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usb wall sockets

Has anyone actually been in a house with wired usb wall sockets?

Reply to
oldyork90
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Are you talking about USB sockets that support data transfer or just sockets that supply USB power to charge devices?

Reply to
trader_4

I have such a wall outlet installed in our kitchen. Used to charge our iPads or phones.

Trader? AFAIK, ain't no such thing as a USB wall outlet that transfers data.

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

I put in a USB charger/power receptacle and so far so good. It reduced the clutter by eliminating a couple of wall wart chargers and freeing up the receptacles.

MCM does sell wall plates for USB data cables and you can get extenders that will take the signal 100' or more.

Reply to
gfretwell

There probably wasn't until very recently, because USB was supposed to be limited to about 10 feet. However there are now USB cables with built-in amplifers. They come in lengths up to, iirc 100 feet, and shorter ones can be used in series. Maybe the longer ones can too.

Some have a bulge in the middle, like a snake who ate a rat, and they woudl be very hard to snake. Others have the bulge close to the end, but plainly, you can't use two in series if the sheet rock is already in, and even if you put the cables in first, I suppose sometime an amp will probably break. I guess that means buy one long enough in the first place, use no staples, maybe put something in around corners to make pulling out a bad one and replacing it with a new one easier.

Amazingly, where cables are cheap, even these are not very expensive.

I want find out what is clogging my gutters, on my two-story house, and I thought it woudl be fun, rather than borrow a ladder, so I bought iirc a 25 foot and a 15 foot. But I had trouble tying the camera to the extension pole, and then it got cold out. If winter ever ends, I'm going to try again. In device manager, I disabled the built-in camera, since I couldnt' find another way to make a usb camera work, but I also bought another cable to go in the basement window to the desktop PC.

Reply to
micky

I forgot to say that I hooked the whole thing up and it worked. I just couldn't aim the camera yet.

Reply to
micky

I agree, that AFAIK there isn't any such thing either. The way it was worded led to the question. The poster didn't say USB charging sockets. He said wired USB sockets.

Regarding the USB charging ones, they seem kind of cool at first and they aren't necessarily a bad idea. But IDK how useful they really are. I guess if you came across one somewhere, needed a charge, and had your cable, you could use it. But all you need besides the cable is the charger and they have gotten very small. So, I'm not sure they are all that cool. And IDK what the cost delta is versus a regular receptacle, the long term reliability of those typically cheap power supplies, etc.

Reply to
trader_4

Most cell phones and tablets now have a charger/USB cable...so you can remove the cable and take it with to charge off any device with an outlet.

Reply to
bob_villa

They run $20 to $40 depending on configuration. You say, "all you need is the charger" but it is not that simple for some people. They carry multiple devices these days.

I can see having one or two in the house. A family of four can easily have a half dozen things on charge at night. Phone, MP3 player, GPS, hair trimmer, shaver, whatever.

I'm not about to change out a recepticle, but in a remodel or new construction I would.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

You can typically use many of the chargers for many of the devices. If you have the charger for a tablet, it's going to charge your smartphone, just like the USB outlet, no?

Reply to
trader_4

These days a large percentage of phones, tablets etc have cords that terminate in a USB "A" plug and that is what the wall wart exports to. I know the USB outlet eliminated all of the wall warts for my wifes Samsung stuff and my old phone.

I used the Leviton 2+2 receptacle

The down side is the tamper resistant is part ia a PITA

Reply to
gfretwell

Sure, one at a time. The outlet allows you to do two to four at a time. Not a big deal for most of us, but if you are under 30 or have a couple of teenagers, probably not enough.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com posted for all of us...

In a motel.

Reply to
Tekkie®

Thank you all. The USB will be used for power (recharging) only and we've decided to wire the kitchen counter with one. Looks like this wasn't a buil d time decision and that USBs can be installed at any time by just buying a new wall unit. I wonder if they'll be a problem with GFI requirements in the kitchen? Thanks again.

Reply to
oldyork90

USB is fast becoming a power as well as a data standard. The power capacity was recently increased to 100 watts -- up from 10 watts or less a few years ago. USB is the most popular plug standard in the world with more than10 billion in use. I'm hearing about LED table lamps being designed with an LED plug for charging other electronic devices and have seen a couple of examples in newer hotels. But why not just use USB cords, plugs and outlets for table and floor lamps? LEDs are low-voltage DC devices and so the LED driver would be simpler and less expensive.

Tomsic

Reply to
Tomsic

That ignores all the overhead (physical and $$$) to turn simple

120/240 volt ac into USB level DC. Do you really want to have to put a USB "wall wart" inside every plug in your house? Keeping in mind that it takes 1500 watts just to run a toaster... you will never be running your toaster off a USB wall outlet. And when that USB wall wart inside the outlet which is inside the wall burns out are you prepared to pay an electrician $75 to replace it when now all you need to do it buy a new $5 wall wart if the old one burns out? Low voltage DC is terrible for "electric distribution" but within a house you could have one big (and expensive) Garage Wall Wart by the breaker panel and run DC wires IN ADDITION TO your 120VAC to all the outlets. But to set up something capable of 100 watts at EACH outlet is going to be VERY expensive. It's adding a ton of needless expense to avoid using a $5 wall wart in those few places you need one. Personally, I don't see it as a viable strategy for general household use. Building them into the base of Lamps is a nice idea though.

What I would suggest if we are going to talk about revising how we "wire our houses" is that the form factor for wall outlets be changed to a form that is twice as wide and each outlet rotated 90 degrees so that it can easily accommodate plugs and wall warts at the same time, perhaps even set up with three female outlets instead of today's two.

KISS

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

In the never ending cycle to keep us confused and continue to get our money, I am sure that in 5 years from now, or less, they will change the shape and size of the USB plugs so we have to buy all new stuff once again.

Standard 120V AC outlets have been the same for decades. I'll stick with them. Some of the dollar stores sell USB adaptors that plug into a common 120V AC outlet, and they cost as little as $1 each. I dont see any reason to have built in USB plugs in my walls when they will likely be obsolete in a few years anyhow.

It's just like the cellphones. Some years ago, each brand had a different charger plug. It appeared in the last few years they had standardized so all phones had what they call the "mini-USB". All of a sudden it seems that some smartphones need larger plugs on their chargers. Im not sure why, but once again we as consumers have to spend more money to satisfy changes once again. It never ends!

And just for fun, I'd like to see a USB outlet that can power a Kitchen Electric Range *(240V at 50A), or my Welder *(240V at 60A). Or how about a 50HP 3 phase electric motor......

Last but not least, just how many USB devices do you really have? I am not a hi-tech person, but the only USB powered device I own, is my cellphone. So, why would I need USB outlets? My cellphone has both a

120V AC adaptor for in the house, and a 12V DC adaptor for my car. Everything else I own that uses a USB plug, MUST be plugged into my computer, because it's part of the computer, and the USB cord sends data as well as power.
Reply to
Jerry.Tan

I put a USB receptacle in to reduce clutter. In a single gang device I get 2 USB outlets and two 5-15s. Before, to get the same utility, i needed a cube tap and 2 wall warts.

Reply to
gfretwell
[snip]

Mini-USB hs been replaced with "micro-USB". Micro-USB is a about 60% as thick as mini-USB (much less than the thousandth the name suggests). For both types, there are cables that connect to a noumal USB outlet.

[snip]
Reply to
Mark Lloyd

Not five years from now, it's starting to come out right now: USB-C. It's a single connector standard that all (future, new) devices will be able to use. The cable has USB-C connectors at both ends, the connectors are much smaller than the standard USB plug, the cable is reversible, and if the devices support the new USB power delivery specification, it can be used to charge devices up to four times faster, trade charges with other devices, and transfer data between devices - all with a single small cable. No more power cable plus data cable, no more power bricks. Just one small cable to power/charge/transfer power/transfer data between devices.

Both Apple and Google have announced their new hardware will be featuring it, so it's already entering the mainstream.

Reply to
Moe DeLoughan

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