Behind my TV I have 16 open outlets on my UPS, but I can only access 8 of them because half of the bulbous plugs take up two plugs each.
So between my router, modem, switch, access point, Roku, TV, speakers, and Nintendo, I am running out of power outlets, not because there aren’t enough outlets, but because the plugs take up more than one outlet each.
Why can’t all plugs be designed to only take up one plug?
In: 7
Many of the plugs are actually power supplies converting the line voltage to some lower value and usually converting it to DC. These usually overhang other outlets. You could use “outlet savers” available on Amazon. They are basically 6 to 12 inch extension cords that allow you to use all the outlets in your power strips. The power cube is plugged into the end of the short cord.
Maybe the house of tomorrow should just have USB C ports everywhere and all devices will be sold with USB power inputs.
I never run into plug size problems unless it’s a plug with an integral wall-wart, so I assume that is also your problem. The wall-wart plugs contain electronics thats uses outlet AC voltage to produce a much lower, much safer DC voltage, usually in the range of 5VDC to 12VDC. There are stringent safety regulations around putting direct AC voltages where people handle them. The regulations call for costly extra space and insulation layers around line AC. The manufacturers minimize that by confining the direct AC to the plug. Wall-wart plugs are larger or smaller depending on the power demand of the device.
I never run into plug size problems unless it’s a plug with an integral wall-wart, so I assume that is also your problem. The wall-wart plugs contain electronics thats uses outlet AC voltage to produce a much lower, much safer DC voltage, usually in the range of 5VDC to 12VDC. There are stringent safety regulations around putting direct AC voltages where people handle them. The regulations call for costly extra space and insulation layers around line AC. The manufacturers minimize that by confining the direct AC to the plug. Wall-wart plugs are larger or smaller depending on the power demand of the device.
Maybe the house of tomorrow should just have USB C ports everywhere and all devices will be sold with USB power inputs.
The kind of electricity the wall supplies (AC) and the kind of electricity that computerized devices require (DC) are two different kinds. The reason for this is kind of long and fiendishly complicated, tl;dr version being one of these kinds of electricity is super-convenient for getting the electricity from the power station to your house, and it just happens to be the kind that computers can’t use.
You can convert from one kind to the other, but it takes some bulky circuitry to do it.
If you’re designing a product that is big and not really concerned with how chonky it is, like a television or a big desktop computer, you can build the conversion circuitry into the device itself.
If you’re designing something that needs to be lightweight, tiny, sleek, and sexy, like a nice laptop or some game consoles, your device can’t sacrifice room for the circuitry, so it gets kicked out onto the cord instead. If it gets kicked out onto the cord, you mostly have two choices on where to put it: either in the middle of the cord as a big awkward brick, or build it directly into the wall plug.
A brick in the middle tends to be the optimal choice if you’re making a device that you plan to sell internationally, as you can just design the brick half of it once and then attach it to whatever plug the country you’re selling to uses. (Also gives users who travel the benefit of easily swapping plugs out, so plug converters aren’t necessary!)
Building it directly into the plug is cheaper to manufacture if you don’t care about all that.
The holdout in the above is Apple (because of course it’s Apple), who make cables with the bricks on the plugs, but the plugs still have that plug-swapping feature. This is less Apple being cheap and more Apple building something weird and proprietary so that if your cable needs replacing, you have to go through them.
The kind of electricity the wall supplies (AC) and the kind of electricity that computerized devices require (DC) are two different kinds. The reason for this is kind of long and fiendishly complicated, tl;dr version being one of these kinds of electricity is super-convenient for getting the electricity from the power station to your house, and it just happens to be the kind that computers can’t use.
You can convert from one kind to the other, but it takes some bulky circuitry to do it.
If you’re designing a product that is big and not really concerned with how chonky it is, like a television or a big desktop computer, you can build the conversion circuitry into the device itself.
If you’re designing something that needs to be lightweight, tiny, sleek, and sexy, like a nice laptop or some game consoles, your device can’t sacrifice room for the circuitry, so it gets kicked out onto the cord instead. If it gets kicked out onto the cord, you mostly have two choices on where to put it: either in the middle of the cord as a big awkward brick, or build it directly into the wall plug.
A brick in the middle tends to be the optimal choice if you’re making a device that you plan to sell internationally, as you can just design the brick half of it once and then attach it to whatever plug the country you’re selling to uses. (Also gives users who travel the benefit of easily swapping plugs out, so plug converters aren’t necessary!)
Building it directly into the plug is cheaper to manufacture if you don’t care about all that.
The holdout in the above is Apple (because of course it’s Apple), who make cables with the bricks on the plugs, but the plugs still have that plug-swapping feature. This is less Apple being cheap and more Apple building something weird and proprietary so that if your cable needs replacing, you have to go through them.
The kind of electricity the wall supplies (AC) and the kind of electricity that computerized devices require (DC) are two different kinds. The reason for this is kind of long and fiendishly complicated, tl;dr version being one of these kinds of electricity is super-convenient for getting the electricity from the power station to your house, and it just happens to be the kind that computers can’t use.
You can convert from one kind to the other, but it takes some bulky circuitry to do it.
If you’re designing a product that is big and not really concerned with how chonky it is, like a television or a big desktop computer, you can build the conversion circuitry into the device itself.
If you’re designing something that needs to be lightweight, tiny, sleek, and sexy, like a nice laptop or some game consoles, your device can’t sacrifice room for the circuitry, so it gets kicked out onto the cord instead. If it gets kicked out onto the cord, you mostly have two choices on where to put it: either in the middle of the cord as a big awkward brick, or build it directly into the wall plug.
A brick in the middle tends to be the optimal choice if you’re making a device that you plan to sell internationally, as you can just design the brick half of it once and then attach it to whatever plug the country you’re selling to uses. (Also gives users who travel the benefit of easily swapping plugs out, so plug converters aren’t necessary!)
Building it directly into the plug is cheaper to manufacture if you don’t care about all that.
The holdout in the above is Apple (because of course it’s Apple), who make cables with the bricks on the plugs, but the plugs still have that plug-swapping feature. This is less Apple being cheap and more Apple building something weird and proprietary so that if your cable needs replacing, you have to go through them.
This method is usually cheaper than building the power converter into the device, and the device can be sleek/cool/smaller when you get the wall-wort style plug.
Reason its cheaper: you can engineer around a specific power rating, but that power rating can change without changing too much else… Then, you can purchase a million of these plugs for cheap from shenzhen.
This method is usually cheaper than building the power converter into the device, and the device can be sleek/cool/smaller when you get the wall-wort style plug.
Reason its cheaper: you can engineer around a specific power rating, but that power rating can change without changing too much else… Then, you can purchase a million of these plugs for cheap from shenzhen.
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