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submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by Sunny@slrpnk.net to c/mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world

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!

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[-] ShadowRam@fedia.io 124 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

the new trimmer, the charger is USB-A only. Where's the previous one had the plug on it instead.

Maybe I'm confused.

Your new trimmer takes in USB (Low Voltage DC) power.

Your old trimmer took in Plug (High Voltage AC) power.

If that's the case, yeah of course the plugs would be different? You'd fry the new one with the old plug.

[-] zovits@lemmy.world 37 points 7 months ago

The OneBlade has a transformer in the wall plug part, the actual cable going to the handheld unit is only carrying low voltage.

[-] Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 32 points 7 months ago

What low voltage though? Unless it's 5V like USB (non-PD and non-QC), they should and need to be incompatible.

[-] Smokeless7048@lemmy.world 26 points 7 months ago

looks like the old one was 15v, while the new one is 5v.

Now, if it has used USB-C it could still be 15v...

[-] Smokeless7048@lemmy.world 27 points 7 months ago

came to say that. Looks like the old one was 15v, while if the new one is USB-A it was 5v.

Now, if it was USB-C, it could still have been USB-C!

[-] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

Neither of them take AC power. I have an older one similar to OP's old one. It uses a wall wart and the input is definitely DC.

[-] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 86 points 7 months ago

Are you sure they charge with the same specifications? This might just be to avoid potential fire hazards & damage.

[-] june@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yea, one might be ~~alkaline~~ nimh while the other is lithium. Or maybe even just different flavors of lithium.

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[-] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 58 points 7 months ago

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

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 42 points 7 months ago

Is the charge voltage the same on both?

[-] Magister@lemmy.world 20 points 7 months ago

I guess not, the USB one is 5V obviously, but the other one can be 12, 7.2, 8.4, 3.2, whatever

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[-] ra1d3n@lemm.ee 36 points 7 months ago

I have both of these and one charger is 8v and the other is 15v.

[-] gerryflap@feddit.nl 29 points 7 months ago

Isn't it to make sure that you're not mixing two incompatible chargers? I have 2 Philips chargers that do fit (as far as I can see), but are not the same voltage. I've previously also had something like this where 2 fitting chargers were completely different electrically, one 12V AC and the other 9V DC. One time a family member mixed them up, bit luckily the extra voltage didn't fry anything. I don't mind having to get an extra charger of it prevents me from doing something dumb and frying my electronics.

[-] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 27 points 7 months ago

God, why don't they just make it usb-c PD and be done with it?

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[-] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 20 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 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.world 8 points 7 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.world 10 points 7 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.world 6 points 7 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.

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[-] vox@sopuli.xyz 19 points 7 months ago

are the voltages actually the same?

[-] moncharleskey@lemmy.zip 25 points 7 months ago

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@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

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.

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[-] Boozilla@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

Philips was a great company decades ago. They've really gone to shit. Especially their CPAP fiasco (Respironics recall).

[-] ThePantser@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

Philips sold most of their IP and companies use their name. Hue is not made by them either anymore. The CPAPs are made by another company that is owned by Philips. It's all just a name now.

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[-] Dumbkid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 7 months ago

If they are the same voltage just take a razor and shave some of the material away, I had to do this to get a c7 connector to fit into my xbox one, the rubber was just molded too far to fit

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[-] sunbeam60@lemmy.one 14 points 7 months ago

They all do this. Every time.

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

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[-] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 14 points 7 months ago

The charging requirements have likely changed so the plug was redesigned sup you don't fry your new shaver using the old plug/adapter.

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[-] Zess@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago

So infuriating that they would send you a charger that works with the device 😤😤 how fucking dare they

[-] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee 13 points 7 months ago

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.

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[-] K1nsey6@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

Everyone of my Phillips trimmers use a different shaped port

[-] Saltarello@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

My Philips shaver does not work whilst charging. What's that all about?

Luckily the battery is good but it gives very little warning when its about to run out. I dont grow facial hair very quickly or very thickly but several times I've had to leave the house partially shaved. Doesn't make any sense. That's the whole point of electricity, to use stuff whilst plugged in!

[-] EvilLootbox@lemmy.world 25 points 7 months ago

Wet/dry shavers can't be used while charging because some moron will use it in the shower while plugged in. That's what the instruction booklet essentially said for my oneblade

[-] piecat@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

Yeah that's a regulatory requirement in some regions

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[-] popemichael@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 7 months ago

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"

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 8 points 7 months ago

Also very environmentally unfriendly. Shame on you, Philips!

[-] MoonRaven@feddit.nl 8 points 7 months ago

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...

[-] wander1236@sh.itjust.works 6 points 7 months ago

From what I can tell, the non-USB OneBlades charge at 4.3V, not 5V.

It's probably a small enough difference that a 5V charger would work fine for the 4.3V shaver, but it wouldn't work the other way around.

[-] CallMeM@lemmy.ml 6 points 7 months ago

That is so annoying.

Philipps is a shady company and I support anyone who decides not to buy from them ever again.

With the Hue bulbs the force you to share data, so I had to manually install an old version of the app just to not share data - no other way to opt out. So I can't say I'm surprised they pulled something like this.

tl;dr: Keep away from Philipps!

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[-] DirigibleProtein@aussie.zone 5 points 7 months ago

Remington also have different plugs for different models.

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this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2024
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