[Macworld]

Post your comments for Mobile phone chargers: energy vampires here

[fletc3her]

How about re-engineering the chargers to use zero watts when they are not being actively used. This is not rocket science. The chargers generally don't even have clocks or LEDs that require a trickle of electricity to stay on. Consumers should unplug devices that are not in use, but the manufacturers could solve the problem on their end more effectively.

[TAllenSr]

Exactly, Fletc3her. I just saw a commercial during Heroes on Monday asking us all to unplug these kind of devices or use a power strip and turn it off. It claimed that doing so would save 20% on our power bills. That savings sounds a bit high, but I will try to remember to do so anyway. However, it would be PAINFULLY easy for all power adapter manufacturers to detect the lack of any real power draw from the adapter, and then stop drawing/converting the household power when not needed. I know I would appreciate the convenience of not having to unplug and re-plug everything around my house.

[fletc3her]

I have a kill-a-watt power meter and plugged my motorola charger into it. With the cell phone plugged in it is drawing a miniscule amount of power. Without the cell phone plugged in it doesn't appear to be drawing any power at all. I'll leave it plugged in for a few hours to see if it starts to register. But, the Motorola RAZR charger at least appears to be 5 stars.
The kill-a-watt is pretty fun if you want to see what your electronics are drawing. You can plug your entertainment center power strip into it and then turn off all your components and see how much the set up is drawing even while it is off. A bit eye opening at times.
http://www.thinkgeek...avelpower/7657/

[awcabot]

How about making a nice gesture and have all cell-phones use the same charger instead of each manufacturer have it's own damned charger type?

[Dr88Keyz]

Fletc3her, it is actually rocket science to get zero watts. All electronic components have what is called "off-state" leakage currents and that is the source of the wasted energy when chargers (or other electronic devices) are left plugged in. In theory it should be zero, in pratice it is never zero. As a semiconductor device engineer, it is always an issue of reducing leakge currents in devices.

[W_Loring]

awcabot has the right idea. If all of these devices used a standard USB charger, then we could charge our devices just about anywhere. Either via our computer, in the car, or via an industry standard power brick. The need for power supplies would plummet, and we would save a huge amount of waste in our landfills. If these USB power bricks also had a simple on/off switch, we'd be in even better shape.

[alansky]

So what about something like the iPhone's charging dock, which connects to the USB port on my computer? Is the dock wasting significant energy when plugged in but not in use. I always unplug my Bluetooth headset charger when not in use, but having to connect and disconnect a USB charging cable all the time would be a royal pain.

[pdbreske]

The iPhone charging dock doesn't draw any power from the computer when it's plugged into the USB port. The charging cradle is basically just a bare wire that plugs into the phone.
If you plug that USB charging cradle into a wall outlet via the supplied AC adapter, then it does draw some power, just like the other devices mentioned in the article.
As for the idea of a standardized adapter, there was a story about a small company that was trying to get major electronics manufacturers to do just that, but at the time I read the story there was only one company that had committed to the idea.
Google: Alliance for Universal Power Supplies or try this link:
http://www.alliancef...er.org/home.php

[cycomachead]

Thanks for this! I admit, my phone charger is plugged in almost all the time. I'll try and remember to unplug it or turn off my surge protector (though I need that going a lot).
There's no reason why they can't make chargers that take up zero energy. Leakage is a problem, but what about a chip system that tells whether or not a device is using power? This would be in the actual socket itself, but it might just require more power.
Also having standard plugs and chargers is a must. It saves on other resources as well - you know why I've never bought a miniUSB cable? And we've actually come very close with miniUSB. However, some manufacturers insist upon using their own new connector (For each phone too, LG!!!) and others put chips in them so they only work with manufacturer products (Motorola!!!). We will never have one charger for all products because each thing requires separate amounts of power, but we can get close. miniUSB works well in this case because it is a regulated spec and accepts no more than 5V. So theoretically every device powered with less than 5V could use miniUSB or USB. Firewire would work and provides more power, but it too large, except for 4 pin FW which doesn't provide power.

[AI_Joe]

Would having it plugged into a surge protector and using it's on/off switch make a difference? I have my entire entertainment system hooked into one, and it'd be great if hitting that switch would work.

[cycomachead]

It would cut the power to all those devices, but the surge protector would take some power, though it's simply not logical to connect and disconnect surge protects everyday.

Also it seems no what then that you'll end up with leakage. So nothing is plugged into the outlet, but power is flowing to the outlet (so it's 'ready for you' when you plug a device in) and even if you flip a switch in the outlet, then power would be running up to the switch and the process just keeps circling backwards. Can anyone better explain this, or have an answer.

[Dr88Keyz]

Cycomachead, I have couple couple responses.
Per the suggestion of a chip to not supply power to the outlet... those chips do consume power so you would just be moving the source of the wasted power from the charger to the "smart" outlet.
Per power flowing up to the switch and circling backwards... it not quite like that. As a matter of fact, when nothing is plugged into a socket, there's a "voltage" there but there's no "power" being consumed because no "current" is flowing... in the world of electrical engineering this is called an "open circuit" condition. When you plug something into the socket (or turn on a swtich) it "closes" the circuit and allows current to flow. Power = Voltage x Current. As I was explaining in my earlier post, it is the small leakage currents in devices which lead to the wasted power even when a device is "supposed" to be off.


Here's the reason why you won't ever have a "zero energy" charger while it's still plugged in with no phone (or other device) connected. All chargers have diodes, transistors and capacitors (plus other components). In a perfect world, those components would have no losses when in an "off" condition. However, in the real world transistors, diodes, and capacitors all have leakage currents when in what's considered an "off" condition when a voltage is applied across them. You remove that voltage by unplugging it from the wall (or other power source).



For now, the only way around the wasted power is a "mechanical" switch... or just unplugging from the wall.

[cycomachead]

Thanks, that's mostly what I suspected :/