Outlet’s with USB

It’s an outlet. NO! It’s a USB charger! NO! It’s both in one!

So the Wife found these while surfing about a week ago. I thought they were a great idea right off the bat- combining a USB plug with a wall outlet. With a few of these sprinkled throughout a home, charging all the electronic gizmo’s out there becomes a lot less hassle- all you need is the cable, no more wall warts.

But, as in many things, it isn’t all strawberries and cream. First, they are expensive. A normal outlet runs a couple of bucks whereas these things are nearly $15 and even more expensive varieties exist. Second, the outlet is large. Much larger than a typical outlet and therefore difficult to install. If the electrical box has a lot of wires in it or is too small (the documentation says it needs to be a 16 cubic inch box), it simply won’t go in the wall. The one I installed barely fit and I had to finagle wires quite a bit. Even then, I couldn’t get it to fit flush against the wall.

The third problem is one that was unexpected. First, USB is a standard interface with a complete electrical specification including the power lines that run through it. Theoretically, that means that any device that can be charged or powered through a USB cable should be able to plug into any USB hub or plug.

The reality is bit different, unfortunately. While our mobile phones and iPod shuffles seem to be just fine, the Nook devices don’t seem to take kindly to the wall outlet USB ports. On our Nook tablet, the LED on the cable seems to indicate that charging is occurring but the device itself doesn’t detect charging. On my Nook HD, the situation is even worse as there is no LED in it’s cable and it doesn’t appear to charge at all.

Still, with more electronic gizmo’s to come, I think it’s worthwhile to invest in a couple of these outlets. Call it an idea whose moment has arrived. Enough electronics seem to be compatible that these outlets make for an easy way to have a couple of ready, and easily available, charging stations.