A question about the weird box things

[susanne]

It's probably just down to the cost of the extra cable that would be required

Thanks

But I'm just curious to know how much does it really cost to add a little bit of extra cable so it wouldn't be such a huge inconvenience to connect it to the outlet.

Why do you worry about it though? if you can plug your device in to the outlet via a box and it all works sometimes it's best just to accept it for what it is. I know that sometimes things can take up a lot of space but is it really that important?

If it all works then don't worry about the mechanics of how it does what it does.

Well, yes but sometimes its impossible to connect like 3 (or sometimes even 2) of those boxes to the same outlet. And it's strange to carry around an extension cord with you just in case.

 

[vjsmarwick]

my guess is that its just so that we can all just sit and wonder why they do that ? isnt it fun sitting on a dark night with a couple of dozen of them all tangled up and then trying to work out which one is for what its far better than scrabble

 

[Deleted member 26818]

With a little experience, you soon decide that placing lables on them is a good idea.
Especially if you plug a 12V transformer into an external Hard Drive then discover that the polarity is reversed, or that it's only meant to have 5.5V.

 

[brman]

I think you need to get a more modern phone - the chargers I have are all no bigger than a standard plug :lol:

 

[Darkwood]

Phone chargers are so because they charge the phone up locally I.E. you plug in and charge phone and leave..... laptops are normally in use when plugged in and require a longer extended power supply to usually reach you sat in your chair while plugged in, also the power pac's are already a standardised design and mass manufactured long before laptops were mainstream as they also are used for many other electrical goods so its cheaper to design the laptop to the existing market than to spend millions redesigning power supplies.

Lastly alot of people carry a phone charger around with them and if it was designed the same as the laptop power supply this would be a bit more bulky to just slip in your pocket.

The way china see's it is its cheaper for you to fit a few sockets at correct height as oppose to throwing multi-millions on a charger design so you don't get stressed.

 

[susanne]

With a little experience, you soon decide that placing lables on them is a good idea.
Especially if you plug a 12V transformer into an external Hard Drive then discover that the polarity is reversed, or that it's only meant to have 5.5V.

Well, I looked and on my laptop charger box it says "20V", but I wasn't asking about that. The point is that I don't have to plug that huge box itself to the outlet.

I think you need to get a more modern phone - the chargers I have are all no bigger than a standard plug :lol:

The cell phone was just an example I do have a modern phone and thankfully they solved that problem, however it's some of the other things that still have those enormous boxes and I find it annoying if I am in a place that doesn't have many outlets (or if they are poorly placed) and I have to connect more than 1 one of those boxes to the same outlet, which is impossible sometimes.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Well, I looked and on my laptop charger box it says "20V", but I wasn't asking about that. The point is that I don't have to plug that huge box itself to the outlet.



The cell phone was just an example I do have a modern phone and thankfully they solved that problem, however it's some of the other things that still have those enormous boxes and I find it annoying if I am in a place that doesn't have many outlets (or if they are poorly placed) and I have to connect more than 1 one of those boxes to the same outlet, which is impossible sometimes.

well dont start with those 3 way outlets...their bad news are them love...

 

[susanne]

The way china see's it is its cheaper for you to fit a few sockets at correct height as oppose to throwing multi-millions on a charger design so you don't get stressed.

Sometimes I'm at a place where the socket is so close to something like a wall or the floor that I can only plug in just 1 box and nothing else (even though there are 2 outlets). And then wait until it's charged before I can do anything else.

Oh well, I guess there's nothing that can be done about it.

Thanks for replying, everyone.

 

[susanne]

OK, I looked around on Wikipedia and found that I wasn't the only one bothered by this problem.

While useful for many purposes, some external AC adapters have attracted criticism. Problems with this type of power supply include, but are not limited to:

1. Size — Power supplies which plug into the mains directly without using a plug on a cable (true wall warts) are bulkier than bare plugs; sometimes they are too large to plug into power sockets with restricted space, or into adjacent sockets on power strips.

2. Weight — Some AC adapters can be heavy, exerting excess weight on the power socket (this depends on the socket design of the country in question). Some external power supplies are "power bricks" (also known as "line lumps") having a short AC cord so they can lie on the floor, thus relieving strain, at the expense of clutter. Other wall-hanging types are made long and thin, minimizing the leverage of their weight vector that pulls the plug out, at the expense of exacerbating the size problem. The weight for equipment that must be carried (e.g., for traveling) is not a disadvantage of external supplies, as the alternative is an equally heavy internal supply; in many cases a single universal supply can replace several proprietary ones.

It also talks about Universal power adapters, but that looks really confusing and potentially dangerous.

I guess I just have to deal with it...

 

[Geordie Spark]

Sometimes there are complicated electronics in the "box" which would make it too bulky to fit dirrectly in to the outlet (socket) so they give you a lead that plugs in then feeds the box (transformer) then a lead to the device which you want to charge.

Why do you worry about it though? if you can plug your device in to the outlet via a box and it all works sometimes it's best just to accept it for what it is. I know that sometimes things can take up a lot of space but is it really that important?

If it all works then don't worry about the mechanics of how it does what it does.

Don't you sometimes wish you hadn't got involved ??