USB Electrical Outlet

I only just heard about these. It is a 120 V electrical outlet that has USB ports.








You don't need a transformer, You just plug directly into the USB port and charge your Kindle, phone, smart watch or whatever.





I installed the one above  this weekend and love it. I have 2 more to install. One in our bedroom and one for our camp.
I got these at the big orange store - in stock and hanging on the shelf. My wife and I are tickled pink with it.

They'll be the latest and greatest until someone decides it's time to do away with USB.  I find it no hardship to have the plug left in the USB wire and it's always ready to be plugged into the wall.  This has the added benefit of not having to shut off the power to put in a new outlet which will do exactly what the old one did, that is pass electricity to your device whether it's a toaster, a cell phone, or anything else that needs to be charged with electricity to run.

Do not misunderstand, I do enjoy many of the latest gadgets and trends and this outlet seems more useful than some. However, sometimes I'm reminded of all those useless kitchen gadgets that are nothing more than an answer looking for a question.

I agree with you Freddy.
And USB looks to be on the way out in favor of USB_C which is supposed to be "future proof".

But we have two people with multiple devices. We also use the USB cables to transfer data and images from cameras to PC to phone, etc.
Above that outlet we keep a box with various cables and transformers. This was just a neater approach for us (disregard my clutter in that second picture as I make a claim for neatness).

This also leaves the 120 outlets available for use while our devices charge. Not an issue in most rooms but this outlet is in the kitchen. In that picture is our Breville tea maker. And tea time waits for no device

I agree with you Freddy.
And USB looks to be on the way out in favor of USB_C which is supposed to be "future proof".

They make USB A to USB C cables. That's the awesomeness of standards. I have a Google Pixel that charges with USB C and I have it plugged into a USB A outlet just like PhilNH5 has in his pictures.

USB A will have adapters and cables for years yet. I wouldn't count it out so easily.

Neat idea!

This would be great if my 100 year old house had outlets in convenient locations.

This would be great if my 100 year old house had outlets in convenient locations.

Just like my 92 year old apartment.

Ok Freddy, if you want to get exact, it's only one year older than yours. I was rounding up.

Ok Freddy, if you want to get exact, it's only one year older than yours. I was rounding up.

LOL, Jeff.  Last year the landlord finally had to replace the toilet in my apartment and the plumber told me it was original so he dated it from at least 1926 because the tank was mounted on the wall and 1926 was the last year they did that for that toilet type.  That's how I judged the age of my place.

Getting back to the electricity and the need, or not, for USB/plug combination outlets, the wiring in my apartment is extremely old, though I imagine it was updated about 60 years ago.  Many years ago, the switch to turn on my overhead kitchen light died and rather than bother the landlord, I took it upon myself to change it.  While I did it successfully, I was amazed at the mess when I took the cover plate off and how short the wires were to work with.  Needless to say, doing that once was more than enough and I'm quite happy to just use a plug connected to my various cell phone and tablet USB wires rather than do more "fixing".

Freddy, were the conductors insulated with fiber?

Short wires? That's the pits!