Will there ever be plug-n-play DC power?

[paulbearer]

I'm not sure if this has been brought up before....I am so sick of having ten different bricks hanging off my
power strip, wasting outlets and generating all that heat....

Seems like the tech industry has moved towards improving the way devices communicate (i.e. USB, BlueTooth, FireWire, etc.). When will someone tackle the issue of power?

It would be awesome if there was some sort of technology, call it SmartPower or something, that would allow people to do away with these bulky AC-to-DC transformers. Instead, one would just buy a master power supply that had 12 ports, for example, all with the same type of connector.

Then, low-power DC devices, such as scanners, routers, etc, could all be powered off the same supply, eliminating the need for these stupid transformer bricks. There could be a connector that supplied power and data lines, and when initially plugged in, the device would perform a handshake, notifying the master supply of the exact type of power it requires on the line.

Call me crazy....but I think it's a good idea

 

[yukichigai]

I personally have noticed a trend to a more standardized range of DC power as far as peripherals go. Many of my peripherals, i.e. speakers, modems, etc. seem to use either a standard 12 volt DC power input or a 5 volt input, and as you may know PS/2 and USB (I think) ports both put out 5 volts; I imagine you could probably use some kind of adaptor for that though I don't know if such a thing exists. Anyway, I'd say an adaptor like you're talking about would be possible... though it'd be one large brick in itself, but still much better than the proliferation of adaptors we're all used to seeing on our power strips. (Hell, I even use a power strip with plugs set apart specifically with those bricks in mind) Incidentally, another trend I've noticed in scanners and printers is to put the transformer on the actual device itself and just use a normal 3-prong cord. So bottom line, as far as I'm concerned anyway, is that the industry is aware of the problem and probably is trying to do something about it, unless it somehow makes them money. The industry is tricky like that.

 

[paulbearer]

I think there could be several benefits for the industry to back something like this. These standard $0.89 transformers are probably not the most efficient transformers out there, and we could probably save a lot of energy if there was a more efficient power distribution scheme for all DC powered devices that people use.

The adoption would be similar to USB, where devices would ship with the old power interface and the new one, and as people started adopting the newer system, we could make the full switch.

Of course, the transformer companies would oppose this, but I think it would be better in the long run for the environment.

Maybe they could call it the Energy Star II system...