electronic  wall warts will work down to 50V (at reduced current) and provide an isolated source for a micro.

[Paul Price]

It could be just a transformer, a simple non-switcher power supply as was first used with Nokia older cellphones.
In this case, it would be just a small power transformer with rectifier diodes and a large valued filter capacitor, no regulation.

If it is a wallwart type heavy, it's just using a transformer, otherwise it is a switchmode power supply.

What it is good for is to supply a low-power around 3-5V /400mA circuit, and whether what it powers is something awesome or mundane is up to you to find.