We got asked again a couple of days ago about a Mains wall socket with a built in USB port for charging. These are indeed very handy and for around £18 you can negate the need for a separate ‘wall wart’ plug in transformer, keeping the regular sockets free for other lighting and appliances.
There’s also a 2 gang version of the above unit (still with a single USB charging port) or a double gang with 2 x USB ports below.
1 Gang 1 USB : 2 Gang 1 USB : 2 Gang 2 USB : More Mains USB Charging Options
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Something I’ve always wondered about these sort of things. Do they consume any power when nothing is plugged into them? E.g like having a Usb phone charger plugged in with no phone on the other end?
Also how do they compare power consumption wise when in use?
You can usually judge these things by whether they get hot or not. If they get hot when nothing is plugged into them they’re consuming power, if not then it’s nigh on insignificant.
The problem is that the good stuff – Apple’s own chargers, Nokia etc – tends to be fine but the unbranded stuff that’s likely to be built into these runs hot.
Hamilton, a major manufacturer has recently entered the market place, I’m sure others will follow, it’s an instant money maker??
Just as long as the thing has a CE mark on it! I have tested all of these products and some I would not go anywhere need because of ignored safety standards.