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Motorbike usb cable


Mgrhiki
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in a usb socket there is circuitry to convert 12v down to 5v. In the cheap Chinese ones there is no circuitry to detect if a devices is plugged in to charge, so the converter is always working converting 12v down to 5v. That process takes power. Current is drawn, a small amount of heat is produced and the battery drains at a very slow rate.

It's like leaving your TV on standby. Even though there's no picture and nobody watching it, the TV is still doing work and therefore drawing current.

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Anything that converts power is pretty much using power all the time


My phone charger buzzes constantly regardless if a phone is charging or not as does my laptop charger


Its this circuit that uses power regardless if its converting 240v or 12v to 5v its using some


Comparing electric to water is not the same! A smaller wire would still supply 12v! You need something to step it down

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Exactly. Using the water analogy, the valve is analogous to a switch. But the usb charger has no switch, so the valve never gets closed so it's constantly taking 12mm water down to 5mm water regardless of anyone drinking it!


That's about as far as the water analogy goes as it doesn't account for heating in the wire and circuits, magnetism etc.

Unless the usb charger is able to go "open circuit" as a relay switch is able to, there will always be a current flow which will result in power loss.

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Even though this is for a wall socket it's still the same as it's just a transformer at the end of the day

 

A spokesperson for the Energy Saving Trust adds: Any charger that is plugged in at the wall, and not switched off at the socket, will still use some electricity, even if it’s not plugged into the device it is meant to charge.


This is because every charger contains a transformer – the big rectangular lump that makes a charger bigger than an ordinary plug and cable.


This transformer is still connected to the mains even if the phone isn’t, and so the transformer carries on drawing a small amount of power. One phone charger on its own will only draw a tiny amount of power.

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-3315688/My-son-leaves-phone-charger-plugged-s-costing-me.html

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Comparing electric to water is not the same! A smaller wire would still supply 12v!

 

A smaller wire can carry less current, just like a smaller diameter pipe can flow less water. We aren't talking about voltage here, my water analogy is talking about current draw, which is measured in amps.


It's a perfectly fair analogy to use to simplify the law of conversion of energy in an electrical circuit.


If the circuitry is generating heat as Joeman suggests

and like your phone charger is generating heat and noise, than that circuit is leaking energy, just the same as the valve in my analogy is dripping water.


Still nobody's provided evidence that these things do generate heat. I'm not saying it isn't, but when you look on forums everywhere and half the people say it does draw current and half the people say it doesn't, somebody needs to provide some evidence otherwise the thread has no value.


A simple test would be get a multimeter in line with one of these things and see if a current can be measured. If you can't measure it in mA then there isn't enough draw to drain a battery. If it can be measured the debate is over.

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Comparing electric to water is not the same! A smaller wire would still supply 12v!

 

A smaller wire can carry less current, just like a smaller diameter pipe can flow less water. We aren't talking about voltage here, my water analogy is talking about current draw, which is measured in amps.


It's a perfectly fair analogy to use to simplify the law of conversion of energy in an electrical circuit.


If the circuitry is generating heat as Joeman suggests

and like your phone charger is generating heat and noise, than that circuit is leaking energy, just the same as the valve in my analogy is dripping water.


Still nobody's provided evidence that these things do generate heat.

 

If you was carrying the same voltage then yes you would be right! its electronics converting 12 to 5 volts that's the issue its the converting that has the small draw


there is no dripping tap affect as the end power has nowhere to go! its a different circuit using the power

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Hi guys i email the company yesterday.i recieve email from them just now saying In the normal condition, this item will not consume the power if not using even you don't remove the fuse.what they mean by normal condition?


Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk


 

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As said in my earlier posts re the 240 volt domestic socket outlets with a USB charge, some manufacturers provide a figure for the power consumed in Watts when there are NO items connected. and as others have said electronic used to step down a voltage consume power all the time they are connected [mention]Baloo[/mention] like your leaking pipe.

As the power loss is relatively low the amount of heat generated will also be low and probably not noticeable.

So in the general scheme of thing it is unlikely to run down your battery.

I found this where someone has already done the tests on a USB convertor. the current draw on the one he tested is a bit high as it has a LED to show it is on. But neverthe less the bottom line is unless it has a physical switch it will draw current but not enough to worry the battery.


Even so I would power it from ignition controlled supply.

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Comparing electric to water is not the same! A smaller wire would still supply 12v!

 

A smaller wire can carry less current, just like a smaller diameter pipe can flow less water. We aren't talking about voltage here, my water analogy is talking about current draw, which is measured in amps.


It's a perfectly fair analogy to use to simplify the law of conversion of energy in an electrical circuit.


If the circuitry is generating heat as Joeman suggests

and like your phone charger is generating heat and noise, than that circuit is leaking energy, just the same as the valve in my analogy is dripping water.


Still nobody's provided evidence that these things do generate heat.

 

If you was carrying the same voltage then yes you would be right! its electronics converting 12 to 5 volts that's the issue its the converting that has the small draw


there is no dripping tap affect as the end power has nowhere to go! its a different circuit using the power

 

If the power has nowhere to go, then it is drawing no current, go read


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy


It has to be creating heat, noise, light, magnetic field, or something otherwise it is drawing no current. These are the dripping tap.

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A smaller wire can carry less current, just like a smaller diameter pipe can flow less water. We aren't talking about voltage here, my water analogy is talking about current draw, which is measured in amps.


It's a perfectly fair analogy to use to simplify the law of conversion of energy in an electrical circuit.


If the circuitry is generating heat as Joeman suggests

and like your phone charger is generating heat and noise, than that circuit is leaking energy, just the same as the valve in my analogy is dripping water.


Still nobody's provided evidence that these things do generate heat.

 

If you was carrying the same voltage then yes you would be right! its electronics converting 12 to 5 volts that's the issue its the converting that has the small draw


there is no dripping tap affect as the end power has nowhere to go! its a different circuit using the power

 

If the power has nowhere to go, then it is drawing no current, go read


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy


It has to be creating heat, noise, light, magnetic field, or something otherwise it is drawing no current. These are the dripping tap.

 

Maybe you should learn to read and re read what EVERYONE is saying :roll: :roll: :roll:

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As said in my earlier posts re the 240 volt domestic socket outlets with a USB charge, some manufacturers provide a figure for the power consumed in Watts when there are NO items connected. and as others have said electronic used to step down a voltage consume power all the time they are connected @Baloo like your leaking pipe.

As the power loss is relatively low the amount of heat generated will also be low and probably not noticeable.

So in the general scheme of thing it is unlikely to run down your battery.

I found this where someone has already done the tests on a USB convertor. the current draw on the one he tested is a bit high as it has a LED to show it is on. But neverthe less the bottom line is unless it has a physical switch it will draw current but not enough to worry the battery.


Even so I would power it from ignition controlled supply.

 

Thank you. Nice to talk to someone about it that obviously has some understanding of electrical circuits.


I would stick a multi meter on one myself and post up the results, but the only one's I have are cigarette lighter socket ones which have an LED on them, so they will give spurious results.

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Thank you. Nice to talk to someone about it that obviously has some understanding of electrical circuits.

 

 

wow just wow :roll: :roll: :roll:

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If you was carrying the same voltage then yes you would be right! its electronics converting 12 to 5 volts that's the issue its the converting that has the small draw


there is no dripping tap affect as the end power has nowhere to go! its a different circuit using the power

 

If the power has nowhere to go, then it is drawing no current, go read


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy


It has to be creating heat, noise, light, magnetic field, or something otherwise it is drawing no current. These are the dripping tap.

 

Maybe you should learn to read and re read what EVERYONE is saying :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

I can read just fine, you said a different circuit is using the power, but there is no dripping tap. THAT CIRCUIT IS THE DRIPPING TAP! You also said the power has nowhere to go, which is impossible, it's has go go somewhere if it's drawing current, in this case most likely heat. You also compared the width of a pipe to voltage not current. You need to learn some more about electrical circuits so you can actually understand the analogy as JRH has above.

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If the power has nowhere to go, then it is drawing no current, go read


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy


It has to be creating heat, noise, light, magnetic field, or something otherwise it is drawing no current. These are the dripping tap.

 

Maybe you should learn to read and re read what EVERYONE is saying :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

I can read just fine, you said a different circuit is using the power, but there is no dripping tap. THAT CIRCUIT IS THE DRIPPING TAP! you need to learn some more about electrical circuits so you can actually understand the analogy as JRH has above.

 

Its not a dipping tap if its using the power :roll:



but as always you're right and everyone else is wrong :roll:

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Maybe you should learn to read and re read what EVERYONE is saying :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

I can read just fine, you said a different circuit is using the power, but there is no dripping tap. THAT CIRCUIT IS THE DRIPPING TAP! you need to learn some more about electrical circuits so you can actually understand the analogy as JRH has above.

 

Its not a dipping tap if its using the power :roll:



but as always you're right and everyone else is wrong :roll:

 

You haven't understood the analogy, simples.


I don't quite get how you think I disagree with everyone else, you're the only one arguing about it.

 

and as others have said electronic used to step down a voltage consume power all the time they are connected @Baloo like your leaking pipe.

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I can read just fine, you said a different circuit is using the power, but there is no dripping tap. THAT CIRCUIT IS THE DRIPPING TAP! you need to learn some more about electrical circuits so you can actually understand the analogy as JRH has above.

 

Its not a dipping tap if its using the power :roll:



but as always you're right and everyone else is wrong :roll:

 

You haven't understood the analogy, simples.


I don't quite get how you think I disagree with everyone else, you're the only one arguing about it.

 

and as others have said electronic used to step down a voltage consume power all the time they are connected @Baloo like your leaking pipe.

 

Thats because its a shite example


To me a leaking tap is something that you have tried to turn off but its still dripping! you haven't tried to turn the usb off you have merely unplugged the device! the rest is still turned on and working as it should just because something isn't consuming power at the outlet doesn't mean the usb charger isn't using power!


If you had a switch on it and turned it off and it was still using power then yes you have a leak!


It's not a leak if its doing its job

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Its not a dipping tap if its using the power :roll:



but as always you're right and everyone else is wrong :roll:

 

You haven't understood the analogy, simples.


I don't quite get how you think I disagree with everyone else, you're the only one arguing about it.

 

and as others have said electronic used to step down a voltage consume power all the time they are connected @Baloo like your leaking pipe.

 

Thats because its a shite example


To me a leaking tap is something that you have tried to turn off but its still dripping! you haven't tried to turn the usb off you have merely unplugged the device! the rest is still turned on and working as it should just because something isn't consuming power at the outlet doesn't mean the usb charger isn't using power!


If you had a switch on it and turned it off and it was still using power then yes you have a leak!


It's not a leak if its doing its job

 

It's a perfect analogy, the 5v circuit isn't drawing any power as nothing is plugged in, the 12v circuit is drawing 14.2mA, so that 14.2 has to be leaking out somewhere in the middle as current can't flow unless it is going somewhere. In this case it's energy being "lost" to heat, just as a leak will loose water from a pipe.


Heat in an electrical circuit is deemed to be a "loss" as it's not achieving anything towards powering the USB device.

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its not been lost its been used :?


IMO its not a leak if its been used in what its supposed to be doing


I would agree to a leak if power was been used that shouldn't be thus flattening the battery

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its not been lost its been used :?


IMO its not a leak if its been used in what its supposed to be doing


I would agree to a leak if power was been used that shouldn't be thus flattening the battery

 

We will never agree, this is a waste of letters on a page. A electrical engineer would call that a loss. Just like your reg / rec has to convert power from your stator into 14v DC. It has to "lose" the unwanted power from the stator, and the way it does that is to dump it out to a heatsink.

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its not been lost its been used :?


IMO its not a leak if its been used in what its supposed to be doing


I would agree to a leak if power was been used that shouldn't be thus flattening the battery

 

We will never agree, this is a waste of letters on a page. A electrical engineer would call that a loss. Just like your reg / rec has to convert power from your stator into 14v DC. It has to "lose" the unwanted power from the stator, and the way it does that is to dump it out to a heatsink.

 

yes your right we will probably never agree!!


the USB is doing exactly what a reg/rec does and looses the rest as heat so its doing its job!


A leak is something that shouldn't be there


Either way it uses power when nothing is plugged in and thats the question answered

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Either way it uses power when nothing is plugged in and thats the question answered

 

But so little power that it would take months to drain a battery, in which case you probably want to use an optimiser anyway.

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Either way it uses power when nothing is plugged in and thats the question answered

 

But so little power that it would take months to drain a battery, in which case you probably want to use an optimiser anyway.

 

We agree on two things!


Something wrong :shock:

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