Not buying a shaver from Philips again..

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Is the charge voltage the same on both?

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

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.

I can tell you for certain, I measured my plug phiips (foil and 'one') and they are both 14VDC. So short answer is that the plug charger would blow up the usb trimmer you have (which is 5VDC).

The reason I know this and measured them, was because I wasnt sure the two plug chargers were the same, and I didnt want to blow up my philips one.

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

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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.

are the voltages actually the same?

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

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

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

They all do this. Every time.

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

Everyone of my Phillips trimmers use a different shaped port

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.

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

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!

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...

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"

Also very environmentally unfriendly. Shame on you, Philips!

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.

Please update the post with the facts from the data sheet OP

Remington also have different plugs for different models.

Any change in the dc input/amps? Because that’s the only reason I would give any credence to it.

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?

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... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002DQT22G?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

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

Yep. It's not too easy to find usb-c shavers yet though :/

Yea, id fix that with a lil creative carving with a pocket knife. Recently did this with a brita pitcher. They go to great lengths so you cant refill the cartridges with activated carbon. They underestimate my determination.

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

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 €.

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

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!

My Wahl shaver has a charger like that

Right cable looks like IEC C7

Last shaver I bought I made sure I could charge it off usb

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

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....

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.

I know with one, its shit. I hate phillips for that

Could you shave (heh) a few millimeters with a cutter or something?