For example, I have an antique portable television made by the Singer manufacturing company that plugs into US mains. However, it also has a 12v DC input and can run off of that. I also have a retro CCTV monitor that uses the same 120v mains plug and has a placard on the back that says it can use a 12V 12W battery. How is this possible? If an electronic device is designed to take 12v, wouldn’t 120v destroy the device? On the other hand, if a device is designed to accept 120v, shouldn’t 12v not be enough to operate it?
Edit: added a clarifying question
In: Physics
A large chunk of domestic devices actually prefer DC current. If it has an option to plug into the mains as well as an alternative option for DC then chances are that it has an in-built full bridge rectifier that converted AC to DC. If you use a laptop, that blocky thing that they call the charging cable is the rectifier.
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