I know a lot more about electronics than electrical installations but I consider that MK make good / safe 13a sockets. I have no idea whether they properly understand the issues surrounding AC adapters or whether who they've contracted does. Safety is relative as nothing can be completely safe in all circumstances but I am still against the idea of a mains / usb power supply which cannot be disconnected without switching off the entire ring main for the reasons I've previously stated. USB has the added safety issue that if the DC does go live it is very likely that a person plugging in a USB cable will at some point touch the metal connector. I know this applies for all USB adapters but I genuinely believe it's more of an issue when we have devices which cannot be disconnected (and in many cases are of unknown quality).
A scenario would be that you have one of these fitted, you use it for 3 years and then you stop using it because it's started to fail and the touchscreen of your phone stops responding properly when you plug in the cable (a common symptom of a failing supply). A year later when you're out of the house the capacitor has built up pressure and blows covering the inside of the circuit with debris. You don't know because you were out of the house. The debris bridges between the mains / low voltage on the circuit. The USB is now live but you don't know because you don't use it. Someone comes into your house and plugs in their phone to charge it unaware that the USB is faulty.
Had it been an issue with a normal adapter you would have stopped using it / thrown it away and the situation would never have occurred.

These would only trip the power if the fault either caused the ring to consume more than the rating for the ring, or if they leaked current to earth. Neither is very likely to happen and the second even less so as the USB circuit is unlikely to even have an earth connection. The most likely fault and one that will certainly happen in time is that the capacitor(s) will go bad. This initially will cause the output to become unstable so you will stop using the device as it no longer charges properly. Then the situation will keep getting worse until it either goes open circuit, blows, explodes or catches fire. Faults can also cause mains voltage to appear on the USB output which is dangerous enough but usually mitigated by the fact that you would have stopped using the faulty device at the first sign of problems. Here though, it will still be connected.
Do you believe that this is anything but a cheap unbranded adaptor?

mine gets pretty hot in use but isnt hot when not in use. i have one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom we very rarely use them overnight anyway as they charge pretty quickly.

my iphone dock isnt charging properly so have been using the usb socket more latelly.

the one in my bedroom has a big back box but the one in the kitchen is into a normal sized one. both seem to get as warm with the usb part working

No worries, when you and your family are crispy roasties you will possibly remember this thread and your silly comment!

Fire brigade get hundreds of fires a year just from reputable washing machine manufacturers, let's all wash by hand.....

Nuff said for me!!!

​this particular socket,they named it as the Wickes one?
yeah,ok

This deal is even more controversial than the Mechano V1 doodlebug contruction kit.

what am I the official HUKD deal tester now? cool, please send me all your product samples and I'll test them out. I can even finish my test to see if each item 'will it blend'

Fire brigade round here have reported they have had 2 callouts for these particular USB sockets overheating and causing a fire..
Nuff said for me!!!

OK - you buy one and maybe you'll find out!

Yes they do, fortunately it won't be the whole country though, just a few unlucky people. I'm sure you can laugh condescendingly at them if you see it in the paper.

If you can't wait here's a story for your to read and a good example why we don't need electrical safety standards in this country. I hope it amuses you. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27390466

These are dangerous. When the USB circuitry develops a fault which it will after a few years it is impossible to disconnect from the mains without either switching off the whole ring. People will end up leaving them connected but stop using them. The fault could easily deteriorate into is a fire or shock hazard. Is an adapter that hard to use?

Lovely set of claims and counter-claims, accusations and counter-accusations... but, may I point out and get back to the purpose of this website... to save money.

Save yourself £12.30 and petrol money by simply plugging your device into the standard mains socket using the FREE supplied power adaptor.

they £6.99 in screwfix

Wouldn't touch this type of socket with a bargepole!
Dangerous fire hazards in my opinion and when the USB stops working, the circuitry is still live and will have power running through it 24/7 for that reason I'm out!

I know a lot more about electronics than electrical installations but I consider that MK make good / safe 13a sockets. I have no idea whether they properly understand the issues surrounding AC adapters or whether who they've contracted does. Safety is relative as nothing can be completely safe in all circumstances but I am still against the idea of a mains / usb power supply which cannot be disconnected without switching off the entire ring main for the reasons I've previously stated. USB has the added safety issue that if the DC does go live it is very likely that a person plugging in a USB cable will at some point touch the metal connector. I know this applies for all USB adapters but I genuinely believe it's more of an issue when we have devices which cannot be disconnected (and in many cases are of unknown quality).
A scenario would be that you have one of these fitted, you use it for 3 years and then you stop using it because it's started to fail and the touchscreen of your phone stops responding properly when you plug in the cable (a common symptom of a failing supply). A year later when you're out of the house the capacitor has built up pressure and blows covering the inside of the circuit with debris. You don't know because you were out of the house. The debris bridges between the mains / low voltage on the circuit. The USB is now live but you don't know because you don't use it. Someone comes into your house and plugs in their phone to charge it unaware that the USB is faulty.
Had it been an issue with a normal adapter you would have stopped using it / thrown it away and the situation would never have occurred.

I can't disagree really with that logic, do you consider these type products from MK, BG and LAP to also be unsafe?

The problem is that there will always be dangerous crap sold via ebay, Amazon market place and small stores that don't know any better. Having regulations and certifications are all good things but when no name crap gets shipped in and sold to unsuspecting people the problems are still there.

We don't have any evidence either way, the safest thing to do is to assume that any unknown device is unsafe until proven otherwise. Not the other way around. As the market is flooded with unsafe devices I don't think this is unreasonable.

Doh quoted wrong comment but same thing just opposite sides of the coin :wink:

​Thanks spanner, I was just about to post. Every time one of these comes up I will reiterate that no one should be buying them until they are certified for use, end of!

Yes, that highlights just how bad some substand / unbranded devices can be. That article unhelpfully doesn't mention any of the brands they tested and they state that they are results of their limited testing carried out. That article keeps getting quoted when these USB devices are posted, it's an article that doesn't seem to reflect the exact products that are usually posted on here unfortunately.

I'm all for publicising dangerous nasty electrical products, I really am, but there seems to be very little evidence on this item and others that also crop up on HUKD from reputable retailers like Wickes, Screwfix etc.

Yes of course it can and does happen, but does it happen with properly designed, made and certified devices? lower cost devices can still be safe. I fully appreciate that many dangerous low cost chargers are out there in use, we all know that, some are attrocious with almost comical disregard for safety but we cannot just make blanket statements that all chargers are the same, they're not. Like I said, I don't know how good/bad this particular item is, it could be very well made for all I know.

Well, it's unlikely to happen with say, a medical grade switched mode supply as they have very good clearance and creepage between high and low voltage sections. They also have very good isolation between the primary and secondary on the transformer. Aside from exceedingly well made supplies, it can and does happen with relative regularity.

I honestly can't answer that as I've not inspected one, it could be a very well made adaptor for all I know. The cheap no name ones from China do look dreadful and I'd never use, the ones made by respectable companies seem quite unlikely that they could ever pass mains down the USB, they're totally seperate powersupplies, how could mains get across a properly designed switched mode power supply?

These would only trip the power if the fault either caused the ring to consume more than the rating for the ring, or if they leaked current to earth. Neither is very likely to happen and the second even less so as the USB circuit is unlikely to even have an earth connection. The most likely fault and one that will certainly happen in time is that the capacitor(s) will go bad. This initially will cause the output to become unstable so you will stop using the device as it no longer charges properly. Then the situation will keep getting worse until it either goes open circuit, blows, explodes or catches fire. Faults can also cause mains voltage to appear on the USB output which is dangerous enough but usually mitigated by the fact that you would have stopped using the faulty device at the first sign of problems. Here though, it will still be connected.
Do you believe that this is anything but a cheap unbranded adaptor?

I'd like to think safety isn't an issue, these are well established brands conforming to UK and EU regulations. Far safer than cheap USB charges with fake safety marking on them.

Unfortunately they don't publish how efficient they are or how much power they consume without anything plugged in. An Apple charger for example only uses 0.09 W with no-load, poorly designed chargers will consume up to 100 times that amount.

i fitted 2 from screwfix. they both work fine charging but i do notice they get rather warm when being used

Sorry, but they are not the same. There is some circuitry in the socket which is permanently powered up. It is true that it won't be powering something that isn't plugged in, but the circuitry is still powered, from the mains that supplies it, even if it is not powering anything via the USB. In theory, that could be safe, but it would depend on the quality of the switched-mode power supply. Even with no device plugged in, it is the equivalent of leaving a regular USB charger permanently plugged in and powered up, even though it has nothing plugged into it.

While it's a fair point about these USB circuits always being on, a decent design will shut itself down when not under load, while this is still technically running, it's using almost no power doing so (a very low quiescient standby current) - now, whether this is any better / worse than the millions of external plug in USB chargers that no doubt litter UK households might be a question worth considering.

If you always unplug your USB charger when not in use you may want to avoid these..... however those that don't unplug may be better off with these, especially if you're currently using those £1 nasties from ebay which probably do consume power when not in use, plus can electrocute, explode, catch alight, for good measure :smile:

Also nearly every household will have many items permanently live and running and they don't (usually) cause any problems, fridge, microwave, washing machine, hob, cooker, electric timers, boilers, computers,

A USB socket that is switchless isn't powering anything that isn't plugged in too. Sure they are different, but both are open circuit until something is plugged in, and both are essentially safe.

That's a different thing. A mains socket that is switchless isn't powering anything that isn't plugged in. These sockets will have the circuitry for the USB socket constantly running. I would expect it to fail after a while, but the mains socket will keep working. Then what? Replace it or remember that the USB sockets no longer work.

screwfix also pretty cheap for these.

So the usb ports are 1a each. Almost useless.

I like the idea of these things, but it strikes me that they could be dangerous, because the USB ports are effectively 'always on'. That is not a good thing.

Worth a go, thanks OP

Are these mounted into the wall or externally placed?

Good price but read all the previous threads on these kinds of things to see why you shouldn't bother.

good find op, heat added

I think everything is 15% off at Wickes Friday 25th March to Mon 28th March.

Good find. If you only need one Screwfix have very similar for £6.99. Bought one yesterday.

Thanks,I have been thinking of buying some of these recently and at this price i thought i`d order a couple.

Good find OP. Bought 2 last week from Toolstaion and they were £11 each. They had a 2.4A and 1.2A output on each. 2.1A USB output is fine to charge the IPAD so good price.