We have all wondered this but never really seen anything happen in this regard until now; why can’t our smartphone chargers be smart as well? What we are trying to say is this; you put your cell phone on charging usually at night and it would be really nice if the charger would automatically switch off once the phone has been charged completely, no? Such a charger would prove to be environment friendly, energy efficient and hazard free. However, there has been no such charger, well until now. Say hello to the Asmo charger, which is basically the world’s first smart charger capable of cutting off electricity once the smartphone has been charged completely.
The gadget comes from a 33 year old I.T. engineer by the name of Asmo Saloranta who lives in Oulu, Finland. His inspiration for the gadget hit him when his fiancée, Johanna Papinaho, lost her childhood home to a fire that was started because a mobile charger was left plugged in. The Asmo charger takes care of this problem by automatically shutting down and isolating its connection from the electricity grid when the charging is complete or when you unplug the phone from it.
In words of Saloranta; ‘I set myself a challenge to invent a charger that is much safer and consumes no standby power. Two years later, I came up with a solution. How it works is the power to the charger is limited and isolated from the grid – it’s a pulse of power that comes off the grid rather than a stream. The phone charger simply turns of the flow.’
The Asmo charger comes with a number of different connectors which also include the Apple 30-pin connector, the latest Lighting connector and even a micro USB. Users also have an option to either pledge for a US or EU two-prong plug on Kickstarter. A UK version of the gadget will be launched later this year.
Saloranta further said that; ‘It is really taking off now, I am now in talks with mobile phone manufacturers. ‘There have been so many tragic stories about phone chargers when they have been left on; I thought it was strange that nobody had done this. Johanna is definitely my driving force behind the project, her story helped me come up with the idea, and she is very passionate. Our mission is to make the world a better place. By leaving mobile phone chargers on, we use the equivalent of two nuclear power plants or 25,000 wind power mills.’
While this charger helps us become safer, it also works as an eye opener by helping us realize that how much of energy are we wasting by just keeping our chargers plugged in or keeping the switch turned on.