My cellphone charger, stereo adapter and Palm chager are plugged in to sockets in a hard-to-reach corner of my bedroom, with only the respective cords extending up to easy-to-reach level. Now, every time I want to recharge my phone or Palm, I have to contort myself in an ungodly manner in order to reach and turn the switch on.
Can I just leave the switch in the ‘on’ position, without damaging the chargers/adapter, even if the phone or Palm is not plugged in? I notice that the adapter and chargers get rather warm when in use (i.e. while charging), which is why I just turn the switch to the ‘off’ position once I’m done with using 'em.
yes, I know I could just move it all to another socket… but I don’t want to.
Pulling the power plug and putting it back in while the appliance switch is left on is equivalent to externally switching off and on the power with the device plugged in. You might want to check the user manual on your devices to see if this is OK. My HP 900cse printer manual specifically warns against doing this with this device. HP says it could shorten the life of the printer.
I plugged in my phone charger when I bought it and apart from travelling it has stayed plugged in and turned on for 3 years. I come home and take the phone out of my pocket and stick it in the charger I take calls and put it back, leave it overnight and take it out the next day.
My Siemens S55 manual states specifically that one should not leave the charger plugged in (and on) with nothing to charge as it could cause damage. They donṫ specify what damage. I suspect there is some electronic wizardry in there that does the 250/110 universal switch which could get a bit hot in the long run. Plus one coil of a transformer that will continue to draw power, albeit very modestly, which could also get hot in the long run.
My manuals say also warn against doing that, but in the past I’ve left the cell phone adaptor plugged in for months. I suppose it could have damaged the battery without me realizing it. After awhile it wouldn’t hold the charge as well, but all batteries do that eventually.
I also didn’t wait until the phone was completely drained before charging it. That’s impractical.