Annoying BBS feature...the start of a poll is local to the poster. I can't vote till 8:13 pm ( it is now 1:17 EST).

Actually, my favorite are the new style of wall warts, like the plug-top adapter that some Rio Car owners got. It's a wall wart that doesn't cover up the other plugs. Best invention since the Tivo.

There's also this, which has been marketed to musicians for many years, but really should be going for the mainstream too.

How about putting a power supply in the damned devices, you lazy-ass engineers?

Yeah, I think I'd have to go with power bricks, but not too many things these days come with them.

How dificult would a universal DC power supply system be? I'd sure like to have some sort of universal "DC Power Cent(er)/(re)" that had perhaps 12v and 5v rails that had a standard socket/cord sytem that multiple DC lovin' appliances could plug into? Are there serious disadvantages in forcing electronics to pick betwen 5 and 12 volts?

Matthew

There's something like that for guitar effets pedals, so it's certainly doable, but it'd make more sense to me to be able to have a variable setting for each output port. I don't think that size is too big a concern. I don't know why someone hasn't done something like that before.

Hang on - I posted this on the 14th (today) and I enabled immediate voting - yet it chose the timezone of the BBS and has even locked me out, dammit!!!

Bitt,
Sadly, the power supply outside the device issue has much more to do with power regulations than engineers. If you had any idea how much crap you have to go through to get a device CE, CSA, UL, AU/NZ certified, you'd know why there are external power supplies. Getting these certs not only takes effort, it can take time, LOTS of it. Months if you company is too small to have a self-certifying lab. It can also cost tens of thousands of dollars. Essentially if you're making a device that uses AC power, you have to submit & test every device in every regulatory market. By using outside power supplies you just get the supply and go, as the supply manufacturer already has the certifications needed. Devices using power <42V DC (the low-voltage directive) do not need to go through this rigamoarole, so all your electronics will use these external power supplies until the day that a)regulations change or (more likely) b)hell freezes.

-Zeke

Don't think so. At least, if that was what he wanted to do, then he failed...

Votes accepted from (15/02/2005 02:13)

Stig

Oh. Good point. Someone needs to devlop a standard modular system, then. The engineers leave a hole with a standard connector of some sort and then ship a standardized-upon power adapter that fits in that hole.

I hate wall warts enough that, even though I don't know what a power brick is, I picked the first option -- can't be as bad as those damn wall warts.

I have a little gizmo from Maplins in a spare slot in the back of my PC, which works brilliantly, doing away with bricks and plug tops, and is sufficient for my Empeg, Karma and 35mm slide and neg. scanner (Which cost exactly half the Amazon UK price from a little shop in Delft, last year). I would put a link, but I can't find one in the Maplin catalogue

Ah, so the things do exist! If you run into the link, please post it.

I have only seen 'universal' wall warts with switch selecting output voltage and a hedgehog-like cluster of plugs at the end of the cable: usually non-regulated, with inacurrate voltage, underpowered and all too easy to accidentally bump up the voltage, reverse the polarity or short the terminals - in one word, useless.

I know exactly what you mean and I saw it in Maplins yesterday, however I can't remember the cat number and I don't seem to be able to find the right combination of words to find it on their website.

It's here as "Power (I/O)", about halfway down the page and 2/3 rds of the way across. For some reason, the "More Info" link is dead.

Ahh Godfrey, your search-fu is much stronger than mine.

If you've worked with the filing system in my office, you'll have developed a razor sharp appreciation of the illogical!

Of course, if the US had adopted a sturdy three pin plug large enough for an astronaut to plug his razor in with certainty whilst weightless in space, none of this would be being discussed. The average UK plug top will house a family of four, transforming from 230 to 12v can be accommodated in one small corner of the available space: You just have 2 puny little pins.
I remember the days when they came in three different sizes and people also had the option of burning the house down by plugging the toaster in to the light fitting with a bayonet plug: Another fundamental difference between our two lands, we have bayonets, you have screw fittings (Although we seem to be wavering between the two, probably because of some European Community directive to stamp out unfair prejudice in light fittings).
Whilst I'm on the subject, who invented those wretched halogen lamps that flush mount in the ceiling: I spend my life balancing on a kitchen stool. The mains ones pop just as quickly as the 12v ones.
Yes, and those low consumption, long life bulbs: So they may be - except when you put them in an outside light fitting that requires borrowing the ladder of the neighbour you don't like and getting the wife to stand at the bottom screaming hysterically that she can't hold on much longer. Then it is absolutely mandatory having taken those risks that the bulb that you've bought from B & Q doesn't fit inside the glass globe. When you go back Tracey, or whatever her name is, won't budge on changing the bulb, if you don't have the receipt, although you've got the bag, packing and credit card slip.
And as for that high power light with the PIR over my neighbour's garage, is it fair, when I creep out surreptitiously with the boxers for a late night wee, dressed only in underpants, towelling dressing gown and Hunters, that I should be illuminated with 2000watts of power?

wouldnt it be easier to creep into your bathroom for a late night wee?

with the boxers for a late night wee

Er, he means Boxer dogs, not boxer shorts.

I hope.

Actually, for a lot of devices, there is an emerging standard for 5V power: USB

I have a Cig. lighter plug with a USB A connector on it, that I use variously to charge my cell phone, run my GPS, &c.

Conveniently, my laptop has standby power on USB when plugged into AC power, so I can just carry one power brick for the laptop, and use the 4 convenient charger outlets on the side.

And the original iPod (at least) did the same with 12V and Firewire, though that's less common.

-Z