Wall Warts

Wall Warts are fact of life these days. Cell phones, network adaptors, printers, all kinds of consumer electronics use them. Wall warts, if you are not familiar with the term, all those little black box like devices that plug into a wall output and have a cord that plugs into your electronic device to supply it with power.

One of the big problems with these things is they are all different. They use different sizes and types of connectors, they supply different voltages and they have different power (amperage) capacities. Some are regulated and some are not. So even if you find one that fits your device, the current coming out of the wall wart may be all wrong. So I was thinking ...

Use the diameter of the plug to determine the voltage, and the length of the plug to determine the power rating. If a system like this were in place, you would not need to try and decipher the black on black numbers embossed in the wall wart to determine if the power was adequate for your device. If the plug fit, it would be good.

Of course you would need to get everyone who was using these things to agree on sizes and shapes to use, and you could not use any current designs because of their random assignment of power and sizes. Someone who could do this would make a lot of friends.

A better idea might be to use the same plug and make wall warts smart so they could deliver whatever power the device required. This could make a whole new market for those people who like to build new widgets for consumers. Window of opportunity is limited though, because it won't be long before batteries will last the life of the device. When the battery dies, you just throw the whole device out and buy and new one.