A question about the weird box things

[susanne]

Hi guys!

I have kind of a dumb question and so I searched for electricity related forums and found this one. Sorry if I sound really silly, but here goes:

Can anyone please tell me why are these weird box things so common and what do they actually do??
Picture:

Ok, I realized I can't post pics. Just search google images for "cell phone charger" to see what I mean.

Like seriously... why do some of them have to be so enormous? Sometimes it’s a pain to use them if the electrical outlet is in a place that is difficult to reach and other times this weird box thing takes up ALL the slots and so I can’t connect anything next to it! Why is it like that?


If there has to be that weird box thing then why can't they all be like laptop chargers that have 2 separate wires?

The wire that connects to the device could actually be very short, but they should really make the other wire like a regular normal wire so that it doesn’t take up all the space next to it when I connect it to the electrical outlet and it could be connected even if the outlet is in a hard-to-reach place.

So why aren't all of them like that?? Is it more expensive to make them like laptop chargers? I really don't understand.

 

[Lewiiss]

The weird box thing, is the transformer for stepping the voltage down to the correct input for what ever device it's designed for.

 

[mark80]

The weird box thing, is the transformer for stepping the voltage down to the correct input for what ever device it's designed for.

I'm glad you managed to decipher that mate haha!

 

[trev]

OK, I have no real idea what you're talking about but I'm going to have a few stabs in the dark and hope I get some right.

These "wierd box like things" are they the things that connect your mains power( ie what you plug in to) in to useable power (ie charging your mobile phone/ipod etc) If so, these things are known as transformers, what they do is step down what comes out of the sockets (UK 230 volts US (since that's where I'm guessing you are) 110 volts) down to the voltage that your device needs.

They are the size they are because that is how big they need to be, some of them work electronically some don't.

The wire that goes from the charger to the device is as long as it is just for convenience, for example, you would not want to be answering a phone call or a text message bent double over a kitchen worktop because the lead was three inches long.

I hope I got at least one thing right out of all that guess work

It would appear that Lewiiss summed it up far easier than I did

 

[susanne]

Thanks but I still don't understand why they make laptop chargers so much easier to connect to the electrical outlets than all those other ones. The box doesn't directly connect to the oulet, because there's a regular normal wire coming out of the box. Like, can you imagine if you had to connect that huge laptop charger box directly to the oulet?

So, why can't they all be something similar to laptop chargers?

 

[GLENNSPARK]

OK, I have no real idea what you're talking about but I'm going to have a few stabs in the dark and hope I get some right.

These "wierd box like things" are they the things that connect your mains power( ie what you plug in to) in to useable power (ie charging your mobile phone/ipod etc) If so, these things are known as transformers, what they do is step down what comes out of the sockets (UK 230 volts US (since that's where I'm guessing you are) 110 volts) down to the voltage that your device needs.

They are the size they are because that is how big they need to be, some of them work electronically some don't.

The wire that goes from the charger to the device is as long as it is just for convenience, for example, you would not want to be answering a phone call or a text message bent double over a kitchen worktop because the lead was three inches long.

I hope I got at least one thing right out of all that guess work

It would appear that Lewiiss summed it up far easier than I did

trev....its a tardis...

 

[BillyTheSparks]

Thanks but I still don't understand why they make laptop chargers so much easier to connect to the electrical outlets than all those other ones. The box doesn't directly connect to the oulet, because there's a regular normal wire coming out of the box. Like, can you imagine if you had to connect that huge laptop carger box directly to the oulet?

So, why can't they all be something similar to laptop chargers?

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

 

[GLENNSPARK]

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

oh aye....they can be spiteful when it comes to cable.....lol...

 

[trev]

Thanks but I still don't understand why they make laptop chargers so much easier to connect to the electrical outlets than all those other ones. The box doesn't directly connect to the oulet, because there's a regular normal wire coming out of the box. Like, can you imagine if you had to connect that huge laptop carger box directly to the oulet?

So, why can't they all be something similar to laptop chargers?

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.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

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.

yes...its far to complicated for the fairer of the species to understand...
kettle suzanna love....

 

[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 ??