Classic Design, yes the Edwardians loved their USB sockets.

These still get me a little worried, do they constantly have the transformer running inside them? Meaning it would be throwing money away like leaving a normal charger plugged in 24/7?

Got on of these at the weekend. Makes quite a loud buzzing noise. Thought it was faulty so brought it back only for the replacement to be the same. I have another brand USB socket in the house that work perfectly with no buzzing. Returning this one tomorrow.

Before you all go and buy these, it maybe worth asking a friendly electrician about their opinion on lap products.

I got the LAP brushed steel version, much more money but was to match existing sockets in kitchen. The build quality of mine seems pretty decent, although I didn't dismantle it, the USB charge section looked ok and gave me no concerns about safety. Slim depth too, so fits a 25mm box if I recall. I'd certainly avoid any unknown brands / Chinese imports.
Don't forget Topcashback for Screwfix.

Hoverboards were hooky and marked CE as a "Chinese Export", proper £400 hoverboards didn't have a propensity to self combust.
With regard to your other concerns, let's just accept these aren't your thing.

They are mine, they are great and free up loads of space; the kids can put their tablets on charge as well because the 240v three pin sockets have blanks in them and they are only playing with 5v.

It always amuses me that people feel uneasy about having a little inductance transformer like this running in their house when they would never bother to isolate the PELV/SELV circuit in their bathroom which does exactly the same thing.

The LAP USB/mains power outlet that is 2 feet away (and charging both my iPhone and a Lynx 1010) as I type this is inaudible. I can't think of any reason why it would make any more noise than a plug in charger (because it is doing the same thing, and with the same technology). In my experience the main culprits for producing a buzzing noise are dimmer switches, which use completely different technology, hence the sound.

Transformers buzz.
Bears poo in woods
The pope is catholic.

Other revelations to follow.

In all seriousness though, if a transformer buzz bothers you, fair enough, find one where the materials it's built in hide/mask/contain the buzz.

Is anyone aware of any of these sockets with some form of switch on the USB socket(s) though, would solve the issue for a lot of folks.

That would be the same CE mark on those 'hoverboards' that got withdrawn over Christmas and of course many other products. I know it's probably not likely, but I don't like the fact I can't isolate the usb socket when not in the house. I especially don't like electrical equipment that 'makes a buzzy noise' as the only review, there's clearly something less than perfect about the design if that's the case.

mike

Sorry, I was joking, but thanks for looking.

From a safety perspective it is obviously sensible to unplug things when not in use, but even old people like me (I'm 55) don't often bother unplugging their TV, Sky boxes, computers and electric toothbrushes much, they are all pretty well designed to spend long periods on stand-by.

The principles are exactly the same for plug in 'phone and laptop chargers (and electric toothbrush chargers, shaver charger points in the bathroom &c), they all induce a current in a secondary winding when there is a circuit. When there is no secondary circuit they will use far less power.

Yeah. I'm just embarrassed I did not understand this stuff very well. You guys have taught me a lot. Thanks for contributing. For some reason I always thought USB electrical outlets where always releasing the same wattage even when idle, and that's why the old people tell us to turn off the electrical's when not in use. Maybe that concept is no longer the case. A quick question. Does this apply to normal USB chargers, and laptop chargers?

http://m.screwfix.com/p/lap-13a-2-gang-sp-switched-socket-usb-charger-polished-chrome/26228
:wink:

That is correct, this is not notifiable work (I am qualified as an electrician - although I don't do that as a job).

I've fitted quite a few of these, they are very good. Screwfix was selling them at a tenner for two just a short while ago, so this is not a particularly good deal (but there is nothing wrong with the Lap product).

You are not being serious, are you?

10W is the output, which means there must be a circuit across the secondary winding (that means there must be something plugged in). If there is no secondary circuit (that means there is nothing plugged in) then no current can be induced in it from the transformer's primary winding, so the power consumption will be tiny (just overcoming the impedance of the primary winding). A few pence/year is probably right, and I suppose what tiny amount of energy is lost in overcoming resistance will help heat your house :-)

Seconded. The power draw is an irrelevance at these levels, the problem is safety.

I'd rather have a passthrough device you can switch off at the mains when needed, this sort of thing:
http://www.lindy.co.uk/usb-firewire-c4/usb-mains-adapters-chargers-c240/2-port-usb-uk-mains-pass-through-charger-3-15a-15-75w-white-p7910/s8061?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=2-port-usb-uk-mains-pass-through-charger-73317&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&gclid=COqVwaWU8MoCFbMK0wodcFIM-Q

I just need a chrome double now. :smiley:

Well yes, I thought that would be a given that whoever doing it needs to be competent and know what they are doing, I was just answering the question rather than telling them how to go about it. ;-)

Thanks for posting as this is SOOO important!

My experience shows that the are NOT safe and that I personally WOULD NEVER have one. I therefore vote cold on all of these deals. Whilst a good price, the product itself is appalling until we get one that actually has some form of insulation, shielding and in general just a well engineered design. Stay safe, buy an Anker (or similar) multi-port charger and cables instead!

And order cancelled ...... I think some research is needed . I'll give it the weekend and let the electrician have a look . Thanks for the advice man

Just bought 10 of these . About to buy my first home . Just waiting on solicitors to pull their finger out and have been waiting for a decent price on these

I'd say changing a socket facia like this product is a DIY job as long as your reasonably confident, isolate the mains FFS though - just because the facia is switched off it will still have 230v going to the terminals ( rookie mistake ) oh and when you terminate the wires make sure they are properly clamped down, no excess copper is showing on the wires and give the wires a good tug to make sure they are terminated tightly. In regards to adding another socket on a ring main, if you don't know the difference between a ring and a radial and how they both differ then leave that to the sparkies as cutting a ring is a fire risk.

Whilst all that is true, it's only a good idea taking this on if you're competent with household electrics. And be safe!

Another note, LAP products are excellent, I have their sockets, switches, LED bulbs and light fittings all over the house and never had any problems.

Good price

Do you need an electrician to fit this to keep your home insurance valid or can you do it yourself?

that article that gets posted was dated back something like 10 years when these first came out, and they stated that there "could" be issues.
Screwfux only sell C E rated.
We have these and frankly they are great.

If the switches also turn off the USB circuitry i`d be interested in getting this.. if not then No chance. Wouldn`t be happy about the charging part being powered 24/7 #firerisk

Would be a good idea if they started putting an on/off switch on the USB part or integrating the power for them with the socket switches.

Still feel a normal multi port usb mains charger is much more convenient.

Classic Design, yes the Edwardians loved their USB sockets.

i like that one better

It would be helpful to list mah.. is it 1A or a fast charger that outputs 2A or more?

You are. The best evidence I could quickly hunt down is from GreenMonk, who tried several phone chargers and found they all had below 100mW power draw when idle. This socket, unless horribly engineered, is probably similar; 100mW would add up to 0.88KWh per year. Pennies.

You'd be able to detect a 10W idle power draw really easily, because it turns into heat. The socket would get noticeably hot at 10W (or even 1W), not so at <100mW.

lap-13a-2-gang-dp-switched-socket-2-1a-2-gang-usb-charger - £1.50 more but the quality looks far superior

2.1 thousand mAh per hour :stuck_out_tongue:

they have the bg ones on offer for a a pound extra. these look a bit cheap when i saw them yesterday

they will sort out the issue of bigger plugs on these which is good just not very nice to look at

Thanks, that's handy

It says 2.1a so that is like a Samsung or apple tablet charger. Phone chargers are rated 1 amp. Mind you, if its shared and you have two devices, I suppose it means they take 1.05 each or is it not that simple? I haven't got a clue really!

I doubt this uses 10w at idle - you'd feel it get a little bit warm. You're looking at milliwats as it uses switch-mode tech. It will cost a less than a couple of quid at very best

According to my maths if 1000w is 12p per hour, and lets say this charger uses 10 watts. So leaving this on a full year should be £10.25. Well over 2p

I could be wrong however.

EDIT: I ACTUALLY AM WRONG. PLEASE DISREGARD ANYTHING SAID ABOVE AND REFER TO SOME MEMBERS WHO REPLIED TO MY ORIGINAL POST. THEY MAKE SENSE.

These still get me a little worried, do they constantly have the transformer running inside them? Meaning it would be throwing money away like leaving a normal charger plugged in 24/7?

Quite right 229Mel ... As long as you keep paying your electricity bill, these are rated at 2100 x ∞ = INFINITE maH ...

That's what I meant. Tired.

still can't understand why these are 4-5x more expensive than the regular sockets? costs them pennies to integrate the usb charging function.

:smile::smile: different units..
mah is a capacity rating :wink:

Just adding for info:

USB outputs: shared 2.1A

Shame no one does a single socket with usb.

Good deal and plenty available.... http://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-13a-2-gang-dp-switched-socket-2-1a-2-gang-usb-charger-white/9272j