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Standardized AC adapters

Reduce the variety of AC Adapters out there.
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Today's capitalist society is filled with many electronic products that make use of AC adapters, e.g. digital cameras, cell phones, cd players, laptop, video game console, speakers, battery rechargers, and clocks.

Surprisingly, there is not much standardization in this department. Each product comes with its own AC adapter (or worse, sold as a separate item), and other AC adapters, despite having the same voltage output, will not physically fit (according to radioshack).

A plethora of AC adapters can quickly accumulate within a household with each new purchase of electronics. To cut back on redunant hardwares and unnecessary expenditures, and to reduce the cost of each AC adapter by allowing greater competition, a government mandated AC adapter standard can help the consumers like it did when batteries, screws, nuts and bolts were standardized.
tongpoo, Aug 14 2003

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       // according to radioshack //   

       I wouldn't mess with Radio Shack if I were you. They are a powerful cartel of villains. With this idea, you're liable to wake up and find yourself dead, strangled with a cheap coaxial cable, your mouth stuffed full of rechargable NiCad batteries, and your genitals covered in alligator clips.
DeathNinja, Aug 14 2003
  

       [ninja] ouch! Well I think it's a good idea. If it reduces the number of dang cords in my house I'm for it.
crispee, Aug 14 2003
  

       Ummm - a tad ironic that I purchased my universal adapter from Radio Shack.
Shz, Aug 14 2003
  

       Ha, I forgot about that. I remember that all you have to do is to buy the right adaptaplug that fits between the product and the universal adapter.
tongpoo, Aug 14 2003
  

       Hehe! [tong], mine is even older than that. All the plugs are built into the cord.
Shz, Aug 14 2003
  

       Well, I'm still going to need _alot_ of these adapters. They're powering many of the devices in my home. I can't unplug my cordless phone to plug in the cable modem, and then unplug it to plug in my computer speakers, can I?   

       If there were one common adapter for all the items I needed, it would have to supply about 3 amps of power. It's a very large, floor-type adapter. I don't want (or want to pay for) 20 of these in my house.
Cedar Park, Aug 14 2003
  

       I have one with a switch to control the output
-----, Feb 25 2004
  

       One approach I've thought would be interesting would be a standard three-pin wall-wart connector. The third pin would be used to provide voltage feedback control to the power supply. Such a system would have some advantages, especially in cases where a device's voltage demand could vary. For example, a device that runs on a four-cell NiCd battery could operate itself on 4.8 volts but would use a higher voltage to charge the batteries. By switching a wall-wart supply between 4.8 volts and about 6 volts, the device could control battery charging without having to have bulky switching stuff on-board.
supercat, May 02 2006
  

       //Today's capitalist society//   

       I wonder if the Soviets had the same problem? I suspect that a government standard would have been drawn up, for a universal adaptor the size of a tank, and delivering the appropriate Marxist-Leninist voltage for all appliances.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 02 2011
  

       // delivering //   

       Yes, but only if your parents put your name down for one before you were conceived, in which case you might just get it as your retirement present.
8th of 7, Jul 03 2011
  

       Not so. During the height of the Soviet era, electricity was freely available over a very wide area using a distributed generation system.   

       Amps were available on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and alternate Saturdays; volts were available on the remaining days.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 03 2011
  
      
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