Charging & Power Archive

A few years back, every one of your devices used a different charging technology. It seemed like everything came with a DC charging block and a unique adapter. This could lead to a variety of problems. For example, if you had an older device, the charger might not even be available. Then came the glorious days of USB charging. Now, all your devices can charge …

Car chargers have been around for a long time, since the very first cell phones. If you’ve been around long enough, you might even remember dedicated “car phones”, which were hardwired into your vehicle. But new technology has now brought us the ability to charge wirelessly. What if you don’t want to wear out your phone’s USB port by plugging it and unplugging it constantly? …

Just a couple of generations ago, within living memory for some people, electricity was a luxury. Forget about smartphones, PCs, or internet access. As recently as World War II, less than half of American homes were even wired into the electrical grid. Now, if the power goes out for more than five minutes, people start to suffer from panic attacks. This isn’t because we’ve gone …

In the electronic modern world, 9 V batteries are everywhere. In fact, these are some of the most common batteries in the entire world, especially since they were originally introduced for the earliest transistor radios. Even if you don’t know the voltage, you can probably tell a 9 V battery apart from the others due to its iconic shape: all of them look like a …

Battery technology has come a long way in the past century. Starting with old-school, extra-heavy lead-acid batteries, we now have a plethora of options. Nickel cadmium, lithium-ion, and lithium-polymer batteries all have their own advantages and disadvantages. But one thing they all have in common is that they weigh less than lead-acid. That said, lead-acid batteries still dominate the market for large, powerful batteries found …