EU proposes law to generalize charging cables

[IkeaGnome]

7 minutes ago, Forbidden Wafer said:

Yes, you leave them because you're certain their connectors won't disconnect anytime soon as long as someone pulls it from the socket.

They also are not relevant to this. 

Quote

All smartphones sold in the EU must have USB-C chargers, the proposal said.

The proposed rules will apply to:

 

• smartphones
• tablets
• cameras
• headphones
• portable speakers
• handheld video game consoles

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58665809

Where is anything 240v, HVAC, Kitchen stuff, computers, Playstations and Xboxes, sound bars, etc in that list?

[Forbidden Wafer]

12 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

Where is anything 240v, HVAC, Kitchen stuff, computers, Playstations and Xboxes, sound bars, etc in that list?

I'm talking about possibilities and the future. Not necessarily this proposal... 

[RejZoR]

5 hours ago, Forbidden Wafer said:

Magsafe is OK for devices sitting on the table with nothing around or on top of other stuff. That is it. For everything else, doesn't make much sense. Watching TV? Try to pull a cable to put the phone to recharge, end up disconnecting the TV, receiver, soundbar, consoles, etc, etc. Also, quickly disconnecting something drawing current by accident probably causes more dangerous arcs than with the USB-C. 

That's a very bold claim for either type of MagSafe. The one used on phones which is Qi doesn't even arc. It physically can't upon random disconnection.

 

As for MagSafe with physical link, what's better, bending, breaking of connector or pulling out whole socket causing permanent damage or that little chance it might arc and cause damage that way? Not to mention ports can have discharge circuitry to protect from high voltage arcs. It's used on most PC motherboards I/O. It's designed in such a way that in case of an arc happening (usually through static discharge) it captures it and dissipates it as heat using dedicated circuitry between the port and motherboard circuitry.

 

Of course anyone would take a chance with arcing possibility over physical connector damage. It's not like you yank the cables 50 times a day. It might instead happen maybe 2-3 times a year if you're clumsy sort.

[Kisai]

6 hours ago, Forbidden Wafer said:

Magsafe is OK for devices sitting on the table with nothing around or on top of other stuff. That is it. For everything else, doesn't make much sense. Watching TV? Try to pull a cable to put the phone to recharge, end up disconnecting the TV, receiver, soundbar, consoles, etc, etc. Also, quickly disconnecting something drawing current by accident probably causes more dangerous arcs than with the USB-C. 

If everything was a mag-safe connector, you're less likely to break things. Period. Have you seen photos of TV's or monitors that are dangling by their HDMI cords? That's the kind of thing that happens presently.

 

In an ideal scenario, you'd have basically a "power bus" power supply, this can be from 100w to 1500w, that you plug directly into the wall's AC, and it has exactly as many USB-C(M) connectors on it that it can max out, so that would probably be (7 to 14)+1. Where the TV, Speakers, Surround Receiver, all negotiate how much power they need from the power supply for standby, and which device is the "master" device (eg the TV or the Receiver) that when powered on, tells all the devices to wake up. Then other STB's, game consoles, etc remain in a "power-off until selected" mode by the TV or Receiver. They send their respective HDMI/DP signals to the appropriate device as dictated by the TV or Receiver over the USB-C(M). 

 

In a more classic configuration, the surround receiver does -everything-, and the TV only behaves passively, with only HDMI being sent to it. However SmartTV's tend to have a lot more logic in them. So switching to a single usb-c(m) connector in this case would solve the "I've run out of ports" problem as well, as only the device selected will be using the high bandwidth HDMI/DP signal.

 

Ta-da, the most complicated mess that anyone over the age of 50 can't figure out is solved, everything just plugs into one box. No special cables. Nothing breaks when someone pulls a box.

 

You can't tell me you've not wasted time fumbling behind your TV or other boxes to plug things back in because someone decided to dust or vacuum

 

That mag safe connector Apple came up with for the new iMac/MacMini seems to be a weird compromise. If it was a USB 3.1 signaling, that would make sense, but the ifixit teardown suggests that the power connector is only power + ethernet, as the ethernet controller is in the imac itself. 

 

 

[cj09beira]

9 hours ago, poochyena said:

I don't know what you mean by "fixed quantity"

usb c is capable of all that, so I don't understand your point

i mean that requirements for that connector and its signals didn't have to change throughout the years, same voltage, same frequency, same mechanical requirements, the same can not be said for charging and data cables, where mechanical characteristics (size, etc), voltage and amperage, and data throughput all radically changed, and will likely keep changing if allowed to.

[mr moose]

Just as an FYI (because there seems to be some discussion regarding magsafe and 240V),  Apple got the magnetic connection idea from kettles and frying pans in japan that had magnetic connectors to prevent kids pulling boiling oil/liquid off the bench.

 

So yeah, originally used for 100VAC applications before apple adapted it to their laptops. 

[Spindel]

55 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Just as an FYI (because there seems to be some discussion regarding magsafe and 240V),  Apple got the magnetic connection idea from kettles and frying pans in japan that had magnetic connectors to prevent kids pulling boiling oil/liquid off the bench.

 

So yeah, originally used for 100VAC applications before apple adapted it to their laptops. 

To add to that: In apples old magsafe solution the voltage in the wall point is moot. The magsafe connector gives around 20V DC transformed down from 120 or 240 V AC. 
 

That is what the powerbrick is for.