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!

  • Aniki 🌱🌿@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    One is for charging the other is for power. There’s a huge difference. At least with my phillips electric - the power inverter is inside the shaver. The cord is just a bog standard C-type power cord.

    Your new cable is a charger cord – because it’s already pulling the correct DC voltage from the USB port.

    [e] I was wrong - both my Norelco and my Andis foil shaver both have AC inverters on the charge cables. Interestingly, the Philips charges at 15v! Probably so you can use it while it charges.

  • gerryflap@feddit.nl
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    9 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.

  • HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de
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    9 months ago

    Nice of then to make sure you cant accidentally blow up your new razor because you assumed the old cable would work if it fit.

    • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Figure eight connectors like that input line voltage. So even if the charge voltage is different, the chargers still require the same line voltage.

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        These are smaller plugs than the figure-eight cords you’re thinking of that plug into old boomboxes, Playstations, etc. They’re DC voltage, not AC.

        The WTF here is not that the manufacturer changed the connector slightly, it’s that they were too cheap to include the AC-to-DC converter part of it like they did on their older models, so OP has to buy a USB wall wart to power the stupid thing. The fact that he can’t use the old charger with the new shaver is just an irritating side effect.

        • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          I have the same razor. I promise you that it’s not DC. It’s a regular plug that passes 120/60 to the device.

          • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Any company that’s passing 120 (or god forbid 240v) into those tiny little plugs with almost no insulation between them is begging to be sued for electrocuting people. No device used in the bathroom should be passing straight 120v through a connector like that.

    • Magister@lemmy.world
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      9 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

  • thantik@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Having experience with electromechanics - I have seen times where this was done on purpose to make sure that people aren’t trying to reuse an incompatible plug for charging purposes. NiCd doesn’t charge the same as LiFePo, Li-ion, etc. Charging voltages, polarities, stability of power output, etc.

    To be fair though, they just need to make everything USB-C anyhow. Especially shavers.

    • AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      I know a lot of RC brands did this too. They didn’t want people blowing up their Li-On batteries with old chargers, or getting complaints because it takes three days to charge.

    • UnityDevice@startrek.website
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      9 months ago

      To be fair though, they just need to make everything USB-C anyhow.

      Careful what you wish for. Putting advanced electronics into very simple devices will just make them fail a lot faster.
      Some old device just needed 12V over a barrel jack to run some motor or light and charge the battery and it lasted a decade - only failed because the battery got old. New one now needs a state of the art power delivery chip to negotiate the right voltage and current, and all over a very fine pitch connector that will fail if you look at it wrong. Not looking good on the durability front at all.

    • moitoi@feddit.de
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      9 months ago

      My next shaver will be USB-C. It’s now a standard for charging whatever you want.

    • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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      9 months ago

      The only issue I have with USB power solutions is that it’s also capable of data transfer, which is bad. Imagine a dystopian future of being tracked by companies and governments by the places you plugged your shaver in at, of all the stupid things that could happen.

      If the only thing keeping a battery from exploding or corroding is a 4cm^3 box with a prong on one side and hole on the other then the people making the devices just need to incorporate power regulators into their designs.

      • thantik@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It’s capable of data transfer…but to a power brick in the wall? Are there people who plug their shavers into their PC?

        • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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          9 months ago

          Are you going to remove outlets and strip walls every hotel you ever visit to check for data? Because that somehow sounds both sane and also unhinged, good luck with that.

        • Tarogar@feddit.de
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          9 months ago

          I mean… If it has a USB socket and I can plug it into my PC… Surely it was intended for that. After all the USB ports on a PC are just as capable of delivering power.

          Sure may be an unusual solution to charge a shaver but you could do that.

          • thantik@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Exactly. It’s going to be the most uncommon thing though. Convenient in an emergency if somehow you have a spare PC for charging and not a USB-C power brick…somehow…

            But there’s not enough people doing it to justify what this guy is suggesting.

            • Tarogar@feddit.de
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              9 months ago

              It’s also completely unnecessary since there are better devices for tracking and shenanigans available. Why bother with a shaver that has neither a camera or a microphone or is tracking location for anything when you can use a device that has all of that. Like pretty much every modern phone on the market, more so smartphones.

              Regarding that other thing… In practice it could be that you are staying in a hotel room for any reason really but you forgot your power brick, still need to shave, but have a PC for one reason or another and a spare cable to use. However unlikely that is, but it’s not unheard of to forget the phone charger when going on a trip.

    • Aux@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      No, shavers should not use USB C. Because in developed countries you cannot have USB in the bathroom. We have special shaver sockets and they’re not USB compatible.

      • thantik@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Then you should refine your laws. Because my shavers all use USB C; and the EU has mandated USBC in specific products, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to expand that.

        • Aux@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          and the EU

          Yeah, I live in Europe, lol. Sockets in bathrooms are very specific here.

  • wander1236@sh.itjust.works
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    9 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.

  • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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    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.world
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      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.world
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        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.world
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          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.world
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          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…

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    Even thought I own a OneBlade (gift), I’m happy that my old-school, safety razor doesn’t have any of the problems these modern shavers do.

    They are more reliable, and they give a better shave, and they aren’t plagued by planned-obsolescence, and…

  • usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca
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    9 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.

  • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

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

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
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      9 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.

  • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

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

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      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.

      • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        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.