Power outlet with USB charging ports

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By Sean Michael Ragan
Posted 2009/12/07 @ 5:01 pm
Category Computers & Mobile, Craft, Electronics, General

You can pre-order yours now at Fastmac. Supposedly they will ship “in early 2010.” Or you could just make your own. If you try it, remember Louie the Lightning Bug: “You gotta play it safe around electricity.” [via Slippery Brick]

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8 Responses to Power outlet with USB charging ports

Piro on December 8th, 2009 at 9:34 am said:

A lightening bug is a bug that is losing weight. A lightning bug is a firefly. I assume you meant the latter.

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ifreecarve on December 8th, 2009 at 10:43 am said:

This got my hopes up until I noticed that it requires a specially-shaped switch cover. I hope this company carries the color, finish, and style of switchplates to match what’s already in your house!

I think that if they arranged the top and bottom outlets so that the 2 ground pins are closest together, they may have been able to squeeze the USB ports in at the side — allowing them to fit the standard size rectangular opening.

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- Odin on December 8th, 2009 at 11:01 am said:
  
  This has not passed UL approval. I have gone through the approval process, and my experience has shown that UL is a make or break. “In Process” is nice, but not good enough.
  
  UL is an underwriter, kinda like an insurance company. They will test every failure mode, and you only pass if your failure mode does not result in a fire. They only pass those companies who produce something that will be safe, no matter what happens. (They are not perfect, but if an item does not pass, it has a design flaw)
  
  If it does not pass UL, then it is a fire hazard. Yes, UL does go a little overboard. However, if I’m going to have something permanently attached to my house for the next 10 years, I want to know that every failure mode is safe, and my house won’t catch on fire.
  
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- KC8RWR on December 8th, 2009 at 11:19 am said:
  
  Don’t you have a Dremel?
  
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Bob on December 8th, 2009 at 11:24 am said:

Vampire Power/Standby Power Loss — there’s no way to unplug these things, so for every outlet you have that has built in USB power ports, you’re drawing power 24/7/365. Bad for the planet.

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- Abuthemagician on December 8th, 2009 at 11:31 am said:
  
  They say on the site that they designed it so it wouldn’t vamp power… In any case I am going to get one when they get it UL approved. This will be perfect next to my bed.
  
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- Matt on December 8th, 2009 at 11:34 am said:
  
  Check out the comments from the fastmac website…
  
  Please also note that the USB ports only draw power when something is physically connected to the port. We didn’t want a vampire port that continually sucks and wastes power when not in use so this was one of the features on the top of our priority list during the design phase.
  
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Jim K. on December 10th, 2009 at 1:41 pm said:

I wonder about whether there would be any code problems with these. I know in our area mixing low voltage with high voltage in the same path is a no-no.

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