It’s easy to make the wrong assumptions about equipment and technology when you’re trying to hook up two machines together that may or may not be compatible.
I learned this lesson in the 90s with my video game systems.
Unless you owned an adapter like I did, you couldn’t connect many game systems to old TVs that only had coaxial connections in the back. This is because the game consoles used RCA cables with the red, white, and yellow wires. My dad is an electrician so he always had the correct audio and video equipment, parts, and accessories. We would plug the RCA connections into the adapter which would convert the signal to a coaxial connection for the back of the old television we had in the living room at the time. Luckily, there was an available conversion adapter available. With some machines, you might not be so lucky. My friend John desperately wanted a smart thermostat for his home’s HVAC system after he used the one his mother bought for her beach condo. Unfortunately, John’s old HVAC system lacked a necessary wire that you must have for smart thermostats to function properly. The “c-wire” as it’s called is a control wire that provides a constant flow of electricity to the thermostat to aid in its various functions. Other digital thermostats often contain a battery like a 9-volt or two double AAs to power itself. John will have to get his setup modified before he can purchase a smart thermostat for his central HVAC system. He’s looking for quotes from various HVAC suppliers before he makes his final decision.