Universal Power Adapter Struggling For Support

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."

Comments

USB connectors

[seanadams.com]

...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

[crow]

Yes, I was in an airport recently, and there were power outlets with both AC and USB. The future is here.

Re:USB connectors

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

With Apple leading the way?

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

[John Meacham]

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

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.

Re:USB connectors

[mr_matticus]

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.

USB is hopeless

[LordMyren]

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

[seanadams.com]

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.

It's the connector: it's not the protocol

[erbmjw]

Sorry it's not USB -- it requires the proprietary Green Plug chip to work.

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.

Who the hell is "Green Power"?

[Hordeking]

And more importantly, how are they involved? USB is already a standard. This isn't rocket science. The standards are already agreed upon. China managed to require a universal power supply, and they can't even get their human-rights in order. All it takes is one "standard device end", one "standard source end" and an agreement over what the upper and lower limits are! We have lots of those! Not just USB, either!

Re:Security risk

[cowbutt]

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