Anyone Install USB Outlets?

[MDSPHOTO]

I just got done installing dimmers through out the house and now my wife wants me to install some USB outlets. Most of what I have read says the technology is not quite there yet and we should wait. If I wanted to install them many are larger than the standard electrical boxes, hard to tell online which ones will fit.

Anyone have any experience with these? How is the charge time compared to using the normal charging set-up? Any brands that are better than others, that fit standard boxes?

As always, thanks in advance for your assistance!

 

[79firebird]

I have a buddy that installed one in the kitchen were he charges his phones for reg stuff it seams to charge the same speed. But it does not have enuf power to charge my ipad or his tablit

 

[allinon72]

I have one in the bedroom and one in the living room, they work perfectly. We regularly charge iphones and ipads on the same outlet with no problems. We have these:

 

[Spudland_Dave]

when doing my garage wiring, I put one of the Leviton USB plugs in over my workbench so I can charge my phone if needed. Havent installed my workbench yet so I cant say I ever used it.

 

[LigouriRd]

I have one installed in my Kitchen so we can charge our phones without having to use up the two outlets. I think we have a Hubble, it does not look like the ones pictured above. It has two square outlets with two usb ports in between them.

Honestly, I have not noticed any decrease in charging time. I believe the charging current is handled internally in the phone.

 

[Kevin C]

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-15-Amp-Tamper-Resistant-Combo-Outlet-USB-Charger-White-R02-T5630-00W/203392187#.UlQNPlCTh8E

I have this one in the shop. So far its been perfect for charging my cell phone and GPS. The only issue is that it takes up a fair amount of volume in the box. I connected the boxes with 3/4" EMT. On boxes that have EMT coming in the side, it hits the ******.

It cleared on the box with the EMT coming in from the top.

Works great on the two items I charge with it.

 

[zilla68]

Ipicked up one from radio shack that just mounts on top of your exsisting plug, gives you 2 plugs and 2-110 outlets and put it in my 8 year olds room, since she can't keep track of her charger, and the center screw goes right into the other one, so it doesn't come out. works great she uses it every day and I don't have to try and find her a charger when she looses one now!

 

[Professur]

It all depends on the amperage supplied. We here at work have Samsung Note I and Note II phones ... the Note II will take most of the day to charge off a Note I 1 amp adapter ... under 4 hrs off their own 2A supply.

 

[mayday0017]

Don't these constantly draw current even when not in use due to the transformer? If so I am curious what the draw is....

Also more importantly, as cheap as things are made the fact that they are not an "open circuit" like regular outlets are, but rather a small powersupply it makes me somewhat nervous as far as risk of fire. I understand I have all sorts of power supplies plugged in around the house but I'm just thinking about how cheap and crappy outlets are made these days it does leave some concern in my mind.

 

[CNGsaves]

Don't these constantly draw current even when not in use due to the transformer? If so I am curious what the draw is....

Also more importantly, as cheap as things are made the fact that they are not an "open circuit" like regular outlets are, but rather a small powersupply it makes me somewhat nervous as far as risk of fire. I understand I have all sorts of power supplies plugged in around the house but I'm just thinking about how cheap and crappy outlets are made these days it does leave some concern in my mind.

Switch the outlet for that reason. A well-planned little charging area could have normal outlets and the USB outlets that all would be turned off with a switch.

Better yet, put a timer in the switch and you could only supply power to the "charging center" for say 4 hours at night. Still paying for trickle draw with timer . . . . so pick your poison !

 

[Highbeam]

Don't these constantly draw current even when not in use due to the transformer? If so I am curious what the draw is....

Also more importantly, as cheap as things are made the fact that they are not an "open circuit" like regular outlets are, but rather a small powersupply it makes me somewhat nervous as far as risk of fire. I understand I have all sorts of power supplies plugged in around the house but I'm just thinking about how cheap and crappy outlets are made these days it does leave some concern in my mind.

Meh, you do realize that a GFCI can draw like 6 watts all the time? Mine do. A wall wart transformer might draw three. BFD.

 

[murd]

I put one in our kitchen island. Picked up some short (4") charge cords from monoprice to keep the cord clutter down. I had another for the bedroom, but it wouldn't fit in the outlet box. I found it seems pretty quick with the phones, a little slower for the ipad.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Cute, but cost are really not cost effective when you can buy a dual name brand wall charger for under $10 on eBay.

If you do buy the built in one, make sure it support "fast charging" on Apple devices !

 

[TheOtherChris]

This one at HD
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cooper-W...Outlet-White-TR7745W-K/203921579#.UlRmPZj7KWh
has a review that states it puts out 2.1amp which is what you need to charge an ipad in a reasonable amount of time.

I may get one for my kitchen as well.

 

[pattenp]

I just don't quite see the benefit of the USB in the outlet. I'll just keep using the charger that came with my devices. I think these things just play on the needs of technogeeks to have cool things.

 

[allinon72]

I just don't quite see the benefit of the USB in the outlet. I'll just keep using the charger that came with my devices. I think these things just play on the needs of technogeeks to have cool things.

1. No need to use adapters, which get lost all the time
2. Looks a lot cleaner with the USB cord plugged right into the outlet
3. Frees up outlets
4. Good conversation piece when people visit

 

[pattenp]

Like I said... the cool factor. Your #4 should be #1.

1. No need to use adapters, which get lost all the time
2. Looks a lot cleaner with the USB cord plugged right into the outlet
3. Frees up outlets
4. Good conversation piece when people visit

 

[Notch1988]

Will these work in a GFCI circuit? I want to put one in the kitchen but it would be a GFCI circuit.

 

[Kevin C]

Will these work in a GFCI circuit? I want to put one in the kitchen but it would be a GFCI circuit.

Mine is on GFCI and has no issues.

I wanted it for the clean look and its seems pretty cool. Great to have a dedicated charging spot in the garage. I suppose I should un-clutter the rest of the shop before I worry about having cluttered outlets, but its a start.

The boxes are connected with 3/4" EMT... Hard to see once I dry-walled.

View media item 34179

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Is "I installed one because I wanted one" a valid reason to have one?

PattenP is right...I'm a techno guy by trade...installed the one in the garage purely because I wanted to. I could EASILY have just thrown a spare charger in the garage, I've got more of them then I know what to do with (same goes for USB Cables) Just so happened I was at my electric supply house buying something, they had a display on the counter of them, while he was writing me up I threw one on the counter and said F-It...this is cool.

I'd really like to install another one in the Kitchen where we charge our phones. Biggest benefit there is so we can both charge our phones and leave the coffee maker plugged in...but it being a GFCI outlet (Recep itself is the GFCI) swap isn't gonna be feasible.

 

[Thumper68]

The nice thing about them is you can slip a usb cable in your pocket, kinda hard to fit a transformer in there.

 

[thetastelingers]

Heh. I ordered 13 for our house and they just delivered.
Why? Because I wanted them.

Everything has a USB charger now a days.
gopro, tablets, phones, etc...

 

[allinon72]

Heh. I ordered 13 for our house and they just delivered.
Why? Because I wanted them.

Everything has a USB charger now a days.
gopro, tablets, phones, etc...

BULL you just ordered them for the cool factor!! They serve no purpose, admit it.

 

[aar0s]

We don't have the outlets yet but we do have a plug in adapter that takes both plugs on the back and has one outlet and two usb's on the front. Damn thing is 20 bucks, thinking about picking one up for the ipad I keep in the garage, it never fails that its dead when I go out there.

 

[djb2]

They can't be justified, and will quickly be obsolete, but are pretty cool.

The technology for some of these is pretty sophisticated. The have essentially zero power draw when nothing is plugged in.

Power supplies are either transformer based, or convert the AC to high voltage DC then run a much smaller transformer at high frequency. Transformer supplies always waste power changing the field in the metal transformer core, even with no output load. Traditional switching supplies have a safety resistor to discharge the HV capacitor within a few seconds after power is removed, and that resistor is always wasting power.

New "zero standby" supplies replace the resistor with an active circuit which senses the 60Hz input, and only discharges the capacitor when it's missing for a few seconds. They also don't continuously run the high frequency drive for the small transformer. Instead the "cycle skip", only sending an occasional pulse through on light loads.

 

[thetastelingers]

Here are the ones I ordered. 13.50 if you order 2 or more.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/PWR2USB/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_campaign=googlebase&gclid=CP_BnKj52bgCFTRo7Aodx3YAdg

 

[HAP]

We don't have the outlets yet but we do have a plug in adapter that takes both plugs on the back and has one outlet and two usb's on the front. Damn thing is 20 bucks, thinking about picking one up for the ipad I keep in the garage, it never fails that its dead when I go out there.

I tried one of those form HD. Lasted a week and the USB ports were dead...