FEB 22

Leeches drink blood until they're full and then fall off of their host, but our plugged-in gadgets keep drinking electricity even once they're fully charged.  The Outlet Regulator changes this by ejecting the plug from the electricity source once the gadget is done charging, turning vampire electronics into leeches.

Designed by Conor Klein, a student at Rhode Island School of Design, this device solves a dilemma faced in every home.  We all want to prevent frivolous energy use by leaving gadgets plugged in too long, but it's almost impossible to unplug your devices at the exact point they're done charging.  The Outlet Regulator takes care of that for you as demonstrated in the video above.

The product works by using a timer circuit and electromechanics to eject its plug which disconnects your device from the wall outlet, stopping electricity consumption.

This is an example of a design where you think, "how has no one thought of this before?"  It's such an obvious solution and could easily be adopted by everyone.  Hopefully we'll see this product on shelves soon.  My only qualm is this:  why must these things alway involve blood?

via Engadget

Comments (9)

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written by SillyJaime, February 22, 2010

I'd totally buy a bunch of these for my electronics in different rooms!

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written by Bill Fraser, February 22, 2010

I think that if it simply cut off power to the device instead of ejecting it then it would be a lot more practical.

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nice, but
written by Josh, February 22, 2010

How would you avoid s@#@ing yourself every time it happened? If that happened in the middle of the night it would seriously terrify me.

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Dubious product
written by Greg, February 22, 2010

An electromechanical device to eject the product from the power socket has to be much more unreliable and limited in life span than an electronic circuit which stops conducting electronically.

Further, these devices are bound to be manufactured in China, which almost guarantees that they will be poorly made with a limited lifespan and possibly even dangerous to the consumer.

The only conceivable reason for these things to exist is to garner sales from impressionable GreenTards.

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Why?
written by lh, February 22, 2010

It's an interesting implementation, but I think the underlying concept is flawed. The reason devices continue to draw power even when charged is because they're still using power (i.e. turned on). If you eject a phone once it's charged, it'll start draining the battery and eventually need to be charged again. Sort of a pay now or pay later situation. Unused wall warts aren't nearly the energy drain they're made out to be either: http://www.electronicsweekly.c...warts.html

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Awful Idea
written by Ross, February 23, 2010

What a waste. This thing will use more energy to design, market, manufacture, distribute and dispose of them it will ever save. From the few details provided this would be useless for anything other than a charger, which, in reality, wastes very little energy. I know many people have seen chain emails telling them to unplug cellphone chargers to avoid the wasted electricity, and might think this is great, but there are simple things you can do that are thousands of times more effective.

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A timer? Seriously?
written by Hugh Parker, February 23, 2010

I don't see how this solves a problem, if it's based on a timer. Is the suggestion that we're likely to know precisely how long our phone will take to charge, from whatever level of charge it's got to?

If it could actually unplug the thing when it was full, then great, but as it is, how is this better than just waiting an hour and then unplugging it?

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A for effort
written by mikeDC, February 24, 2010

I give this an A for effort & style but it's just not practical. A switching relay would do the same thing just not look as cool. Since we are nitpicking about milli-watts in vampire power how much kinetic energy does it need to physically eject a plug?

Also a cell phone is not the best example device because they have constant power draw. Something like a game boy or camera battery which has a finite charging time is more applicable to the timer based paradigm.

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written by Elemental LED staff, February 26, 2010

Yea, it's interesting that this becomes available before a box that simply switches off. Apparently saving energy always needs a gimmick! It's better than nothing, though.

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