[geeks] Wireless Routers

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

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.

It has been designed, and you can get them if you want.  The problem is
not the lack of a DC distribution system, but rather the lack of any
standards in power and polarity in DC equipment.

Most home DC distribution systems are designed around specialized tasks
like lighting, because that has more standardization, or you buy from a
single vendor.

But trying to build a DC network for all your DC powered stuff is
*VERY* complicated and expensive.

I know some people who have tried, and they fall into the "expensive
failure" category for the most part.

What might work is to standardize DC voltage like they do for cars (soon
to be 48V worldwide I believe).

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?


-- 
shannon "AT" widomaker.com -- ["I wish life was not so short. Languages
take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about." - J.
R. R. Tolkien]