Actions
Forum Thread Details
  • State Not Answered
  • Replies 6 replies
  • Subscribers 286 subscribers
  • Views 678 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Related

Universal charger

GardenState
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has given its stamp of approval to an energy-efficient, one-charger-fits-all mobile phone solution. Based on the Micro USB interface and called the Universal Charging Solution (UCS) it will enable the same charger to be used for all future handsets, regardless of make and model. Consumers have clamored for a universal charger for years, but is Micro USB the right platform?
  • 0
    For customer, it is a good news, they can use one charger for many different kinds of portable unit. But for the Charger manufacturers,that means they have to change the interface of their products or close their factory. So, if the manufactures do not support this solution, no matter what kind of platform, no way to come true.
  • 0

    Finally, this is excellent newsimage, even better that they went for a USB option, Shame it's Micro-USB though, I don't think I have anything that uses that yet! I have an abundance of Mini-USB cables though, shameimage I expect we will see them being phased out over the coming months/years!

  • 0

    Hi Gardenstate,

     

    Universal means 'extra costs'. I personally thing this is no issue but the competition is killing. As soon as the end-customers (us) are willing to pay an extra small amount for this nice feature (and they will!) the suppliers will start providing this. Ofcourse this will put a lot of charger suppliers out of business as there will be a few mega-factories left pouring out this devices.

     

    Best regards,

     

    Enrico Migchels

    Power conversion design engineer

    Heliox B.V.

    Best - The Netherlands

    www.heliox.nl

  • 0 in reply to Former Member

    Hi,

     

    Farnell's sister company CPC-Farnell hav a mini USB socket to micro USB plug adapter. USB mini is more readily available.

    I am getting one for the RPI.

  • 0

    I never think we will ever get a universal charging platform other than what we have right now with the micro USB other than Apple.  I remember when all these tech was coming out is was a mess but it has cleaned up now.  The problem i see right now, is that every device has a different size battery pack (mAHr) and until you get every device to have the same battery pack, then we can all have the same charger.  I even seen devices have the same battery pack, and the two different company had different rated chargers!  How fast you charge a battery will always be a at the engineer design philosophy and will vary engineer to engineer.  When i design my charging system i charge it at the lowest charge rate as I can as i want to preserve the life of the battery.  Also, usb computer connections are already standardized  across all platforms as the max charge current is 500mA no matter what we plug in.  One thing i love about Li-ion batteries is that all the brains are contained inside the module.  This is due to how toxic Li can be, and thus it contains a temp sensor, battery charge level indicator,  a over charge protection shut off relay, etc...  If building a smart charger for Nicads, the user has the build all these ckt but not so much with Li-ion battery!  Anyways consider that we already have a universal charger right now!

  • 0 in reply to Former Member

    Hi Eric et al,

    Actually the latest USB battery charging spec allows a range of currents up to 1.8 A to be supported. This means that USB very well placed to become the universal charging interface in future electronic designs. The EU has already made it mandatory for all new smartphone models to include a USB port for charging as well as data purposes. FTDI, one of Element 14 franchised manufacturing partners, has written extensively on this subject. Here is an example if you are interested - http://electronicdesign.com/article/power/usb-spec-improves-charging-portable-devices-73831