AlanG Posted June 4, 2007 Share #21 Posted June 4, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) Alan, Do you think your former roommate might be the person who designed the M8's charger? ;-) Larry Pretty funny, but if he designed it you wouldn't need plugs. I'm sure he's big with computers by now. (He had the first personal computer I ever saw.) We haven't been in touch since the late 70s. His name was Nick and at that time he worked for the rock band, "Emerson, Lake and Palmer" He made sure all of their electronic stuff was working - I guess. He knew the inside and out of synthesizers so he probably helped them get the sound they wanted too. I just looked him up and found this quote from Carl Palmer, (No mention of match sticks) "I started working with this guy called Nick Rose and we developed the very first electronic drum. Unfortunately, it was so far in front at the time. We used it on “Toccata” (a classical piece by Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera that appears on ELP’s Brain Salad Surgery). A lot of people thought those sounds came from the keyboard, but I couldn’t be bothered doing a thousand and one interviews saying no that’s the drums, it’s not the keyboards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted June 4, 2007 Posted June 4, 2007 Hi AlanG, Take a look here M8 Charger unuseable in some hotels.. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
gesper Posted June 4, 2007 Share #22 Posted June 4, 2007 If they would just make the thing smaller a lot of the problems would be solved. No excuse for the charger size relative to battery size. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted June 4, 2007 Share #23 Posted June 4, 2007 I too don't like the idea of plugging a heavy charger direct into wall sockets. In many less developed parts of the world, when you do that, the whole socket falls out of the wall, wires and all with much gespitzensparken. I have had this problem with my iBook power pack and now use a short flying lead rather than the integral Apple plug adapter. A short figure-8-plug power lead, like most other camera makers use, would have been a better idea. Leica supply this on their other digital camera chargers. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozdavid Posted June 4, 2007 Share #24 Posted June 4, 2007 David, You might complain to Adeal. I received my M8 last week and it included a full set of plugs, including one for Australia! Regards David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceflynn Posted June 5, 2007 Share #25 Posted June 5, 2007 Configuration Chart There used to be a really nice plug chart from Braun AG, back when Dieter Rams thought they were still a company. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpattinson Posted June 5, 2007 Share #26 Posted June 5, 2007 David,You might complain to Adeal. I received my M8 last week and it included a full set of plugs, including one for Australia! Regards David Ah - no problem, Dave at the Camera Exchange had some spare ones to hand out. They were just not in the original boxes shipped. The charger design still blows - I hope they come out with a dual battery, slim, ISO standard input lead version for those of us who travel and don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to change batteries. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bernd Banken Posted June 5, 2007 Share #27 Posted June 5, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) Alan, Do you think your former roommate might be the person who designed the M8's charger? ;-) Larry he he:D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chetccox Posted June 5, 2007 Share #28 Posted June 5, 2007 Speaking of reversing the plug, take a look at the completely stupid design of it. There is a prong in the middle, between the two real connectors, whose only purpose is to open up the plastic window so the other two prongs can connect. This serves absolutely no purpose - except perhaps to prevent a hummingbird from sticking its little tongue in the exposed connector were it not to be covered up. And of course one whould have had to plug this into the wall alone without the charger. This little plastic window can be defeated, and the middle prong (which connects to nothing) can be broken off. Now the plugs can be inserted either way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpattinson Posted June 5, 2007 Share #29 Posted June 5, 2007 Speaking of reversing the plug, take a look at the completely stupid design of it. There is a prong in the middle, between the two real connectors, whose only purpose is to open up the plastic window so the other two prongs can connect. This serves absolutely no purpose - except perhaps to prevent a hummingbird from sticking its little tongue in the exposed connector were it not to be covered up. And of course one whould have had to plug this into the wall alone without the charger. This little plastic window can be defeated, and the middle prong (which connects to nothing) can be broken off. Now the plugs can be inserted either way. Hmm, I'll have to take a look at mine to see if that works - although given the likely replacement cost of this most-excellent piece of kit, I may not take the plunge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philinflash Posted June 5, 2007 Share #30 Posted June 5, 2007 There has been some progress. When I was a student in London (1973) there were a few kinds of outlets so some devices came without plugs at all. You had to buy the appropriate type and attach it to the cord. One of my room-mates just pushed the wires into the outlets without using a plug. He secured it by forcing in match sticks. He had a degree in electrical engineering from Cambridge. Where's he buried? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chap Posted June 6, 2007 Share #31 Posted June 6, 2007 Use the Northern Hemisphere plug in Australia, then it will be upside down so you don't have to turn the charger over. (just kidding) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leica DeOcean Posted June 6, 2007 Share #32 Posted June 6, 2007 The charger seems to have been designed for use on "multiple" continents, North America, Australia, Europe, etc.. If I recall correctly, there is a snap in plug for the different countries. Would this not pose a problem if a "corded" plug were selected for the design? Hmmmm? That reminds me. In my charger package, I had everything BUT the Australian adapter. Thanks for reminding me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpattinson Posted June 6, 2007 Share #33 Posted June 6, 2007 Pretty much anyone who travels much now has innumerable chargers to lug around, and generally has a number of multi-purpose socket adapters - or one socket adapter and a 'homestyle' powerboard. Leica bundling a handful of alternate custom adapters is cute, but ultimately a pain in the ass - just one more collection of small infinitely lose-able bits to keep track of... which can't easily be replaced if broken or lost. IMHO, they would have been far better off just bundling the appropriate figure 8 flex (short version), and letting us continue to use the adapters we already have. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wparsonsgisnet Posted June 6, 2007 Share #34 Posted June 6, 2007 Pretty much anyone who travels much now has innumerable chargers to lug around, and generally has a number of multi-purpose socket adapters - or one socket adapter and a 'homestyle' powerboard. Leica bundling a handful of alternate custom adapters is cute, but ultimately a pain in the ass - just one more collection of small infinitely lose-able bits to keep track of... which can't easily be replaced if broken or lost. IMHO, they would have been far better off just bundling the appropriate figure 8 flex (short version), and letting us continue to use the adapters we already have. There is some logic to Leica's bundle. If you keep attached the plug that fits your home base, and travel with the usual kit, you'll be just fine. An extension cord or plug strip will help, of course. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted June 7, 2007 Share #35 Posted June 7, 2007 Here you go... BBC NEWS | Technology | Wireless energy promise powers up ...now stop moaning! Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenw Posted June 7, 2007 Share #36 Posted June 7, 2007 Here you go... BBC NEWS | Technology | Wireless energy promise powers up ...now stop moaning! Regards, Bill I would not want to walk in between that power sender and receiver pair, to be honest! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwelland Posted June 7, 2007 Share #37 Posted June 7, 2007 There is some logic to Leica's bundle. If you keep attached the plug that fits your home base, and travel with the usual kit, you'll be just fine. An extension cord or plug strip will help, of course. Well, it is simple in the US where our extension cords are pretty small and light. In other parts of the world these can be very bulky due to the plug/socket combo plus you need to ensure that the appropriate voltage/AC is supported too. We can try to excuse the design flaw of an absolute brick of a charger because it's labelled Leica if we like but it doesn't make it either a good design or defensible. It's simply a poor design for it's intended purpose. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanG Posted June 7, 2007 Share #38 Posted June 7, 2007 I know that heart pacemakers are recharged via magnetic fields. I think the big issue with cameras and other devices is the lack of standardization in batteries, chargers, plugs, voltage, etc. Although it would be nice to just be able to place all of my devices on a table and have them charge automatically, at this point, I think we'd just be happy to have some basic standardization so we don't have to deal with so many chargers. Especially when traveling. That doesn't sound nearly as hard to implement as wireless charging. Of course this is the holy grail and goes against the interests of the manufacturers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted June 7, 2007 Share #39 Posted June 7, 2007 I would not want to walk in between that power sender and receiver pair, to be honest! Carsten, It's powered by electromagnetic induction and would be completely harmless to you unless perhaps you had a similarly sized coil of copper wire embedded in you. The electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phone transmitters is much stronger and potentially more harmful but in real terms there is no reason to believe that they are causing any harm to the billions around the world who use them every day. Or maybe that's the reason that teenagers act so weird! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveEP Posted June 7, 2007 Share #40 Posted June 7, 2007 The charger design still blows - I hope they come out with a dual battery, slim, ISO standard input lead version for those of us who travel and don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to change batteries. AMEN to that thought..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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