Edit: see comments for clarifications.

I am probably late on this one, but god damn this is one nasty trick by Philips.

Context; I recently decided to upgrade my shaver, from a Philips One Blade to Philips an all-in-one-trimmer-7000. As you can see on the pictures below, they changed the charger for the adapter by maybe 1–2 millimetres, just so the old charger could not be used by the old charger. Now, this normally isn’t a big deal, but with the new trimmer, the charger is USB-A only. Where’s the previous one had the plug on it instead. To me this is mildly infuriating as I know need to get an extra adapter just to charge my shaver in the bathroom. They had the exact same design for the chargers, yet changed it just slightly so they wouldn’t be able to be reused? Why… Philips… why?

Edit: many good points in the comments! I don’t know how to manually check the voltage, but seems like folks figured it out in the comments too. Should have just been USB-C!

  • MotoAsh@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    9 months ago

    Make sure the voltage and power requirements are the same. Maybe the old one cannot deliver enough juice for the new one.

    That’s one reason a lot of device designers go for USB C proper: it supports multiple voltages and multiple power levels, and in a way where the devices shouldn’t be able to pull too much power from a smaller charger. (assuming they implemented the spec and didn’t just use the plug anyways) In theory, one smart charger with enough oomph could charge anything that sticks to spec up to 240W.

    • wjrii@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      9 months ago

      Yup. Lots of conflicting guidance here, but OP needs to check the actual power requirements for each. If they’re the same, then okay, Philips were kinda being dirtbags with the plug. If not, whether different DC voltages or one feeding AC into the shaver body itself, then the bigger sin is not changing the plug MORE to make it more obvious they’re not the same.

      • MotoAsh@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        9 months ago

        Remember the good ol’ days where it was barrel jacks or raw terminals regardless of what the device actually worked with?

        ahhh, those were the days … of easily breaking things.

        • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          9 months ago

          My favorite was devices that just said 12v X Amps, but never specified center positive or center negative.

          Fuck you Sony, stop using center negative. It’s a crime against humanity.

        • MotoAsh@lemmy.worldEnglish
          21·
          9 months ago

          Ouch, non-standard plug for a standard power source? That’s almost worse. If only certain insanely rich companies didn’t do it as a standard practice even after the EU tells them to knock it off…