[geeks] Wireless Routers

[velociraptor]

On 7/10/06, Charles Shannon Hendrix <shannon at widomaker.com> wrote:
> Sat, 08 Jul 2006 @ 13:36 -0400, nate at portents.com said:
>
> > Meanwhile, nobody in the western world has yet designed and marketed what
> > we really should have - centralized AC->DC converters in our basements and
> > DC outlets in houses/workplaces, so that we can gain the efficiency of one
> > large converter rather than many smaller, and less efficient bricks (or
> > built-in converters) in appliances.
>
> However, it seems to me that those devices would need to internally
> convert to the right power and polarity, which brings back the
> regulatory and test overhead.  Wouldn't it be much the same as
> having internal AC->DC conversion?

The way I've seen it dealt with in "off grid" houses in magazines
(generally demo showcases, I'd guess) is having a standard outlet with
a switch for getting to the right volts/amps on each outlet.  You then
have a "pigtail" cable that DTRT wrt polarity, plug tip.
Alternatively, the pigtail has the current regulation (hardly better
than the wall wart).

Definitely not for random clueless "Why don't these outlets look
right?" visitor to your home.  It'll certainly never fit the "it must
be so obvious that even a dummy can't sue us" business requirement for
mass consumption.

Where's Tesla when you need him?

=Nadine=