Westinghouse Commits to Green Plug's Universal A.C. Adapter

Ian Lamont writes "Westinghouse is the first major electronics manufacturer that has publicly committed to using a 'smart power technology' that will let people use a single universal adapter to power their laptops, cell phones and other electronics. The universal adapters, which use a technology developed by a startup called Green Plug, will act like a hub that several devices can plug into, and will also shut off the power supply when the device is turned off or has finished charging. The first are expected to go on sale in early 2009 for under $100, according to Westinghouse's CTO. Eventually, Westinghouse and other manufacturers that use the technology could stop shipping adapters with their products, because customers may already have universal adapters at home. However, some manufacturers may not be inclined to use universal power adapters: the article notes Apple gets supplementary revenue from the sale of proprietary connectors for the iPod and other devices."

Comments

Radioshack called...

[markov_chain]

... and they want their idea back!

Re:Radioshack called...

[maxume]

If they give me my address back, I'll give them their idea back.

Re:Radioshack called...

[harlows_monkeys]

When did Radioshack have anything like this?

Radioshack had "universal" adaptors, that basically had several different plugs, and you could select the voltage and polarity, so you could make it work with your device.

Green Plug uses the same plug for all devices, and when you plug in a device, the device and the power supply communicate. The device tells the power supply what its power needs are, and the power supply supplies that.

Moan of despair

[andreyvul]

I was *this* close to finish building my collection of proprietary, non-interchangeable DC adapters!

This is going nowhere.

[Ritz_Just_Ritz]

The cost to add the technology to a company's device is listed as US$2. The cost for a company to produce their own wall wart in China...probably less than US$2....and no licensing fees to worry about and no worries that the customer might not have a charger. This idea is going nowhere.

In this case, I think the Chinese government actually got it right. They've forced all cell phone manufacturers to provide a USB port for charging the phones. Seems like a reasonable standard to me.

Cheers,

Re:This is going nowhere.

[schon]

The thing that really sucks about Motorola's USB charge support is that it does some sort of check, in software, before accepting a charger No, I don't think so. I've used generic chargers with my Motorola phone with no problem.

computers with appropriate drivers work fine; but generic USB chargers and computers without drivers get a little "unauthorized" message and no charge. The problem is the *computer*, not the phone, and it's a function of how USB manages power.

USB devices have two levels of power they can draw - one very tiny amount, and a larger amount (guess which one charging your phone requires?)

When a USB device is plugged in, it only gets the minimal amount. If it needs more, it has to negotiate for it... and operating systems do this with a driver. If you have no driver (or the amount of power requested would overload the USB bus), the request for the higher power level is denied, and the phone doesn't charge.

Generic USB chargers just accept the request, unless it's for more than they can put out... which might have caused your problem... but it's not the phone that's at fault. (The phone needs what it needs, so if the charger can't or won't supply it, there's nothing the phone can do about it.)

Re:This is going nowhere.

[SilentTristero]

pins x & 4 are shorted (actually a small resistor) at the phone end on a Moto USB charger. You can easily mod a standard one to work, there's instructions on the web. E.g. http://pinouts.ru/CellularPhones-A-N/razrv3_charger_pinout.shtml

Other similar phones use different but similar schemes.

Re:This is going nowhere.

[Hal_Porter]

Hal Porter said:
The computer will supply at least 5V 500mA to a device before it enumerates.
and got moderated Informative for it.

I don't know who did this moderating, but it must be someone who, like Hal Porter, does not know the USB spec.

A USB device may only draw 100 mA before it is enumerated.
When it is enumerated, it may negotiate more power with the driver, up to a maximum of 500 mA.
When it is connected via a USB-powered hub, the driver will decline this request, and current stays 100 mA max. I know what the spec says, I'm just pointing out that a PC won't enforce that 100mA limit for the excellent reason that loads of devices use USB just as a handy 5V supply and don't have the necessary smarts to enumerate.

If it did enforce it, people would return it as incompatible with this sort of device.

And that's really the point here. The spec isn't the whole story and most USB hosts were designed by people who wanted to maximize compatibility with devices that skirt the rules rather than robotically enforce "ze rules" and then tell users they were idiots for not understanding the spec. It's like something out of theoldnewthing really. The user doesn't know the spec, they just buy cheap USB gizmos. And cheap USB devices will most likely work like this because they don't need a microcontroller. Telling the user you won't support their device and they were an idiot for buying it is just being a jobsworth.

Otherwise, you could draw 2A from any USB port by simply connecting 4 devices through a hub. Ok that's a different case. A non powered hub may well limit downstream power, so USB hard drives won't work if you connect them to it. Or the PC will detect overcurrent and disable the port. Or you'll end running the host port way outside its max power rating. This is a place where it would be correct to enforce the rules because not doing so may actually destroy the host.

Enforcing the "100mA before enumeration" rule is silly though and that's why no USB host I have seen does it.

Re:Not for Apple?

[WARM3CH]

It's Microsoft's fault. It's not anybody's fault. It is what USB standard says. Do you prefer Microsoft break the USB standard? Why should my device that correctly asks for a power token from USB host fail if a stupid hardware connected to the same hub mistakes USB port with a dumb 5 volts adapter?

Re:Not for Apple?

[mabhatter654]

because they don't have a default answer in a generic USB driver. It's one of the little digs they take so that each manufacture has to write a WHQL driver so their device will "properly" talk. This is instead of simply providing the industry standard, or most common, answer to the request when made.

They pulled the same crap with the power management specs on laptops, so OEMS could "optimize" their performance, instead of simply implementing the default optimizations from the chip manufacture directly. The reason is that it keeps devices tied to Windows drivers and keeps OEMS in the Microsoft upgrade treadmill.

It's not like that

[jnork]

First: yes, you will have just as many power supplies as items to be powered and/or recharged. Nothing new there. (Oh, that's not counting their power supply hub. But we'll ignore that for the moment.) Yes, these supplies will cost more initially than the present ones. But like any investment, it's supposed to save you money in the long run.

On the other hand, when your cell phone dies, or your electric razor, or your battery charger, you can buy a new one without buying a new power supply -- because the power supply is universal, see? Less waste in the landfill, less use of resources (one less supply to build), less money to buy the new item.

And if you dash off on a trip and forget your cell phone charger, but remember your electric razor charger -- hey, no problem! They'll just have to take turns. Or you can charge them both at night because you're not using your laptop.

In fact, any decent hotel will have a charger installed right in the wall. Just in case.

Or you're staying at a friend's house; you can borrow his.

As for the supply being bulky, they've already got a supply that can adjust to any voltage in its range.

Since the supply actually talks to the device, it will know when the device is charged, and turn itself off. Unlike the current average wall wart, it will stop using power (or only use a miniscule trickle) if the device doesn't need power.

So: Initial expense will be higher, but you'll be able to save on later purchases (because you can re-use the old supply), you'll save on power (because of lower vampiric power draw), and all the power supplies will be interchangeable.

Greenplug's web site