4 ms·

> "The idea is to cut down on the 51,000 tons of old chargers thrown away each year." Am I imanging it or is this a bit strange? Every single mobile device tha

by sbuk 8y ago

> "The idea is to cut down on the 51,000 tons of old chargers thrown away each year." Am I imanging it or is this a bit strange? Every single mobile device that I have owned in the last 5 years, exluding laptops has either come without an adapter (Kindle, Moto G5) or with its own 5-9W adapter and a plug-in cable (Chromecast, iPhone)[0] [0] https://goo.gl/images/aD7Qxa https://goo.gl/images/aD7Qxa

imari 8y ago
The EU has been doing this since 2009 (almost a decade) and is mostly the reason why smart-phone manufacturers have settled on micro-USB port as the standard port for chargers (of devices) manufactured since 2009. [0] http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/electrical-engineering/red-directive/common-charger_en http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/electrical-engineering/re... [1] https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-others-agree-to-universal-cell-phone-charger-standard-in-europe/ https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-others-agree-to-universal-ce... [2] https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/07/eu-study-harmonize-phone-chargers/ https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/07/eu-study-harmonize-phone...
kalleboo 8y ago
The "51,000 tons of waste" number comes from the original 2009 EU campaign that led to the near-universal adoption of USB you see today. It's outdated and doesn't fit in an article written today.
yebyen 8y ago
The pictured adapter is the standard one. What do you think you're imagining exactly? Kindles don't come with a charger? That seems a bit silly, for a device that has to charge... You can use this adapter to charge your phone, or power your chromecast. It's not automatically junk if either of the two aforementioned devices should ever become junk, like the traditional "wall-wart" with randomly sized barrel plugs, or some other standard. If anything is strange, it's that seemingly this law takes no account of non-USB devices that don't have any reason to plug into a computer, and may have variable power requirements other than 1A or 2.1A provided by USB at 5V. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great to have a common standard, it's a shame there aren't more of them /s Also wondering what happens under this law when USB-C comes around? It's been a while since I've seen a new phone that doesn't use USB-C here stateside, but according to this law I would think that to be impossible and illegal. (So how does that shake out in practice?) A quick google search doesn't seem to indicate that this is a solved issue, finding this result on the front page concerned in 2015 that the wrong thing will happen: https://medium.com/@gfrontera/usb-type-c-and-the-eu-35482b314f89 https://medium.com/@gfrontera/usb-type-c-and-the-eu-35482b31...
- michaelt 8y ago
  What do you think you're imagining exactly? Kindles don't come with a charger? The Kindle [1] comes with a USB cable - but not a mains charger. The product page says "Fully charges in approximately 4 hours from a computer via USB cable" and offers an add-on item, "Kindle USB Charger (not included) 2017 edition £11.99" or "Kindle Power Adapter (not included) $19.99" [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017JG41PC/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017JG41PC/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0186FET66/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0186FET66/

by sbuk 8y ago

imari 8y ago

The EU has been doing this since 2009 (almost a decade) and is mostly the reason why smart-phone manufacturers have settled on micro-USB port as the standard port for chargers (of devices) manufactured since 2009. [0] http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/electrical-engineering/red-directive/common-charger_en http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/electrical-engineering/re... [1] https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-others-agree-to-universal-cell-phone-charger-standard-in-europe/ https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-others-agree-to-universal-ce... [2] https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/07/eu-study-harmonize-phone-chargers/ https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/07/eu-study-harmonize-phone...

kalleboo 8y ago

The "51,000 tons of waste" number comes from the original 2009 EU campaign that led to the near-universal adoption of USB you see today. It's outdated and doesn't fit in an article written today.

yebyen 8y ago

The pictured adapter is the standard one. What do you think you're imagining exactly? Kindles don't come with a charger? That seems a bit silly, for a device that has to charge... You can use this adapter to charge your phone, or power your chromecast. It's not automatically junk if either of the two aforementioned devices should ever become junk, like the traditional "wall-wart" with randomly sized barrel plugs, or some other standard. If anything is strange, it's that seemingly this law takes no account of non-USB devices that don't have any reason to plug into a computer, and may have variable power requirements other than 1A or 2.1A provided by USB at 5V. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great to have a common standard, it's a shame there aren't more of them /s Also wondering what happens under this law when USB-C comes around? It's been a while since I've seen a new phone that doesn't use USB-C here stateside, but according to this law I would think that to be impossible and illegal. (So how does that shake out in practice?) A quick google search doesn't seem to indicate that this is a solved issue, finding this result on the front page concerned in 2015 that the wrong thing will happen: https://medium.com/@gfrontera/usb-type-c-and-the-eu-35482b314f89 https://medium.com/@gfrontera/usb-type-c-and-the-eu-35482b31...

michaelt 8y ago
What do you think you're imagining exactly? Kindles don't come with a charger? The Kindle [1] comes with a USB cable - but not a mains charger. The product page says "Fully charges in approximately 4 hours from a computer via USB cable" and offers an add-on item, "Kindle USB Charger (not included) 2017 edition £11.99" or "Kindle Power Adapter (not included) $19.99" [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017JG41PC/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017JG41PC/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0186FET66/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0186FET66/