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An expensive product that's probably just one component in a box.........

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Smokey:
My first submission is this:
Goal Zero YETI 12V CAR CHARGING CABLE
https://www.goalzero.com/shop/yeti-accessories/yeti-12v-car-charging-cable/



The battery chargers want more than 12V input so it's just a boost converter to 15.5V like this guy measured:




......

So you are paying $40USD for a boost converter in a box.

::See Update:: It also appears to detect if the engine is on, and only enables in that case.

james_s:
$40 for a good quality boost converter in a box doesn't sounds all that unreasonable to me, how much current can it deliver? I doubt it's just a single component, it's probably a PCB with a handful of parts on it, and it is presumably designed to tolerate the automotive electrical environment and temperature range. A OEM power brick for a laptop will easily cost you more than that.

I was expecting it to be hundreds of dollars from the title of the thread.

NiHaoMike:
Some high end Agilent/Keysight scopes use a power cord that has a notch so that regular computer type power cords won't fit. I haven't looked up the cost for a replacement power cord for one of those scopes but I would imagine it's easily more than 10x the cost to make it.

A hobbyist who ends up with one of those scopes could probably just cut a notch in a standard cord to make it fit, or cut out the key in the socket so that it will accept regular power cords.

octillion:

--- Quote from: NiHaoMike on September 08, 2021, 04:30:39 am ---Some high end Agilent/Keysight scopes use a power cord that has a notch so that regular computer type power cords won't fit. I haven't looked up the cost for a replacement power cord for one of those scopes but I would imagine it's easily more than 10x the cost to make it.

A hobbyist who ends up with one of those scopes could probably just cut a notch in a standard cord to make it fit, or cut out the key in the socket so that it will accept regular power cords.

--- End quote ---

I'm not sure why Keysight does this (I don't know that there is a legitimate reason to), but that notch is a standard IEC connector for high temperature use.  Power cords that include connectors with this notch are rated for higher temperature, and are readily available outside of Keysight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320

magic:
I suppose "high end" audio gear could easily win this competition ;)

Not entirely one component (there were a few), but a famous example was Grado RA1 headphone amplifier, which was a single opamp chip with associated passives in a wooden case selling for $400 or something like that.
Some people were a little upset when it came out :-DD

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