DailyTech - AT&T ZERO Charger Coming in May, Drops Parasitic Power Losses

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Blog: Gadgets AT&T ZERO Charger Coming in May, Drops Parasitic Power Losses
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - March 18, 2010 10:11 AM

26 comment(s) - last by KOOLFUN5.. on Mar 25 at 5:52 PM

Charger eliminates parasitic power loss

Most of us plug our mobile phone charger in and just leave it plugged in all the time, even if the phone isn't connected to it. What most of us fail to realize is that the average charger for a cell phone draws the same power from the AC outlet whether or not your phone is actually using the power.

That means that there is lots of wasted electricity around the country and the world thanks to mobile phone chargers. AT&T claims that enough power is wasted by chargers that are plugged in with no phone attached to power 24,000 homes per year. AT&T is set to offer a new charger starting in May called the ZERO Charger.

The ZERO Charger recognizes when there is no phone plugged into it and will disconnect the power from the AC outlet automatically to avoid parasitic power loss. The charger will be available exclusively at AT&T stores around the country. The wireless provider doesn’t mention the price for the charger, but states it will cost the same as a replacement charger today.

The charger is also made using green packaging and promises to work with other mobile phones for years to come. Allowing a user to keep an existing charger when they upgrade their phone means that less chargers will find their way into the landfill.

“In an effort to provide environmentally friendly and simpler solutions for our customers, AT&T worked hand in hand with Superior Communications to create the first practical and user-friendly zero-draw charger for mobile phones,” said Carlton Hill, vice president of Devices and Product Development for AT&T's wireless operations. “With the size of AT&T’s customer base, providing solutions like these helps our customers make a big difference.”

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Correction

By porkpie on 3/18/2010 10:58:59 AM , Rating: 5

quote:
What most of us fail to realize is that the average charger for a cell phone draws the same power from the AC outlet whether or not your phone is actually using the power.

Sorry Shane, this isn't true. Energy Star EPS 1.1 rating requires standby power to be 500mW or less, and the 2.0 rating drops that to 300mW.

Nearly all new cell phone chargers meet at least the 1.1 standard, and a large numnber already meet 2.0:

http://www.lge.com/about/sustainability/climate_en...

http://www.powersystemsdesign.com/index.php?option...

I am reminded of that idiotic TV commercial attempting to convince kids they can save the planet by unplugging their cell phone chargers. They'd save more power by reducing their shower time by a minute per day, given the gargantuan amounts of power used to create hot water.

RE: Correction

By soloman02 on 3/18/2010 12:07:52 PM , Rating: 4

Energy Star is a voluntary program. Therefore manufacturers are not forced to comply with the requirements. Any manufacturer who wants to make a power brick for as cheap as possible will forgo the Energy Star Certification. LG has been known to lie about its products being energy star certified in the past. Since the certification process is done by the company that wants the certification, it is easier to say your product is energy star certified when it may in fact not qualify. Usually competitors and the EPA are what keep most companies honest.

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RE: Correction

By porkpie on 3/18/2010 12:30:32 PM , Rating: 2

Whether or not LG is exaggerating their claims, the fact remains its still factually inaccurate to claim cell phone chargers use the same amount of power on standby as they do while charging.

There are some very old models that may use nearly as much, but I don't believe any ever built reached that point.

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RE: Correction

By CZroe on 3/20/2010 11:33:03 AM , Rating: 2

I've seen USB chargers that only provide 200mW of power. USB's max within-spec is 500mW, so it's entirely feasible that they could continue drawing 500mW once the phone is unplugged... especially if it's a USB charger. Obviously, this charger is inteded for phones capable of charging off of a USB port (see th ephoto), so that is likely the only frame of reference. Apple's 3G and 3GS USB wall plugs output 1A (1000mW) as a "Quick Charge," but the vast majority only output 500mA tops.

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RE: Correction

By ctgottapee on 3/18/2010 12:37:22 PM , Rating: 4

while the post may infer more power wasting, if you read the AT&T press release, they assume that a typical charger uses far less at idle than current energy star standards when doing their promo reduction calculations

i personally would assume most chargers only meet standards if it is cheaper to produce them that way now; i rarely if ever see energy star rated chargers, especially in new phones.

quote:
"Energy saving calculations based on the following assumptions by AT&T: 277 million wireless users in U.S., minimum one phone per user; user charges device 3 to 4 times per week for 8 hours; 80% of users leave charger plugged in wall socket; average charger wastes 170 mW (0.17 watts) when idle."

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RE: Correction

By dddddd on 3/18/2010 2:38:32 PM , Rating: 2

As if 300mw were nothing? Wifi devices can emit a power up to 100mw max. Bluetooth much less. Newer WPAN communications work emitting <1µwatt. CFL lamps can work at just 5w of power and light up a whole room. Why would you waste 300mw.

If energy star requirements request 300mw max... sorry to say... that's crap.

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RE: Correction

By porkpie on 3/18/2010 4:24:43 PM , Rating: 2

"CFL lamps can work at just 5w of power and light up a whole room."

No. A 17w (that's 17,000 mW) CFL is equivalent to a 75w bulb. That'll light up a whole room...if the room is small (my kitchen alone has 8 bulbs in it...11 if you count the attached breakfast nook). A 3 LED night light uses about 300mw.

The real power drains in a household are the ones that generate (or move) heat -- the water heater, cooktop, clothes dryer, heat pump. Some of these can use 5,000 or more watts (that's 5 million milliwatts). Even your average hairdryer uses 1.5 million milliwatts.

300 mw is indeed a trivial amount. While a charger that uses zero is preferable, losing sleep over such meaningless quantities is a pointless endeavor.

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RE: Correction

By sxr7171 on 3/23/10, Rating: 0

RE: Correction

By porkpie on 3/23/2010 4:57:41 PM , Rating: 3

"The current draw on the 120V AC line is theoretically 5/120*300mW or 12.5mW"

Lol, watts are power , not current. Your statement is utterly nonsensical. If a 5V device pulls 300mW through a transformer off a 120V line, the power draw on the 120v side is still going to be 300mW (plus extra for transformer losses). The only thing that will change is the voltage and current.

Some help for you. V=IR. P=VI=V^2/R. Learn that and get back to us.

" If our "techies" don't know this much I weep for America's educational future."

How deliciously ironic.

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RE: Correction

By porkpie on 3/18/2010 5:01:57 PM , Rating: 2

To add one further thing, you're confusing radiated power with consumed power. A Wifi router than emits 100mw is generally going to draw in the range of 5-10 watts.

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RE: Correction

By jRaskell on 3/19/2010 3:51:27 PM , Rating: 3

A device that consumes 300 mW of power constantly for an entire month would put it at around .216 kwh. My power company charges something like 10 cents per kwh, so that device would cost me a whopping 2 cents a month.

Let's assume AT&T is only charging 10 bucks, which is likely far less than they are going to charge. That's over 40 years to recoup the costs of the charger itself. You can triple the power consumption of the device and it'll still take over 10 years to recoup your costs.

Spin this any way you want, there's really no practical reason whatsoever to replace your current charger with this one.

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RE: Correction

By borismkv on 3/19/2010 10:04:14 PM , Rating: 2

Sure there is. You just have to be one of these morons that buys into the global warming sham.

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RE: Correction

By porkpie on 3/20/2010 12:20:32 AM , Rating: 3

Of course, the energy uses to manufacture, package, and distribute this charger is probably much larger than the amount of power it'll save over its lifetime, meaning that even if you do buy into AGW, it still makes no sense to buy.

But whoever said environmentalists had sense?

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how does this work

By ctgottapee on 3/18/2010 12:39:38 PM , Rating: 3

does anyone have a linky or knowledge on how this works?

my guess is the charger uses the cell phone battery for power if needed

RE: how does this work

By Veerappan on 3/19/2010 2:44:23 PM , Rating: 2

I think you've got it backwards. The charger isn't a charger that doesn't draw any power from the wall at all... It is a charger that has a built-in circuit which turns the charger off if there's nothing plugged into the charger.

So, if you plug the charger into the wall, but don't plug your USB device into the charger, the charger turns off (or stays off).

If you then plug your phone/ipod's USB charging cable into the charger, the charger powers up and charges your device using power from the outlet.

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RE: how does this work

By porkpie on 3/20/2010 12:18:48 AM , Rating: 2

You're missing the point. For the charger to sense when a phone is plugged in, it needs a source of power. Once the charger has disconnected itself from the A/C line, it can no longer use that power for sensing.

So either it uses what remains in the phone battery for this task, or it has an internal capacitor of its own. Or, it might simply require an unplug/replug cycle in this case.

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RE: how does this work

By Fritzr on 3/20/2010 3:00:06 PM , Rating: 2

No sensing required. One solution would be a physical on/off switch. Plug something into the charging port and it is turned on, unplug it and it is off.

However it is done, it needs to work without operator intervention. Plug in the device to be charged and walk away. If you have to do something else to turn the charger on, there will be a lot of frustrated owners as they keep forgetting to activate the charger.

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RE: how does this work

By sxr7171 on 3/23/2010 9:16:39 AM , Rating: 2

Seriously these people haven't used a headphone jack? Suggesting that we need an active circuit to do this is crazy. It's like another failing of our education system. This isn't rocket science people.

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RE: how does this work

By porkpie on 3/23/10, Rating: 0

RE: how does this work

By nafhan on 3/24/2010 10:02:19 AM , Rating: 2

A physical switch would certainly make the most sense. An easy and nearly fool-proof way to do it would be to have the switch inside of the female USB plug on the pictured charger; it would get depressed as the male USB plug is inserted. No extra electronics needed!

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why not ?

By shaidorsai on 3/20/2010 2:43:43 PM , Rating: 2

Most half way intelligent people want to be frugal and environmentally friendly so as the standard charger for all phones going forward that AT&T sells this makes a lot of cents ;-)

As far as using this to replace a currently working charger this makes no sense at all.

RE: why not ?

By icanhascpu on 3/23/2010 9:23:14 PM , Rating: 2

I would go further to say that they are doing the opposite of what they say here. By replacing your current charger with this one, you're cutting the life-cycle short on your current charger. Best case serious is that your old charger gets recycled. How much energy did it take to recycle it vs. how much are you saving on the new charger?

I would go further to say the mere human energy to go pick it up and buy it instead of keeping what you have now is more than the difference you think you save in many years!

This thing is perfect to replace current chargers that come with phones ONLY. They should halt the current production, and only use these to replace faulty ones. If they are trying to market these to people and pretend to be green, they should be fined for misleading the consumer and fraud!

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RE: why not ?

By icanhascpu on 3/23/2010 9:40:00 PM , Rating: 2

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how to really save the planet

By rika13 on 3/19/2010 8:14:13 AM , Rating: 2

since heating stuff uses more electricity than simple cell phone charging, and water use is easier to control

we get people to do activities BEFORE they shower, and to further reduce power use, we can combine the two big ones

SHAVING WHILE WATCHING PORN!!!!!!!!

as funny as it is, its true, and many people do one or both in the shower

After come consideration . . .

By blueboy09 on 3/19/2010 9:09:43 PM , Rating: 2

I was considering why in the hell did they not have this as a universal charger so that everyone can use it, but then when I read the posts it does make sense as to why in the hell anybody would ever consider buying this in the first place! True it does save power even at a minimal, but if it could power a toaster for a full year from the power being wasted, then what's the point? I'm sure as hell am not giving up my hard-earned money for the drones @ AT&T just for them to make a quick profit off of me. No thanks man! There's nothing else to see here: move along, move along!! - BLUEBOY

global savings of power is the key point

By KOOLFUN5 on 3/25/2010 5:52:09 PM , Rating: 2

The Main reason for AT&T doing this is pure numbers not the actual amount of individual useage savings.

They have over 80 million cell users do the math a few users saving some mW of power means nothing, but 80 million saving that amount every day adds up to some hefty electric bill numbers of time on a yearly basis.

Thats what you need to figure on the choice. Whats the yearly energy savings for 80 million users for this part ?

Doing that makes sense, for each user posting their dividual savings of a few pennies or dollars yearly doesnt mean much. But as a company saving a global community of 80 million power saving sources every day that point makes perfect sense its big money for those kind of numbers.