I propose installing outlets in one's home that, instead of electrical prongs, contain half of a transformer. The "plug" would contain the other half of the transformer. This idea would work similar to the newer electric toothbrush designs, with one part of the transformer in the base, and the other part in the toothbrush.
The two great things about this would be: 1. There would be no electrical contacts, so they would be much safer. 2. The other half of the transformer in the appliance-end could have any number of wire wraps, so the appliance could get basically any voltage it needs.
To prevent any dangerous magnetic fields, the wall coil would only be energized if the plug were to snap into the outlet and hit a specially designed switch that would be difficult to trip with anything else.-- fogfreak, Aug 05 2002 Field coil wallpaper http://www.halfbake..._20coil_20wallpaperAlready HalfBaked. [phoenix, Aug 05 2002] (?) Smart Power Outlets http://www.halfbake...got the idea from.http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Smart_20power_20outlets#993300675 [fogfreak, Aug 05 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004] WOW! why didn't I think of that... I'm amazed this hasn't been done... with more and more items that need a lower voltage via a wall wart, and more concern about child safety. I'd buy that for a dollar. (or more)-- James Newton, Aug 05 2002 Finally, I have an idea that doesn't plummet to fish-bone city (For 10 minutes at least).-- fogfreak, Aug 05 2002 Fine. You'll have to standardise on the dimensions and layout of the pole pieces. You have my magnetic croissant.-- neelandan, Aug 05 2002 You're going to have some transformer power losses (maybe around 2%).-- FarmerJohn, Aug 05 2002 It would be a lot more than that. Conventional transformers, with the primary and secondary in intimate association, can achieve 95% - 99% efficiency, but if the junction between the windings is as wide as must be the case here, that figure will drop radically.-- angel, Aug 05 2002 As good an idea as it is, there is another side to the coin. Many companies will want the rights to the *actual built-in wall wart* design/ configuration/implementation. This is likely why it hasn't been baked. Conventional Croissant.-- thumbwax, Aug 05 2002 Yep. As angel says they'll be some power loss as well as increased radio 'noise' in the room there the socket is used. Nothing to cause a killer blow to a fine idea like this, though. Croissant.-- st3f, Aug 05 2002 I keep reading this as "In-Wall Wal-mart". Ugh.-- DrCurry, Aug 05 2002 If you use a higher frequency than 50 - 60 Hz (say 5000) the whole thing can be smaller, lighter and much more efficient. And no more problems with 110V/230V appliances ..... like it. Croissant.-- 8th of 7, Aug 05 2002 If you scaled this up so that you used it for mains power appliances instead of low voltage stuff would you have to remove your car keys/pocket change/fillings before entering the room?-- st3f, Aug 05 2002 phoenix, that's not where I got the idea from. I got the idea from Smart Power Outlets. I just figured that transformer coils would be easier than electronic communication and switching.-- fogfreak, Aug 05 2002 blissmiss, I hadn't heard of it either:
wall wart
n. A small power-supply brick with integral male plug, designed to plug directly into a wall outlet; called a `wart' because when installed on a power strip it tends to block up at least one more socket than it uses.. These are frequently associated with modems and other small electronic devices which would become unacceptably bulky or hot if they had power supplies on board (there are other reasons as well having to do with the cost of UL certification).-- FarmerJohn, Aug 05 2002 St John's Wort is a herbal treatment for depression.-- po, Aug 05 2002 I used to run into problems-especially with my computer-with the "wall warts" as you call them, but I got for my computer a power strip with 3 plugs spaced farther apart for the "warts".
btw, I always called them "power blocks".-- BinaryCookies, Aug 05 2002 Aren't "power blocks" the things that Power Rangers use on bad guys?
I guess, if you got hit with one of those things at speed...-- UnaBubba, Aug 05 2002 Not to contradict. but hasn't it been proved that magnetic fields are not dangerous? if they are then why don't you use stacked layers of ferrous and non-ferrous layered as shielding.-- angry_scientist, Nov 12 2003 Standardization shouldn't be too much of a problem. Just get the IEC to set the dimensions and everybody is happy (and if you can buy votes on the commission and have your company's dimsensions defined as the standard so much the better).-- soundman, Nov 12 2003 I will bun this one simply because the US is in need of a new electrical standard that can co-exist with the common double-phase 120/240 AC voltage standards. A 15-amp 12 volt AC recepticle would cover most low-voltage devices. At the most, electronics would need a rectifier, a couple of resistors, and perhaps a small step-up transformer in the event that the device requires 24-30 volts. Other than that most other devices that requre 9 to 18 volts will run perfectly on a 12 volt power supply.-- Jscotty, Mar 10 2006 [+] I have an idea for what kind of "specially designed switch" would be most difficult for anything else to trip. You'd have several of these switches, in series. Each switch would be a sort of relay, with a permanent magnet on the moving part (without any electromagnet); the plug wouldn't hit the switch, but would have several small permanent magnets inside. Only the proper polarity / orientation of permanent magnets on the plug would cause all of the relay-switches to be closed, and allow the outlet to be energized.-- goldbb, May 07 2009 halfbakery