Plug sockets with integrated USB PSUs

All sockets should be mounted in a fire proof box. Conforming to regs.

I'm sure they do take a tiny current at all times. But then so will lots of things in your house. Like the clock in your oven, etc. TV if left plugged in and switched on at the socket.

they normally run 24/7

NT

All the ones I?ve seen lack any kind of switch.

They use a switch mode PSU and tend to be very efficient so, unless you are charging something, the standby power is really naff all.

As for fire risk, while nothing is ever 100% risk free in this respect, if you by a decent make etc and install it in correctly ( they should be in a fire proof back box) they are almost certainly safer than leaving USB charger plugged in, even when in use.

Personally, I think the batteries pose a greater risk while on charge- the real horror stories generally involve batteries rather than just chargers if you look at the details.

MK make shuttered USB charger modules. When nothing is inserted the shutter closes and completely disconnects the charging circuitry.

(Not that cheap, and don't include 13A 3-pin sockets)

It is always on, at least all the ones I've seen are basically mini wall warts of the switch mode which interfere with almost everything just wired across the mains with a thermal cut out.

What is wrong with just using a normal wall wart and unplugging it? Brian

That's an interesting point; are plastic plasterboard back boxes considered fireproof? Indeed are metal ones even given they gave holes in them?

Incidentally, this socket would be going in the side of a kitchen island and so would arguably be even more warranting of protection given the flammable surrounding materials.

I'm also not sure about some shaver sockets. One which a friend ripped out of a bathroom a while back had an isolating transformer in it for whatever reason, now obviously its not going touse much, but it must have been using something. Brian

Our shaver sockets switch off when nothing is plugged in. I thoight that was pretty common, if not universal.

A USB double-socket allows two mains devices AND two (or more) USB devices to be plugged in at the same time. Using wall warts means that the mains sockets are occupied.

You can get a dual USB charger with 13A passthrough

Er, that's the whole point of a shaver socket, it has an isolating transformer in it so that 'mains' voltage is (relatively) safe in the bathroom.

The reason is so that you don't have a live socket beside a wash basin which might well contain water.

you still have that. But it becomes independantly floating IT rather than earthed neutral. There is some useful safety benefit, but it doesn't remove all shock risk.

NT

Wonder about the service life of such switches?

Poundland do one in white for £2 and I've got a similar one, also £2, which I think came from Wilko.

You can buy intumescent dry liners.

True - but it is still something extra. And it is plugly. And it is quite expensive for what it is.

Normal sockets would stay in place for decades, USB has a habit of changing connectors, voltages or currents every couple of years, how much more often will sockets with USB need replacing?

I guess they won't run that cool, being enclosed.

How cool they run would depend on their efficiency, and/or their power consumption when not providing power to a load.