[mschuster91]

> A better solution would be to get everyone on board with a single DC voltage and connector

Why? For many things 6V is enough as it will downscale without too much loss to 5V/3V3 which is what most electronics run on... but everything that draws a boatload of power (computers, laptops, LED strips, ...) will go on 12V up to 24V, so if you want a standard it's either 12 or 24V which will introduce a lot of regulation waste in the form of heat in the device.

[MisterTea]

Why? Routers, switches, small embedded computers, and a myriad of devices already use 12-24V DC and step it down internally to 3.3V or less for chip use. Laptops and even phones/tablets are no different. And conversion losses don't increase with voltage so long as you design your DC-DC converter properly.

5-6V is fine for small loads of around 10 watts but you then have to deal with line losses. A 5 m / 16 foot 24 AWG usb cable will lose 38.5% of its power from line losses at 5V, 2.5A (a measly 15 watts). If you wanted to get a low 2-3% loss for 5V, 2.5A at 5m cable length you would need 12 AWG which is massive. 24V does better but if you wanted 50+ watts you again have voltage drop issues.

So in conclusion, low DC voltages are not very practical for power cable runs of over 2 meters. Though it would be nice if the last meter could be more unified with a single DC voltage and connector (my vote is for 24V). Then we can consolidate multiple devices to one strip/brick and call it a day.

[hyperman1]

That's true. My aging but still well-functioning WRT54G router had its 12V 2A wall wart die on me last year. At the same time, some USB cable had its micro B end accidentally ripped of.

So I thought, why not, opened the router,and lo and behold, the DC circuit is perfectly happy with 5V and 1.2A or so, and converts it down to I believe 3.3V.

So I drilled a hole in the router and soldered the working end of the damaged cable to the power input. Other end is pluggend into the useless USB TV port. Has been working fine ever since. Neither TV nor router runs hot, which I couldn't say about the old wall wart.

In theory, USB should negotiate the required amount of power It turns out the TV manufacturer decided to simply wire the port directly to the internal 5V rail connected to both USB ports, so it should be able to give at least 2x2A.

Yeah, it was probably cheaper to just buy a new router. Got a bit nerd-sniped there I guess ;-) .

[Scipio_Afri]

Should've let this thing die. Do you actually have devices hooked up to this.. the speeds you're getting and the likely security holes you have (especially if you don't have this properly behind some other device) are concerning me.

[hyperman1]

Dont worry, there is a decent enough firewall built in to the ISP modem. And my ISP is more than slow enough that the speed of the router doesnt matter much. And when all my computers are off, so are the router, the modem, the TV and all the other stuff.

[ci5er]

Assuming you mean 5V or 3V DC, there will have to be a baseline level, then it will have to be upconverted or downconverted from the wall AC is (to whatever their baseline standard is in DC), then converted back to AC by X-converting then converting to something in AC, then downconverting to DC OR using semiconductors that used to be expensive (don't know if they still are). Seems complicated. Why not just stick with (in the US AC @ 110V - it's not like it isn't wide spread) and let all the device power adapters take care of themselves?

Or, you know, have better silicon components give us SDVC (Software Defined Voltage Control). I'm joking, but I also don't think you will save what you thik you will in TCO - Energy Savings + Device Cost differential.

I could be wrong. I have been before. And I am operating on almost zero sleep for over a day, so odds are, I could be doing to again at greater than my average error rate.

[Thetawaves]

The problem with starting from a low voltage is that even low power levels result in significant current requiring the use of large conductors - or at least a connector capable of supporting those conductors when needed.

[pjc50]

Every device has a high efficiency switching regulator in it now. Regulator drop is not the issue.