If you are a gadget freak like TechMan, you may end up, as he is, drowning in chargers. Phone chargers, tablet chargers, MP3 player chargers and on and on.
TechMan has a briefcase (actually more of a book bag, but briefcase sounds so much more important) full of chargers with their cords.
And the cords obey that universal rule, the “law of inevitable entanglement.” the law states that when any two or more cords or strings or ropes are placed together, they will ultimately become twisted into a tangled knot. Furthermore, the law states that the number of minutes required to untangle the mass is the square of the number of cords involved.
Since TechMan often has more than a half-dozen chargers, he spends a lot of time untangling them. Once he tried to organize by storing them in a Zip-Loc bag, but just ended with a tangled mass in a bag.
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So what to do?
Let’s look at how chargers work.
Chargers have two parts, a cord and a variable-shaped protuberance at the end that plugs into the wall.
Often the cord detaches from the protuberance and it then has two ends.
One end is almost always a standard USB connector. it is the other end that is the problem. That end can have a micro-USB connector, a mini-USB connector or a proprietary connector of some sort that fits only one brand of device.
Increasingly, chargers are standardizing on a micro-USB connector. in fact, the International Telecommunications Union has been trying to come up with a universal charger that could be used on all devices. it would have a USB connector at one end and a micro-USB at the other.
Most big equipment makers have signed on.
But Apple, king of the proprietary chargers, has agreed to only the European implementation and may just ship an adaptor for its own connector.
If this works out, you could pretty much carry only one charger for everything (except maybe Apple products) and devices would not have to ship with their own chargers.
This would cut down mightily on the waste of energy and resources making all those chargers.
But don’t look for this to happen for a while. until then, there are ways to cut down that tangle of chargers.
First, since cords differ only in length and connectors, carry only one cord with each type of connector you need. in most cases, this would be a micro-USB connector for most recent cell phones, a mini-USB for older equipment and an Apple connector for Apple products.
But how about the bulgy end (which we’ll call the wall plug)?
It accepts AC power from the socket which gets reduced to smaller AC power through a transformer. Then a rectifier converts AC to DC power, which the device’s battery needs.
After that there is a filter circuit that cleans the power before it is used for charging the phone.
Most cell phones draw 5 watts from the charger. it is the draw of the device that is important. If a wall plug emits 5 watts, then it matches the device and that is the most efficient setup.
A wall plug can emit more than 5 watts and it won’t hurt the device. An iPad, for example, draws 10 watts and its charger emits 10 watts.
An iPhone draws 5 watts, and its charger emits 5 watts. So can you use the iPad charger for the iPhone? Yes, the phone still draws only 5 watts, and all is well.
You can also use the iPhone charger to charge an iPad, but it will charge only half as fast. So if you are going to carry only one charger for iPhone and iPad, carry the iPad charger.
For most Android phones you can use any charger that has a micro-USB and USB connector ends and a wall plug that puts out 5 watts or more.
One current solution to this is something called wireless charging or inductive charging.
You set your device on a base station plugged into the wall and it charges.
Powermat (powermat.com) and Duracell (duracell.com) are among manufacturers of these chargers. the base station, usually in the shape of a flat pad, can charge multiple devices at once.
The problem is cost. Not only do the kits cost from $50 to $100, but each device needs its own sleeve or clip to make contact, and those can cost $30 and up.
And of course, it you want to recharge on the road, you have to carry the base station with you.
Also remember that you can charge devices by plugging them into the USB port of a computer, but that is slow.
So it looks like for now, if TechMan wants to carry around a bagful of devices, he also has to carry around at least a small bagful of chargers.
first published on October 23, 2011 at 12:00 am