If I were to take a standard AC to DC converter, say a laptop charger, and hook up the input side (which expects 120VAC at 60Hz) to a DC power supply of some sorts, will the electricity still be “converted,” or will it just not work at all? I am clearly very uneducated when it comes to electronics (albeit working on it) so I would very much an ELI5 answer Thanks!
Kind of. You’re on the right track.
What you’re missing is that there is a loop. Imagine a resistor being connected to negative and positive of the load. Since it’s about relative voltages not absolutes, d1 and d3 both conduct. A positive on the triangle, or a negative on the bar will make them conduct. For electricity to flow you must have a loop from source to load and back to source. So current would flow from the source through d1 through the load through d3 and back to the source.
Hope that makes more sense.
You could remove d1/d4 OR d2/d3 and you’ll have a half wave rectifier, so you’ll get every other peak.
Ohhh!! I think get it now. D3 & D4 are necessary to complete the loop. Otherwise, there would be alternating current on the bottom phase going into the DC negative once per cycle, causing a short. So when D1 is allowing positive power through on the top of the phase, D4 is allowing negative current out to the source. When the AC is on the bottom phase, D2 lets positive current in, and D3 let’s the negative current out to the source. Is that correct?