Power supply madness...:(

[kona786]

That was the 2016 version.

This is the older 2015 version


Do you think it was progress to move the button from how it was? who the hell holds a tablet in portrait mode.

you can almost guarantee most of the time they are used to watch videos, even if you going to read a website landscape is better, portrait is good for what? being an Ereader, then people probably just buy a kindle

Even that is pants. On screen nav buttons ftw.

 

[chaparral]

Having had the local fire prevention officer round doing a smoke alarm check, I got a lecture on how dangerous they are and how often they are the cause of fires.

That’s why.

Edit: Note to self, check thread age....

There protected by a 13amp fuse the same as an extension cable and plugs...
As long as the total power draw of all the items plugged into it is not over 3000watts they should be fine..

 

[Werewolf]

There is a lot more to electrical safety than just the current/voltage flowing through the fuse.

A poor physical connection, which cube adaptors are well known for as they're putting weight well away from where the socket was designed for it to be*, means that you can get partial contact over a much smaller area than was intended thus overheating long before the fuses goes (rather like using 5amp cabling when you've got a 13amp fuse), or arcing which causes overheating.

I had to replace a socket in my room many years ago because of this sort of issue, the poor physical connection had caused the socket to overheat fortunately I was in the room and realised what the smell was before it became a major issue.


*The plug and socket design was made to take the weight of a plug and cable at a distance of about an inch from the socket, not a lever sticking out 3-4 inches, so the weight can/does cause issues with things like the cube pulling partly free/loose especially if the socket is old/poorly made or the cube is poorly made.

 

[touch]

Not all of the little cube adaptors have fuses in them either.

 

[Scania]

There protected by a 13amp fuse the same as an extension cable and plugs...
As long as the total power draw of all the items plugged into it is not over 3000watts they should be fine..

With all due respect, I think I’ll bow to the fire officers knowledge that’s based as he put it on “heart wrenching experience”

 

[Diddums]

Not all of the little cube adaptors have fuses in them either.

I'd go one step further and say almost none have any. I'm erring on the side of benefit of the doubt here, I'm yet to see one myself.

As @Werewolf says, leccy is a LOT trickier than simply blowing a fuse and all is well.

 

[Orionaut]

"Power Cubes" aside, it is still the case that the modern PSU designs will foul other types of UK multi socket/power strip/etc.

As in my most recent illustration. Using a "Poorly Designed" power adapter in that socket will obstruct the USB outlets.

As an aside,

Something I have been considering for quite a long time really.

Nowadays, "Most" electrical items in the home run on low voltage.

(Even lighting LED's only need around 3 Volts The PSU's in tha LED light probabally lose more power converting the 240VAc to the 3VDc that the LED's actually use than the LED's themselves actually consume)

Only heavy consumers like washing machines etc with large motors and/or heating elements in them actually run on 240 volts.

I cant off hand think of any "Gadget" that would not run happily off a 24VDc supply, even PC's # (And many, a lot less)

The idea of having a LV Dc supply circuit, perhaps backed up by Batteries, in the home so that all these gadgets could be powered directly rather than via 240VAc>LVDC power supplys is quite tempting.

Of course there would have to be an agreed LVDC supply standard (Like the USB standard for very low power items)

The big problem is that the currents required would be fairly substantial so the wiring would need to be fairly thick copper to supply a whole house without suffering too much voltage loss.

(# A high end PC would probabally be too heavy a consumer to run directly off a 24VDc supply but a basic one or a laptop would be just fine)

I have always liked this idea, particularity with reference to how easy it would be to provide relatively simple "Storage Electricity" provision. in case of power cuts, (Or even surge pricing)