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Not buying a shaver from Philips again..

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!

https://i.imgur.com/fNnpTWe.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/4OM8nxB.jpeg

popemichael ,
@popemichael@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Coincidentally, I just got a knock-off Soda Stream from Phillips. It’s over $150 cheaper and works 2x-3x times better. I wanted to build something similar for a homemade soda bar concept, and discovered how truly cheap it can be to make soda and carbonated water at home. I was shocked at what a simple concept it is, and how much of a profit these sodas water companies make. Phillips even charging $50 for their system is a total rip-off.

Truthfully, I think the increase in quality in the Phillips machine is due to fewer parts is an “exception that proves the rule” as these in-bottle carbonators seem to work better with fewer parts. It’s just a pressure hose connected to a co2 tank. Literally, all of $6 if you were to build one yourself from parts on Amazon (or $3 if you got he Alibaba route)

I truly believe that the fewer parts the better in any DIY or commercial product due to the less chance of a failure in a part if there are fewer parts. This works fantastically for the “lower quality” producing companies, like Phillips.

My inventive and engineering entrepreneur friends and I call this “fewer parts the better” concept, a “Murphy’s law compensator” as the fewer parts there are, the fewer parts that can statistically “go wrong”

ghterve ,

After realizing both shavers and cordless toothbrush chargers are going this route, I gave in and installed these in the bathroom

Leviton T5632-BW R02-T5632-0Bw… www.amazon.com/dp/B002DQT22G?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_s…

Beartotem ,

The electrical code in my area requires using GFCI outlet for outlets within a certain distance of water source. I don’t remember precisely the distance (and it likely vary a bit by jurisdiciton), but i know that in my bathroom, there’s nowhere beyond it.

In order to use that sort of outlet in a bathroom like mine, it would have to have GFCI protection as well as USB, be a second outlet wired to the GFCI protected terminal of a GFCI outlet, or be wired to a circuit breaker with GFCI protection built in, in the electrical panel.

Jyek ,

If you have more than one outlet in your bathroom and only one is GFCI, they are likely already wired downstream of the protected outlet and will be protected.

ghterve ,

In all my cases where I installed those, I got lucky and the GFCI protection is upstream in another outlet somewhere.

steventrouble ,

deleted_by_author

    •
    Dozzi92 ,
    @Dozzi92@lemmy.world avatar

    They used to be an insurance company. How can I trust them knowing that?

    Wahl for trimmers.

    max ,

    Pretty sure they never were an insurance company. They’ve always made (consumer) electronics.

    Dozzi92 ,
    @Dozzi92@lemmy.world avatar

    Yeah, think you are right and I got my wires crossed. I hear so many random facts at work and they all blend together.

    Regardless, still Wahl. Have used Wahl for a decade or more to groom and have had zero issues.

    max ,

    Haha, no worries. Turns out there is a Phillips insurance company, just with a double L, rather than a single L.

    qaz ,

    They started out as a lamp manufacturer, not insurance.

    MoonRaven ,
    @MoonRaven@feddit.nl avatar

    I lost the cable of a baby bliss trimmer. They have proprietary plugs that are about the same price as the trimmer. Moved away from them when ASAP…

    GiddyGap ,

    Also very environmentally unfriendly. Shame on you, Philips!

    GrayBackgroundMusic ,

    The battery died on my old shaver. Because I can’t leave well enough alone, I decided to see if I could replace it. Spent so much time tracking down the battery model number and looking for a replacement only to find out it’s a standard triple a. It’s identity was obfuscated by the stupid labeling. Soldered it in and bam, razor still works for several years.

    rivr ,
    @rivr@lemmy.world avatar

    ive got philips body groomer which in time become somehow a curiosity: once its fully charged it runs until battery gets dry as it should but if i by any chance press the button i need to the whole cycle charge

    uis ,

    If one of them is 5V then I have no idea why they didn’t use Type B or Micro USB.

    Patches ,

    Type B or Micro USB is the worst cable ever created. Change my mind.

    uis ,

    Alternatives are worse

    hikaru755 ,

    How is USB-C worse than either of them

    uis ,

    Lots of pins, hard to solder, requires higher precision in PCB manufacturing. Type B has better mechanical properties.

    hikaru755 ,

    Pretty sure most people here are talking about the usage side of things. If we were to go by effort to implement the connector, let’s just go back to serial ports

    uis ,

    What device uses serial port for CHARGING?

    hikaru755 ,

    Will if we’re only talking charging, USB-C should be as easy to implement as any of them, basic 5v is gonna work even without most of the pins connected

    uis ,

    Without most of the pins connected, but you still need to manufacture PCB with small tolerances because socket manufacturers don’t care you don’t need extra pins…

    Pwnmode ,

    I literally won’t buy a product that uses micro USB. It’s the only.standard cable I have used where I’ve had both cables and the connector on the device fail.

    Patches ,

    Just on a regularly occurring basis. They were always the failure point in my devices.

    Absolutely garbage durability.

    uis ,

    Absolutely garbage durability.

    That’s why I also mentioned Type B

    uis ,

    Mini USB is much less popular

    Pwnmode ,

    Doesn’t break as often as Micro USB so I hate it slightly less. :D

    hikaru755 ,

    B is fine, just a bit big. Agree on micro though.

    uis ,

    B is for big. My favorite plugs are C13 and Type B. Don’t know why.

    rbesfe ,

    The old cable supplies 15V, which would fry your shaver that is expecting 5V

    intensely_human ,

    I think the real sin here is making the shaver dependent on stored charge instead of just letting it run immediately after being plugged in.

    friend_of_satan ,

    Battery charged trimmer lets you shower and trim, which is pretty awesome.

    uis ,

    I think commenter meant trimmer should be able to work druring charging

    friend_of_satan ,

    Ooooh, yeah. That’s a characteristic that a lot of electronics have that really don’t like.

    Ghostalmedia ,
    @Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

    It’s a common safety feature for wet & dry razors. It’s so people don’t take them into the shower or bath while it is plugged in.

    https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/98e5d374-88a5-4d12-97dc-a307f8db32a2.jpeg

    sunbeam60 ,

    They all do this. Every time.

    I’ll await the EU enforcing USB-C here too.

    uis ,

    EU enforces standard chargers, not type c specifically. It can be micro, mini or even type b

    MSugarhill ,

    Seems to be USB-C explicitly. But might change in the future. …europa.eu/…/usb-type-c-to-become-eu-s-common-cha…

    uis ,

    It’s news article, not law itself.

    MSugarhill ,

    The directive also speaks of usbc in 11 and 12 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX…

    uis ,

    Hm, indeed. Maybe I was reading some old version or there was similar law that didn’t require Type C specifically.

    the_seven_sins ,
    @the_seven_sins@feddit.de avatar

    Having USB-C PD on a Shaver would be nice, but also costly as it would require the Shaver to ‘ask’ the power supply for power. And they probably gonna save a penny there.

    SnipingNinja ,

    I saw a phone company make a trimmer, they used to do the same but now they are using USB c

    computerscientistI ,

    I have the cheapest Philips shaver. It is pretty mid. It came with its own charger. On the shaver’s side it looks like a standard ungrounded 220V female connection. But it actually is some propriety DC thingy. Very annoying. Why not just use USB-C?

    cucumber_sandwich ,

    Until recently the reason was waterproof ratings.

    uis ,

    Phones never had any problem with it

    cucumber_sandwich ,

    Lol, are you 15?

    uis ,

    15 years is forever for phones

    cucumber_sandwich ,

    Never is a long long time

    Donut ,

    cheapest Philips shaver

    use USB-C

    You can only pick one

    echodot ,

    Isn’t the standard a token amount of $1 or something for a license, I don’t think price really comes into it.

    uis ,

    USB-IF only chargea for VID. You can use USB as charging port without any fees. Even with USB PD.

    echodot ,

    So even less of a reason then

    Donut ,

    I imagine manufacturing USB C chargers is still more expensive than the shit we had 20-30 years ago, which you’ll find in the cheapest appliances

    uis ,

    cheapest house

    fire safety

    This is what regulations are for

    vox ,
    @vox@sopuli.xyz avatar

    are the voltages actually the same?

    moncharleskey ,

    I don’t see how it could be. One plugs into line voltage and the other 5v usb. The reason they changed the plug size is probably to keep OP from frying his new razor.

    hikaru755 ,

    One plugs into line voltage

    Well, but that’s not what’s coming out of the end that you plug into the razor. The wall plug for it contains a transformer that steps it down to 15V. Would still be a bad idea, but it’s not line voltage.

    moncharleskey ,

    After seeing some other comments I see that is the case. The one I had plugged straight in with the transformer built into the razor. That is why I said probably though, since I couldn’t know for sure.

    Sunny OP ,

    I don’t know how to check that, also can’t find the specs on the old one.

    aesopjah ,

    FYI, to figure this out you would look at the part that plugs into the wall. there’s a bunch of writing on it. at one point it will say something like " input: 120-240 VAC, output: 15 VDC 0.5 A". that’s true for pretty much all transformer bricks. like if you want to see how much a USB brick will supply it will say on there “5V 2A” or whatever.

    Sunny OP ,

    I only checked the (new) one that is USB-a only and that didn’t have any writing on it.

    max ,

    USB is typically 5v.

    JimVanDeventer ,

    My travel trimmer takes a AA battery and I just keep a little USB charger for that.

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    I’ve seen rechargeable batteries with micro USB ports in them so you can charge the battery directly, you don’t even need a charger. I thought that was pretty nifty.

    JimVanDeventer ,

    Could get those. Might be a good option for some. I just have a lot of rechargeables already for smoke alarms and clocks and what have you. I think I would find plugging in every battery individually to be more trouble. Even finding micro USB cables around the house is becoming a challenge.

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Totally understand. I just wanted to mention them because I thought they were a cool idea. I don’t own any myself, just standard rechargeables. That said, most of my devices that take AA batteries last so long at this point that I rarely have to change them. I’m guessing a shaver is a lot more power-hungry than most though.

    JimVanDeventer ,

    I don’t actually know how long it lasts; I’m unusually vigilant about swapping batteries. I just put a fresh one in the razor, I’ll let it wiggle itself to death and tell you how long that takes.

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal. I’m just talking about AA battery-powered devices in general.

    JimVanDeventer ,

    Yeah, I just did some math instead. Toothbrush is a similar wiggly thing and it will supposedly run 720-ish minutes on a AAA battery, so more than that, probably.

    intensely_human ,

    Maybe it’s time to get a microscope

    michael_palmer ,

    I use Soocas ET2. Maybe it’s not the best trimmer, but at least it’s super convinient and nice looking. I bought it for 30 €.

    https://lemmy.sdf.org/pictrs/image/f1333249-afb4-43a6-b426-ce807bd754da.png

    Ghostalmedia ,
    @Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

    How is the trim “not the best?”

    michael_palmer ,

    Not the sharpest blades.

    pewgar_seemsimandroid ,

    that’s the last electronic item they make without licencing out their brand

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