zero standby power supply

[star882]

AT&T ZERO Charger Eliminates Vampire Power Consumption | Inhabitat
Can someone point me to some technical information about how that works?

[Mooly]

I guess Zero power means it must physically sense the presence of a connector etc (microswitch) to enable/disable the PSU.
Any electronic sensing, even if it consumed under a microamp isn't technically zero.

[Sch3mat1c]

I have some particularly empty vacuum which draws no current. You'll have to provide your own insulators to connect to it, however :P

Tim

[coolbeer]

Ok, this is either a mechanical switch in the connector or they are lying about the zero consumption.
If they are sensing a phone connecting electrically they are still using current, although that current can be reduced from what a "normal" wall-wart type charger is using, at a cost of extra parts(and thereby expense), zero is still less than a little.

Hmm, reading the article again it could(but probably isn't) be that it detects you disconnecting your phone and shuts down, so you have to manually power it up again when needed. But this really is just speculation and should be treated as such.

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Kolbjørn

[wwenze]

Originally Posted by Mooly

I guess Zero power means it must physically sense the presence of a connector etc (microswitch) to enable/disable the PSU.
Any electronic sensing, even if it consumed under a microamp isn't technically zero.

Tech companies have been calling 25db sound level "silent", they would call under a microamp "zero".

[Andrew Eckhardt]

The multiple receptacle power bar is the highest performance electric vampire killer on the market, and it's real old tech. I have a hard time getting my parents clued into how they work, however. They insist on using the "clicker" for the "TV" and the receiver, and the DVD player separately. Meanwhile they complain about having to find and use all those "clickers" every time they rarely use the video system, when all they'd have to do is throw one switch. I've thought about going into the remotes and sanding off the darned power button contacts.

[Andrew Eckhardt]

I don't really know how those little power supplies are supposed to work. I've finally grown tired of looking at all the complete ** that those green sites pump out. One thing that's very effective for idle power reduction in switching supplies is chirp mode. When the current falls very low it only drives the output section for a few cycles at a time. (you can also handle overload foldback that way) Gets rid of continuous switching and magnetizing loss and it can go into full output faster than you can flip a switch. For all purposes microamps are zero power concerning line supplied equipment, considering all the power loss the energy company has to deal with just keeping the transmission lines live all the time.

[Sch3mat1c]

This thing does burst mode by nature.

http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/Images/RegBO.gif

One downside is it gets very difficult to filter the ripple at low current. Hmm, a swinging choke would help.

Tim