As a necessary evil, gadget batteries, require charging from time to time and in this era where gadgets now dominate our everyday life it has become difficult to even find room to even plug them all in. For the most part longer battery life and charging stations have been the answer, but thanks to Newer Technologies there is a much easier solution to this problem and it is as simple as changing the wall outlet you plug everything into already. Follow me as I take a look at the do it yourselfers’ solution to the charging problem, the Power2U AC/USB wall outlet.Performance
As you would expect, the standard wall outlet portion of the Power2U works as intended providing the same output voltage as the old outlet I replaced it with. Nothing flashy and nothing unexpected which is just want we all want. It wouldn’t make much sense to replace a perfectly good outlet without retaining that functionality.
The real purpose of the Power2U outlet is to provide the ability to charge two USB devices while still functioning as a standard outlet and to that end Newer Technologies does deliver. The output wattage capability is equivalent to a standard Apple USB wall adapter meaning your iDevices will get the power that they require without the need to purchase any extra hardware. Because of the decision to innately charge power hungry Apple devices, the USB on the Power2U outlet actually provides the same output as you would find plugging your device into a USB 3.0 “Super Speed” port meaning faster charging for everything else.
The last thing to take a look at was the “Smart Power” switches meant to make the Power2U outlet energy efficient, turning off the USB ports when nothing is plugged in to them. This is done through shutters which act as guards for unused ports as well as a power switch and they did work as intended. With each USB port providing 12 watts of potential power, having the ability to shut it off easily is a great addition to save some money on energy costs.
