Universal Power Adapter Struggling For Support 277
Ian Lamont writes "Last year, there was a lot of hopeful discussion surrounding an initiative to have the consumer electronics industry standardize their products on a USB-based universal power adapter devised by Green Plug. Eight months later, the effort has stalled. The reason: manufacturers have balked from using Green Plug's technology. '... Gadget makers seem to have no compelling financial incentive to adopt Green Plug's technology. It would require them to add Green Plug's chip, or similar hardware and software, into every phone, camera, or music player they build, making them more expensive and more complicated to build. Another stumbling block for manufacturers: A universal power supply would kill the market for replacement power supplies. Manufacturers sell these at a steep markup price to customers who lose or break the original one that came with the device, and aren't tech-savvy enough to procure a low-cost generic replacement.' Green Plug is now trying to drum up public outcry through a (slow) website, but the number of supportive comments and votes remains relatively low."
USB connectors (Score:4, Informative)
...will become a standard power connector with or without these clowns. It's just about perfect for powering and/or charging just about any handheld device, and with Apple leading the way I expect that USB connectors will start showing up in airplanes, cars, and other such places very soon.
Whatever genius MBA thought that manufacturers would gleefuly license some special connector/protocol just to be able to charge their own products should be taken out back and shot. The language on their web site is absurdly disingenuous in stating the the device-side stuff is free. What benefit is that to the device manufacturer? Do they expect major device manufacturers to promote their proprietary chargers out of the goodness of their heart? What a crock.
Re:USB connectors (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, I was in an airport recently, and there were power outlets with both AC and USB. The future is here.
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Security risk (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, I was in an airport recently, and there were power outlets with both AC and USB. The future is here.
Yes, but how do you know it only provides power? It might also read or write whatever is plugged into it, install malware, steal your info, or whatever. Microsoft OSs are all too willing to do things a USB port tells them to do.
Re:Security risk (Score:4, Informative)
You could always modify a USB cable such that it only carries the ground and +5V lines.
If you think USB is scary for the host, check out Firewire's ability to automatically DMA into the host's address space: http://md.hudora.de/presentations/#firewire-pacsec [hudora.de]
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If you think USB is scary for the host, check out Firewire's ability to automatically DMA into the host's address space.
I know about that. I once reported it as a Linux kernel bug, because the driver unconditionally turns that feature on. It's almost never used. The hardware has a bounds limit register for externally initiated read/write operations, and you can set that to 0. Amusingly, it's unconditionally set to allow access to the first 4GB under Linux, even for 64-bit systems.
But there are people
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Actually no they don't. Maybe for handheld devices but some devices really work a lot better with higher voltage. I am all for standardized power adapters but the USB port is far from prefect for every device.
Now why they can not standardize wall worts so you can not plug a 12V wall wart into a 5V device I will never no.
Re:USB connectors (Score:5, Informative)
They have actually, the EIAJ connectors which you are starting to see more often have standardized sizes, such that "If it fits, it will work.". You can recognize EIAJ plugs and sockets because they have a yellow plastic rim.
Between EIAJ for higher voltage/current, and USB for low voltage/current, I think we have the universal DC supply covered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EIAJ_connector [wikipedia.org]
Though, I would love it if my laptop could be recharged via power over ethernet. Not quite enough power can be provided for todays laptops, but a netbook should be able to run off of it.
USB is hopeless (Score:5, Informative)
USB is 5v. USB2.0 maxes out at "5" units of 100mA, with USB3.0 providing a staggering "6" units of 150mA. Thats .5A and .9A. That gives you 2.5 watts and 4.5 watts. There are proposed additions to let USB source up to 1.8A if the port is not sending data, and up to 1.5A in low speed mode.
Looking at the numbers, the whole notion that USB could ever become the dominant standard for power seems laughable to me. USB may be a convenient means of providing a trickle charge, but with batteries getting considerably higher C rates we need 10x beefier power supplies than what USB will ever be capable of.
Power Over Ethernet+ (PoE+) is targetting 24w: thats no quickcharge, but unlike USB its least enough to run a small computer.
Re:USB is hopeless (Score:5, Informative)
You're talking about what a USB host is required to provide to a device... but your information is wrong. Or at least, incomplete. 100mA is the _minimum_ that a host must be prepared to supply before a negotiation can take place where it can then ask for up to 1 amp.
But again, that's just about what a PC is required to deliver per the specification. There is nothing to prevent, say, a cell phone maker from including their own charger that can deliver a couple amps more. As long as it's not going to put out more than 5V it's not going to hurt anything, and the device would still be able to charge just fine, albeit at a slower rate, from a standard port.
POE is a different story. At 48VDC it is designed to power things like security cameras and IP phones at distances of a couple hundred feet. It wouldn't be suitable for charging a cell phone because it would require more expensive (and less efficient) power supplies, and the RJ45 connector is not designed for rugged, repeated cycling consumer use.
Re:USB is hopeless (Score:5, Interesting)
The spec does not support 1 amp. If you want to talk about manufacturers going off on their own to extend the spec in a proprietary fashion, I think you lose the usefulness of the standard USB interconnect. A good example is the Macbook Air cdrom, which works with nothing except the usb on the Macbook Air.
Re:USB is hopeless (Score:5, Interesting)
No, what that says is that initial device current must be limited to 100mA (USB2) or 500mA (USB3) per port, that the current drain of bus-powered hubs must be limited to ((# of ports)*100mA)+100mA (which is why bus-powered hubs > 4 ports are rare), and that that is the minimum a root hub must be able to supply in order to conform with the specs.
According to the full spec, not just the FAQ version, devices are free to negotiate for up to 1A (USB2; dunno about USB3 but I'd guess it's higher), and it's up to the root hub to say "yay" or "nay".
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I've got to add that using Apple as an example of leading the way to USB power is a bad joke for me, personally. I have the last gen MacBook Pro and bought an external hard drive for my local back-up. It turns out USB doesn't provide enough power via a single connector, so you have to use a USB A/B connector and splitter to plug it into two USB ports. Apple used to put both USB ports on the same side, but changed it with the previous generation - so now the awkward splitter on the A/B cable can't reach both
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Actually no, I have a PowerBook G4, it has two USB ports, and they are on different sides. Got the same problem with an external hard drive: It works with one plug on nearly all computers I have access to, but not on the Powerbook - here I need to use the splitter.
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Actually no, I have a PowerBook G4, it has two USB ports, and they are on different sides.
Actually no, I have a 12" PowerBook G4 with every damned port on the same side. The opposite side has only the disc slot.
Re:USB is hopeless (Score:5, Insightful)
you do realize very few USB ports provide enough power for hard drives right? It isn't just apple but, dell, and HP too.
external flash drives will work. As they don't have motors which require power.
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About five years ago, I bought a 2.5" 80GB hard drive that I put into a USB enclosure. This was back in the days when USB thumb drives were crazily expensive for the capacity (compared to today).
It can get enough power through the USB connector from any desktop system, though my old Toshiba laptop couldn't power it.
USB power for rechargeable devices like cellphones, bluetooth headsets, media players, SatNavs is great. There's enough for a Peltier effect can-cooler/mug-warmer from some devices, but many
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I have a cheap IDE/USB cable that certainly works with 2.5" (laptop) drives on USB power. (It also has a larger connector for 3.5" drives, for these you do need a separate power cable.)
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4.5 watts is enough for a low speed 2.5" hard drive. it might run some of the new "green" 3.5's or a high speed 2.5" 7200 rpm, but you're pushing the limit. and you've just tapped the entire power budget for your USB, no room for any other peripherals.
Re:USB is hopeless, so use Firewire (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm sure this will bring up arguments to the contrary, but as a data transmitter, it's also superior to USB in supporting peer-to-peer device communication and multiple hosts per bus.
The old problem of higher per unit costs due to licensing fees has been resolved, as the fees have been discarded.
Does anyone know what the price difference is for basic Firewire vs. USB chips, connectors, and cables these days? That is, s
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24 watts? That might power a tiny computer. Maybe a better computer if you ignore any desire for a display. I would feel lucky if it powered a netbook while trickle charging it.
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It'll do a 700 series eeePC. It's little under 22W maximum draw.
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The OpenMoko uses USB charging, and it works pretty well.
If it's connected to a host, it can draw up to 500 mAh. If it's connected to a wall outlet, it can draw 1000 mAh through the USB connector.
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Forcing_fast_charge_mode [openmoko.org]
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In fact, USB has several issues : it is 5V while almost nothing works with 5V right now, which implies a conversion everywhere. But if we want to put converters everywhere, 5V is very low to start with, it'd be better to start with 18-19V like most notebook adapters. Also, the USB plug delivers low power which is often not enough to power a hard disk, reason why most USB/ATA adapters ship with a second wire to double the power input. Another problem with such a low voltage is that you cannot have a common r
Re:USB connectors (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:USB connectors (Score:5, Informative)
Exactly two of Apple's products have ever had a standard USB charging connector: the 512 meg 1st gen shuffle and the 1 gig 1st gen shuffle. All their other devices have some sort of proprietary thing. Their power bricks, at least, have USB "A" connectors, where applicable, which is better than some; but the notion that they are leading the charge to standardization is absurd.
Virtually all recent motorola phones have standard USB mini B connectors, as do loads of assorted mp3 players and whatnot, it isn't really a new thing.
Re:USB connectors (Score:5, Informative)
Huh? All of Apple's portable devices charge over USB or, if it's an older iPod, a Firewire port. This has always been the case. You're looking at the wrong end of the equation. If there's a USB port on the wall, you can plug it in. The other end, on the device, is not the goal of the project, which is to standardize DC power sources to be universal. Plug the device into the USB port and get a charge. You still have to bring your own cords. The idea is to eliminate the pile of wall warts, so that all devices can plug into them. Apple's wall chargers are a near-perfect example of what the Universal Power Adapter hopes to achieve--plugs into the wall, accepts USB cables for charging, delivers 5V DC. On planes and in public spaces where this would make a difference, you'd always have to supply your own cables, so the device end is mostly irrelevant.
Using Motorola as a counterexample is a poor choice, since most Motorola phones won't charge over a standard USB cable unless it's recognized on the other end.
Moreover, no one is saying it's a new thing to charge over USB--it's been done since 1997. Lots of companies have provided the option, and I would tend to agree that claiming that Apple is "leading the way" is something of an overstatement, but not if you accept the underlying premise that those "assorted" mp3 players and scattered other portable devices lack the conspicuousness, weight, and influence of Apple. You seem to be rather wide of the mark, though.
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I have a Motorola Z6 and it charges up exactly the same if I use the USB cable from my Maxtor external HDD as if I use the cable that came with the phone.
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I have a Motorola Z6 and it charges up exactly the same if I use the USB cable from my Maxtor external HDD as if I use the cable that came with the phone.
I'm not sure if the Z6 is one of the examples of Motorola phones using a proprietary version of mini-USB, but locked-down Motorolas will charge if the mini-USB cable is attached to a PC that has a "driver" for Motorola phones loaded.
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Ok, my phone will only charge if I have the Motorola drivers loaded. But it will work with any mini-USB cable.
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According to your cited wiki it says currently the only providers abusing this extra "X" pin on mini-USB are Verizon in collusion with Motorola.
So hang Verizon for this just as high because I have a T-Mobile Motorola phone that charges/interfaces just fine with my 99-cent newegg cable.
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Except that there are what, at least 4 USB connector types, including 2 small ones. WTF is up with that, anyway?
Re:USB connectors (Score:5, Interesting)
Example: my Motorola cell phone uses the standard mini-USB form factor for both charging and data transfer, but other brands of chargers(except those specifically designated for Motorola) with the same form factor will not work. My phone also cannot "talk to" my computer or even charge from my computer's USB without an extra kit(which is just a usb cable and a driver CD) I would have to buy. Until then, I'm going to hook my cable up to a sampling O-scope and reverse engineer that bitch
The USB connections themselves are only a form factor. As the summary stated, any manufacturer can do whatever the hell they want with it after that. The MBA's who came up with that idea should be shot, but they've still made their company lots of dough.
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Unfortunately, I missed this guy's [slashdot.org] post above which describes the bastardization of the spec at the hands of Motorola and Verizon. Apparently the only difference is 1.4 Volts across an extra pin. As far as reverse-engineering goes, I'm thinkin' maybe a AA battery
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no it wont. Most current cellphones that HAD a usb connector now have some wierd ass special connector. Look at the newest Razr phone the took the standard connector off and added their wierd thin usb connector FORCING a repurchase of all chargers. They do this on purpose.
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My iphone 3g gets charged by USB. The "AC" charger is just a small brick with a USB port that you plug in your iphone cable into (as if it was a computer).
Slow Website (Score:5, Funny)
Green Plug is now trying to drum up public outcry through a (slow) website
I'm sure posting a link on slashdot will make that website a lot faster. ;)
Re:Slow Website (Score:5, Funny)
chicken (Score:3, Insightful)
Commodities destroy profits (Score:2, Informative)
Mini-USB is already in place (and works great) (Score:4, Insightful)
My blackberry, and bluetooth earpiece both charge off mini-usb. I've got a mini-USB to nintendo DS adapter (fits in the DS case nicely) and the only other mobile electronics I use are my electric shaver (stays in the bathroom) and iPod (charges in the FM broadcasting cradle in the car) during my drive to work. USB 3.0 is supposed to handle 1.5amps, or three times what it is designed to handle currently.
Just because the company has the name "green" in it doesn't mean it's automatically a substantially better idea than what already exists (mini-usb) and what is in the pipeline (USB 3.0).
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My iPhone and Jawbone both charge off USB (in fact, you only get a USB cable with a wall adapter with both). Considering how easy mini USB steps up to regular USB, I'd say that things are nicely progressing without the need of this "Green" company. I would argue that most manufacturers that'd be willing to switch to USB chargers would most likely have the know-how to do it without going to a proprietary-standard-provider.
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> Just because the company has the name "green" in it ...
Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously [wikipedia.org]!
USB AA Batteries (Score:3, Interesting)
I use are my electric shaver (stays in the bathroom
Actually my electric razor does charge over USB. I use USB chargeable AA batteries in it. I got some as a promotional item but usbcell.com sell them online. I have to admit I was skeptical but these things really are brilliant.
Now if only they would start selling the AAA ones I would not need to buy replacement batteries for my headphones once a month.
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Actually my electric razor does charge over USB.
My razor [flickr.com] charges over mini-donuts.
How did USB (in general) win its war? (Score:2, Interesting)
This being a genuine question - how did regular bog-standard USB win its war against the random assortment of proprietary plugs? I assume there would have been similar issues for manufacturers when USB first rolled around, and we still ended up with USB everywhere
USB was starting to get popular as I was getting my first modern computer though, and I never really saw much of how it grew and developed - did it fight a war, or did it just waltz on into victory? Can this do the same as whatever the heck standar
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I would have thought firewire would be better suited since it can handle a higher voltage. Oh well.
Ubiquity trumps suitability.
This is why networking over powerlines, power over ethernet, broadband over pots (ADSL) and a great many other technologies exist.
Re:How did USB (in general) win its war? (Score:5, Insightful)
USB was around for years, but it didn't explode until Apple forced the issue with the iMac.
I'd say there are two reasons USB took off. The first is Intel. It started putting it on all it's chipsets which made it in most Wintel computers by default. I believe they also didn't charge licensing fees on their controller implementation so others could copy/improve it for free and not have to start from scratch. They just recently did the same thing with their USB3 controller.
The other thing is what it was competing again. There really wasn't that much other there. If you wanted low bandwidth, you'd either hijack the PS2 port or one of the serial ports. If you wanted high bandwidth you either had your own expansion card (tough), piggybacked on the printer port (often didn't work as pass though), or used SCSI (expensive). You couldn't have multiple parallel devices, so you'd need extra cards if you wanted to do that. If you had many serial devices (like a modem, a tablet, etc) you might need an extra serial card. It was a mess. USB just simplified everything, and the hub concept was a nice addition.
Intel forced availability before it became popular, and Intel made it a relatively cheap option. It was a huge improvement over the mishmash of old connectors for the consumer. Then Apple came along and made it mandatory forcing a huge number of devices on the market (where many weren't before since USB wasn't popular).
Re:How did USB (in general) win its war? (Score:4, Insightful)
What? It had enjoyed steady increase in use. Apple went to it becasue more people were using USB then firewire, AND manufacturers where clearly moving towards USB for devices.
Re:How did USB (in general) win its war? (Score:5, Interesting)
Here is what I remember:
USB stuff was hard to find and expensive. There were some specialty stores on the internet that sold all USB stuff but at local computer stores USB stuff was here or there. Most people seemed to still use PS2 mice, modems were mostly serial, printers were mostly parallel, and so were most scanners.
Then Apple released the iMac.
Within a few months it became trivial to find USB peripherals. They started to have different price points (low, medium, and high end market segments for things like modems). USB mice were everywhere, USB video cameras showed up, things improved.
It was increasing in use, but it was no where near critical mass until Apple forced the issue. It was like SATA. Motherboards came with both (IDE and SATA) but IDE stuff was available for quite a long time after (especially in optical drives). I'm of the opinion that Apple took what was going to be a normal transition (things slowly speed up, pick up momentum, and eventually take over) and put it in hyper drive (made adoption look more exponential that it would have for probably a year or two, if not more).
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Why isn't it working for Firewire? I'm sure we'd all love to kill off USB in favor of Firewire.
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From the various discussions that have shown up here on /. an in other places (like Ars Technica) it seems like there are a two reasons.
The main one, by far, is cost. USB is cheap to implement (economies of scale only make this worse). USB doesn't need nearly as much logic (being polling based, one master) where as FireWire has quite a bit (each device is a peer, supports DMA). Then there is the fact that no one made a free controller available (as far as I know) so you had to come up with your own. You ha
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Too bad USB also took over things for which it definatelly wasn't designed for; and out of all those things, webcams were hurt the most IMHO - a lot of people still have the impression that you can't get good quality video out of them.
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That's a good point, maybe it's just my perception.
I used USB stuff with 95 (you had to have OSR 2, which was hard to get). Windows 98 did improve that situation quite a bit.
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Windows 98 is not hardware. USB is hardware. iMac is hardware.
The person you are responding to is exactly correct. The iMac came without traditional ports, and companies actually started making products for it.
Just because Windows 98 supported USB didn't mean that PCs actually came with USB ports at that time. Even after USB exploded, USB ports were still unlikely to be found on PC until 2000 or so. (Or they'd be on motherboards, but not actually hooked up to anything, or relegated to a slot in the back,
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IMO USB won because of the actions of two companies, intel and apple.
Afaict intel introduced USB and made it a standard feature of their chipsets. Since the chipset already had the feature wiring up a couple of sockets was trivial and it was another feature to advertise so motherboard manufacturers generally put the ports on but there were few devices.
Then apple released the imac forcing device manufacturers to adopt USB or lose support for the mac.
No reason to (Score:4, Insightful)
For just about all popular gadgets, it is very very easy to walk into almost any store and get a replacement or third party cable. About the only industry that I would see benefiting from this is laptops, a standard laptop connection cable (like desktops) would be a lifesaver some times.
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Other reasons are some of the port sizes are too large/small for the device to be useful. For example, a tiny MP3 player might not have room for even a mini USB plug,
Yep. My Motorola Razr2 has 'micro USB'. Whole new set of of chargers for car and home, my old Razr and wifes Krzr use 'mini USB'.
Similarly larger electronics may need more secure connections (as in not falling out, not like encryption) than others. Some might need to be designed to be easily yanked out, others might need ways of making sure it
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A micro USB->mini USB adapter is about $2 online. It probably costs more to ship it than to buy one.
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A micro USB->mini USB adapter is about $2 online. It probably costs more to ship it than to buy one.
The razr2 actually came with one. I lost it within 3 days.
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Ok ok... so a -single- universal one-size-fits-all standard is probably a bad idea. But how about a standard family? Laptops, printers, lcd panels, scanners all use one, cell phones mp3s etc all use another... etc?
But again, not all phones/MP3 players are created equal. What makes perfect sense for an iPhone may be disastrous when on a flip phone, etc. I can see a single one being used though for laptops and LCDs.
how many of those "powerbricks" do you have on the floor under your desk? I have like 20 in my office it seems, each with a different power rating, and plugs.
Sure, a lot, but different technologies that seem alike to most customers might require different voltages and having similar plugs may prove disastrous. Such as someone thinking that the monitor cable from a CRT can go to an LCD, etc.
Or better still, you could buy one powerbrick with a dozen leads off it, and use it to power all the gadgets in your office... like a mid-high end power supply inside your PC has multiple lines to power all the devices inside your PC, with modular cable support?
Yes, but think of how big a mess that would be? its already a tangle
Re:No reason to (Score:4, Interesting)
You might want to investigate the Kensington model K33197US power supply. It's a counter to your argument. I'd rather it be open source, but the thing is too ingenious and practical to ignore, regardless. The Kensington design is what the Green Plug should have been.
A tipping scale (Score:2)
It's not the connector: it's the protocol (Score:2)
That would actually be rather cool.
Such a protocol, or extension thereof, would also allow AC powered appliances to report their consumption over a power-line LAN, or indeed, any physical power delivery interface on which a data stream can be piggy-backed.
It's the connector: it's not the protocol (Score:5, Informative)
They are trying to sell their chip by having us push the manufacturers into making mass purchases of the chip ( or chip schematics) because we "demand it".
And they are trying to sell this "initiative" as a standard without releasing the chip schematics to a standards organization.
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It's still a cool idea. It would be great if a group of large corporation just bought them opened the spec.
Oh, wait, since these slimeballs are trying to force everyone to use their chip under the guise of 'everyone wants it' and there goal is to get the public to browbeat these corporation so they can give the green plug people money, I hope the corporation find a way to do the same thing through a different design.
Rip-off prices (Score:4, Insightful)
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He could have found her a cheaper local substitute (one of those models that can charge multiple types of phones), or he could have ordered one for a couple of dollars, and paid the extra fee to get it rushed delivered by Fedex or something (that would have still been cheaper that way).
http://www.monoprice.com [monoprice.com]
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/monoprice [resellerratings.com]
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Damn! (Score:5, Funny)
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If it takes 32 hours [edmunds.com] to charge a tesla with a 15 amp, 110 volt current, I'd hate to see the charging time with the 1.5 amps, 5 volts maximum USB 3 provides...
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15 amps? All you need is a 10 port USB 3.0 hub and you're set, bro!
*hIgH fIvE!*
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110 volts * 15 amps = 1650 watts.
5 volts * 1.5 amps = 7.5 watts.
Looks to me more like you need 220 USB ports.
Re:Damn! (Score:4, Funny)
Looks to me more like you need 220 USB ports.
No problem. I'll just buy more hubs.
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110 volts * 15 amps = 1650 watts.
5 volts * 1.5 amps = 7.5 watts.
Looks to me more like you need 220 USB ports.
No, you don't need more ports. You will have to wait about 3 years for your SUV to charge up though.
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Uranium Super Battery?
Just use USB already (Score:2)
Motorola have been using USB on their phones for years.
Many no-name MP3 players and other devices are using USB (mostly those that dont have a recharger and generally charge up over USB when plugged in)
If everyone adopted USB (not just for power but data as well) then we wouldn't need 100s of different power adapters. (just one for USB and then those for devices that cant take power over USB like laptops)
Poor, poor Greenplug (Score:5, Insightful)
Chips (Score:2)
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Is the chip design patented? Do you have to purchase from them from the company "leading the charge" or can you make your own? The answers to those questions will determine whether I give a shit or not.
It looks like this is some kind of marketing ploy by this company, who apparently has designed some sort of embedded controller for wall warts that puts them to sleep after having no load.
Lots of devices are already powerable via standards like USB. They don't need this embedded controller to work, though it might make the transformer more efficient.
NIH meets Megalomania (Score:2)
Who the hell is "Green Power"? (Score:4, Informative)
You're going to laugh but... (Score:2)
Here's a useful ally: Oprah Winfrey. I've heard her complain about all the wall warts she has to lug around. You want a crusade to have impact, get five minutes on her show. If you think the Slashdot effect is awesome, wait till you start getting angry phone calls and emails from millions of outraged Oprah viewers.
Pot and kettle (Score:5, Insightful)
I fail to see why replacing a myriad of proprietary solutions with a single proprietary solution is supposed to be a good thing.
I would just be happy if all manufacturers would put voltage and polarity indications on their products.
Homebraw solution (Score:4, Interesting)
Here is the maximum power requirements of everything that runs at 12V or 5V. During normal use, I will never max out everything, so I could probably get away with a 120VAC to 12VDC power supply and a PicoPSU [mini-box.com] or something similar.
8A @ 5V; 40 watts
5A @ 12V; 60 watts
Finding a replacement requires "tech savvy"? (Score:3, Interesting)
You mean like going on eBay, searching for "iPod power", and buying one for 6-10 bucks? If that's a challenge, are you even capable of operating the device?
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You mean like going on eBay, searching for "iPod power", and buying one for 6-10 bucks? If that's a challenge, are you even capable of operating the device?
I thought Steve Jobs made it his personal mission to make the device capable of being operated by such a user.
I mean, isn't that why they didn't add that damned second mouse button for decades?
Hokey (Score:5, Insightful)
From the web site: "Green Plug is the first developer of digital technology enabling real-time collaboration between electronic devices and their power sources..."
First class marketspeak, that is. Collaboration, you say, between electronic devices and power sources. In real time. Using digital technology. Do I need to worry about my devices and power sources becoming mutinous, then?
Or can I just stick with USB which seems to power almost every electronic device I carry around? I daresay I don't actually know WHERE the chargers that came with most of my devices are, since I just charge them all though USB. Green Plug has already lost its battle. The only hope they might have is to embrace and extend the USB standard.
Are you in Europe? Do you need an adapter? (Score:2)
How am I supposed to get my interocitor working without one of these things?
A rising tide lifts all boats (Score:2)
So no one is jumping on board because they want to keep selling overpriced wall-warts. What they don't realize is how many more products they'd sell overall if recharging the device weren't an issue. How many more little gadgets would be sold if every buyer didn't have to worry about charging--if everyone just knew that no matter where they went they'd be able to charge whatever they had? I've always felt this way. How many more laptops would have been sold (back when they were $3000 and a charge lasted and
Firewire IEEE 1394: 8 to 40 V @ 1.5 A -- up to 60W (Score:2, Informative)
What the World needs is... (Score:2)
How can we lack behind China? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"A democratic, earth-caring nation?" What country are you talking about, again?
Iran.
A noble goal, but.... (Score:3, Informative)
I don't think this can happen. There are actually economic disincentives for those in control of the manufacturers to adopt a standard like this. I applaud the altruism here, but it fails to "incentivize" the standardization for the manufacturers. Manufacturers - those in control of mass production - are not so much intent on realizing the full collective efficiency and savings of mass production as they are in twisting the whole process to benefit them and slightly disadvantage those who buy their product. They waste resources and labor on unnecessarily frequent redesign cycles and impose planned obsolescence and proprietary schemes, all in the name of disproportionate profit. The end result is a waste and perversion of the collective potential of mass production.
What Green Plug proposes makes PERFECT sense from an altruistic, socialistic, Big Picture perspective... which also means it makes absolutely NO sense to these corporate CEOs because they expend NO mental energy on such unimportant things.
Having said that, I'd like to point out that one company has produced a power supply design that in some ways is actually BETTER than the Green Plug standard: Kensington. Yes, that Kensington. They have a series of true variable-output DC power supplies which have a rather unique way of powering a wide range of different devices that require different voltages and current; I have one myself, a model 33197 (I actually have "last year's" model that uses a rather proprietary cable, but apparently this most recent one [kensington.com] uses a standard USB cable in the design. It has a five-pin DC output jack, to which a cable attaches that has a female plug on the other end; there is a series of "tips" which connect to the end of the cable, and it is these tips which actually determine both the physical attachment method to a device AND the voltage and current. There are tips available for virtually every laptop, cellphones, even one for my old HP iPAQ hx4700 (which is a REALLY weird one).
I believe the Kensington design works by the tips creating a feedback loop of some sort with the power supply proper, communicating through one or several of those pins precisely what voltage and current to supply. It strikes me as quite ingenious. I have no idea what specific mechanism this feedback loop employs, because I haven't yet reverse-engineered one of the tips to see what makes it tick.
So what Kensington has produced is a 3-24VDC, 6A, 120W variable output DC power supply that, with a proper tip, can power virtually any device that falls within its output specs. They have already anticipated the vast majority of common devices, and can easily produce others as the need arises. Of course I'd rather see the whole thing open sourced, but that again is the difference between altruism and harsh Darwinian reality. Regardless, I think what Kensington has created could very easily become a standard even superior to what Green Plug proposes.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The pursuit of profit is directly in opposition to the pursuit of innovation.
That's a fact proven by:
1) Medical companies and Hospitals: No "financial" incentives to cure a person. Only symptom treatment matters.
2) Arms Manufacturers: The F-16s and F-15 require high ground maintenance to run. No incentive to produce single-shot planes with no frequent repairs and services.
3) TVs & PCs: shoddy manufacturing and no spares: forcing you to replace the entire unit.
4) Laser printers: No common refill packages