test electronics without car battery

Hello, I have a central lock that doesnt appear to be working. How can i work on the electronics in my house? ive seen people testing electronics away from the car battery, how can i do this? thank you

Another 12V supply.

A 12V DC plug pack may be ok, though rarely are they above 1A.

Plug packs for disk drives are usually 2A.

A computer can also supply quite a few amps at 12V (it also has a 5V supply).

Or a big torch battery. Or two 6V batteries. Or 8 or 9 1.5V batteries.

It just needs to supply enough current.
Problem is, locks are solenoids and the can have a big inrush current etc. (If you use a PC supply, do not have the PC attached.)

I have at times used a transformer for a train set, but I assume hat are pretty rare these days....

I use two 6 volt sealed lead acid batteries salavged from a UPS system that was used for Personal Computer battery backup.  Hooked up in series they supply 12 volts, have plenty of current and can be recharged.  You can also find these on EBay for about $7 each plus shipping.

-------------
Soldering is fun!

Thanks guys. Very helpful. I think im going to go with using a computer power supply. Kreg357, thats a really cool setup you have and i would do it if i didnt have a box full of computer power supplys. Thanks again guys