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Dealing w/ Massively Multiplying Power Cables?

Posted by Cliff on from the breeding-like-rabbits dept.

Darius Jedburgh asks: "Wireless networking is all very well but network cables make up only a small proportion of the cables in my house. When I come home ,I plug in my GBA Micro, PowerBook, Palm, cellphone and iPod to recharge alongside camera, and other devices. Meanwhile I have power adapters for PCs, routers, access points, cable modems, monitors and external hard drives. Every time I buy a new gadget there's another cable (or two) to install. How do people keep this proliferation under control? Are there any products available to help to organize and ease the distribution of power at home? Does anyone know of novel ideas in power distribution in current development that might make things easier in the future?"

7 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. A big desk and power strips by green+pizza · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've tried the universal power adapters, I've tried docking stations, I've even tried to replace my multiple gadgets with a does-it-all-pda-camera-phone. Nothing worked too well.

    The best solution I've found was to buy a larger desk (I use an old library table) with three powerstrips on the floor under it. To keep the cables from sliding off the desk I have about a dozen little white plastic self-adhesive clips stuck on the back of the desk, each with a cable going thru it.

  2. Inductive charging by zfalcon · · Score: 2, Interesting
    If manufacturers would use a common inductive charging system, that would definitely be a good solution.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2861987.stm

    1. Re:Inductive charging by harrkev · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I am not sure that inductive technology would ever take off... It seems rather inefficient would make any device using it more expensive.

      But how about manufacturers getting together and coming up with a couple of common voltage/plug combinations? Maybe every house should have a power supply capable of supplying +6V on one size of plug, and +12V on another size. Then, every device could just use one of those?

      Of course, you still have problem like varying current capabilites. A power supply capable of recharging your cell phone might not be up to snuff when it comes to powering your WiFi router. But I am sure that the manufacturers could come together and figure something out if they had to.

      --
      "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
  3. Use your car... by MalaclypseTheYounger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Dunno if this will help at all, but most new cars today have 3 or 4 cigarette-lighter adapters. I never charge my phone in a house/office anymore, I only charge it in my car during my commutes, and it never runs out of juice. I imagine you could do this with a few things (GBA, palm?)

    My blackberry, I charge that off my USB port off my laptop. So no power cord for that. It helps a little knowing I can use any USB port to charge up.

    As for everything else, good luck. I still have a mess of cables on my floor, and not planning on doing anything about it.

    --
    Check out the best P2P sharing website: MEDIACHEST.COM
    1. Re:Use your car... by Jorkapp · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I never charge my phone in a house/office anymore, I only charge it in my car during my commutes, and it never runs out of juice.

      FYI, the electricity your car generates isn't "free-lunch" electricity, and is actually quite expensive.

      When you put a strain in the alternator, the induction coils require more power to output a constant amount of electricity - which is compensated by revving up the engine. So by plugging in 3 or 4 devices to a 12V plug, you are really spending more money by burning more gasoline. At current gasoline prices, vehicle electricity costs somewhere around $0.30-$0.50 per Kilowatt-Hour whereas the US national average for utility electricity in August 2005 was $0.10 per kWh.

      Sure it's convenient, but it's also far more expensive than what you pay to use 120VAC wall outlets. For maximum savings, take your 120VAC power adapters to work, and charge your devices at work.

      My blackberry, I charge that off my USB port off my laptop. So no power cord for that. It helps a little knowing I can use any USB port to charge up.

      The "trickle charge" you get from a USB port takes up to 10 times longer to fully recharge the device, and the charge isn't of good quality either. When I trickle charge my Palm Zire 21, I can usually only get about 2 days heavy usage out of it, whereas a plug-in charge lasts about 4 or 5 days. It's a case of preference - conveniently recharge on laptop every couple days or plug in your device every few days.

      As for everything else, good luck. I still have a mess of cables on my floor, and not planning on doing anything about it.

      Amen, brother.

      --
      Frink: Nice try floyd, but you were designed for scrubbing, and scrubbing is what you shall do.
  4. Power Squid by MacBrave · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How about the Power Squid? Looks pretty nifty.......

  5. The economics are there for universal power by plover · · Score: 4, Interesting
    You are only looking at chargers, though. Consider instead the fixed devices with power requirements under my desk right now. Cable modem, router, 3 USB hubs, three printers, a film scanner, a set of speakers, a weather station receiver, and a TV tuner. Each of those came with a brick because it needs power, and there is no local source they could count on. These companies could all save the cost of the bricks if they could count on the users having a universal power supply.

    If a universal power system were widely adopted, all of these bricks could go away. The device makers would have every incentive to not include a brick with each device (cost, weight, package size, etc.)

    The almighty buck is an economic incentive only for the brickmakers -- they want to sell lots of power bricks. But they only sell wholesale to the device makers. They don't sell to the consumers, the device makers do. The device makers have it in their economic interest to offer the lowest price, not to sell a brick. If they could save two dollars by not buying bricks, they could drop their prices by one dollar and still pocket one dollar for themselves.

    There is already a standard out there: USB PlusPower for cash registers. They've incorporated USB backward compatible piggybacked high-current +5VDC, +12VDC and +24VDC connectors. Several years ago some large retail chain stores refused to accept a half-dozen power bricks under each cash register, and demanded of IBM that they develop a way to power the many peripherals each cash register needs (scanners, printers, mag stripe readers, PIN pads, cash drawers, scales, etc.) NCR and Fujitsu added their support for a standard, and USB PlusPower was the result. All the large-player peripheral makers support it now, too. (Here's a sales document for a USB PlusPower hub for your PC that explains the standard.

    From the document: "The USB PlusPower design provides the following voltage and current

    • +5 volts DC at up to 6 amps per connector (up to 30 Watts)
    • +12 volts DC at up to 6 amps per connector (up to 72 Watts)
    • +24 volts DC at up to 6 amps per connector (up to 144 Watts)"

    Consumers need to do the same thing, but as of yet have never organized and demanded such a thing. It's considerably tougher to do at a consumer level. Consumers have never organized very well. And there are very few cash register manufacturers in comparison to all the motherboard and system builders out there. There are very few "large customers" that can use their buying power to influence the industry.

    --
    John