Just in case you don't know why you should care about this. Most devices now-a-day need at least 2.1A to charge (Most tablets). On the flip side, you will also charge significantly quicker with a 2.1+ over a 1A.
@sligett it does not "expire". It will auto renew each month. But if you react within the current month, have not used it, and cancel it, then Meh auto-credits the 5 bucks back to your card.
To cancel, go to the bottom of your Account page where you'll find a "Cancel" link. (Note: it makes no sense to cancel prior to the end of the current cycle if you have used the VMP "free" shipping feature.)
@thismyusername I think you stick a regular plug through it and the prongs of the plug touch the inside of the outlet and the holes on this so this works aswell.
@thismyusername I think the question was a little deeper than that. I can't answer it fully, not being an electrical engineer, but I think I can help. When electricity flows, it produces a magnetic field around it. That magnetic field can be used to consume energy, just not very much.
Put another way, this works the same way that a Qi charger or your kid's electric toothbrush (the one that sits on a charging base with no electrical contacts visible) does. It also uses the same principle that makes it a bad idea to run your cat5 and electrical wiring together - or, for that matter, why your cat5 is pairs of twisted wires (it reduces signal leakage). The same principle powers non-contact voltage detectors, too :-)
@mcosby Also not an electrician but I'm pretty sure @thomasaelliott is right; there's a little metal ring in each hole that a plug would go through, so it just touches the prongs and sucks electricity out.
@mcosby Electrical Engineer here. If this is how it works, then this charger would only work when whatever was plugged in through it was drawing a significant amount of current. A lamp that was plugged in with but turned off draws no current, so there's no magnetic field to harvest energy from. It must be some kind of direct contact on the prongs or this thing is pretty useless.
Well for any who were in doubt it is indeed a hair thin piece of wire running on the left and the right of the hot and neutral prong, sketchy as hell.
I was hoping it was some kind of current vampire since they go out of their way to mention its a "surge suppressor"... but this thing has no certifications at all, no UL, no MET, in fact it goes so far as to say on the device "UL recognized module inside", and oddly enough a FCC logo... um... sketchy.
This seems like black magic...like the Ouija board of USB chargers. I'm not opening up any USB based demon portals in my sockets thankyouverymuch, I'M OUT!
The pdf linked describes it as a "compact surge protector". I'm guessing that was Marketing's attempt to describe something having only seen a picture of it.
Demons or Ghosts on piggy backed chargers ?? These chargers are electrifying but not for me.. Maybe a Hellcat car owner will risk owning these chargers but the idea spooks me. Two for Tuesday, alas, I hate passing you by but I not amped up for this sale. Tonight I don't get a charge out of this deal nor will I.
I think I'm in for a set solely because I've all too often felt the pain of two phones, an iPad, and a laptop to charge and a single lonely outlet on the base of a hotel lamp. Wonder if I can stack three of these behind the laptop plug? Wonder if the sprinkler system works?
@djslack Been traveling with one of these for years. While they're not made quite as nice as they originally were, they still work fine. And the plug rotates. Never plug your precious electronics into a receptacle without surge protection.
Everything I've got will charge at 1 amp, maybe not as fast as I'd like, but it still works. I'm not going to jump start my car with it. More stocking stuffers!
I didn't see the 1A before I ordered either.. But I'm not concerned. I know it will charge my blackberry, and it will probably slowly charge my iPhone 6S Plus. It should charge my Martian Notifier that just arrived too! Plus, these things should run a Raspberry Pi just fine (as long as the amperage is steady)!
@thismyusername I haven't tried with my newest phone, but my iPhone 5 would charge (slowly) with a non-certified charger. I did it every night, and it was almost always 100% by morning.
A snippet from the review that might be useful based on the 1 amp conversation above: "Twist & Charge works as expected: attach a 30-pin or Lightning cable to its USB port, and it’ll put out 1 Amp of charging power. This is enough to charge an iPhone or iPod at full speed; iPads will still charge, but at a slower rate. The only issue you might run into: if the shape of the wall plug or adapter you’re using doesn’t fit within the Twist & Charge recess, you won’t be able to pair them. Apple’s classic iPod and current full-sized iPad adapters won’t fit due to the shape of their plastic bodies, but the 5W USB Power Adapters it has shipped with iPhones for years fit just fine, as will virtually any conventional wall plug you opt to pass through. Plugs with larger left than right blades work just as well as plugs with identically sized blades."
@Kidsandliz Good catch - but note the date of the review - June 7, 2013. Subsequent generations of devices may require more amperage. Newer devices will occasionally warn of inadequate voltage at 1 Amp. For many devices, 1 Amp is at best a trickle charge to prevent drain of the device in a powered state.
I got one of these from an old deal site. It worked for my non-smart phone ok at an airport. But for smart phones it sucked. Power the phone off and get a couple of percents. Or better yet find the sucker who doesn't understand their phones power requirements and talk them into plugging their USB into it while you use the regular outlet.
"You know all those times you wish you could plug two things into one outlet?" Umm.... with the exception of my 220v dryer outlet, they pretty much come that way.
Well fuck, it's Tuesday already? I've been crazy sick the past few days and to top it off got a wonderful strep diagnosis this morning. Here is a half-hearted attempt just to continue the tradition.
As we travel to the corner of temptation and impuslivity near that janky ass pawn shop on the wrong end of town, we can't help but hear some strange noises coming from the alley. As we peer around the corner, we notice that the normally dark alley is extremely vibrant with light. Twofer Tuesday, that filthy temptress is running around like a lunatic surrounded with dozens of extension cords. "Everything has a place and there is a place for everything!" No more ultimatums for power consumption, I can simply turn everything on! Well, not everything, Twofer. No dice.
@studerc Oh, if you've got impuslivity then you really are sick. Take two Bracketron Twist and Charge USB Chargers and curl up with a good fire extinguisher.
...isn't slower charging better for your battery anyway? Slower charging and less heat is better for your battery? I use a 1A charger for my phone and it's always charged in the morinng except for the night I only got 2 hours of sleep. but that was only off by a few percent which got topped off in the car. my car battery is 14 years old by the way and I don't think I'm going to make it through this winter. I had to jump it the other morning when it was 44 degrees. whenever it was dead, I always trickle charged it back to power rather than just blast it to get the car started. meh...
@Thumperchick "The customer is responsible for all shipping costs." yea since it was $2 the shipping alone would exceed that, Lesson learned about buying stupid crap.
Specs
Condition: New
Warranty: 1 Year Bracketron
Estimated Delivery: 11/20 - 11/22
Shipping: $5 or free with VMP
What’s in the Box?
2x Bracketron Twist & Charge
Pictures
Retail packaging
How it works
Detail shot
Price Comparison
$35.50 List, $11.98 (for 2) at Amazon
Find a relevant price comparison? Please share it in a comment in this thread
Warranty
90 days
USBorrrrrrring
Wow! Extra Meh
1 amp, forget it.
@cengland0 Ok, I missed that, but I didn't want my VMP to expire. I'm just a simple-famous-llama.
@cengland0 lol came here expecting these comments. 1a is pathetic when my car charger is 4.8
Just in case you don't know why you should care about this. Most devices now-a-day need at least 2.1A to charge (Most tablets). On the flip side, you will also charge significantly quicker with a 2.1+ over a 1A.
@sligett What's the downside to having VMP "expire"?
@stinks I don't know. I haven't paid attention to how it works...
@sligett it does not "expire". It will auto renew each month. But if you react within the current month, have not used it, and cancel it, then Meh auto-credits the 5 bucks back to your card.
To cancel, go to the bottom of your Account page where you'll find a "Cancel" link. (Note: it makes no sense to cancel prior to the end of the current cycle if you have used the VMP "free" shipping feature.)
I want my house non-charred. No thanks.
@ELUNO It's not for charring your house! It's for starting exciting hotel fires!
I hope you didn't hang your suit from that sprinkler head!
1 AMP :( Nothing I own charges off one amp these days.
@MrGlass agreed
I don't even understand how these work, so good job meh, I bought some just to see wtf.
@thismyusername I think you stick a regular plug through it and the prongs of the plug touch the inside of the outlet and the holes on this so this works aswell.
@thismyusername I think the question was a little deeper than that. I can't answer it fully, not being an electrical engineer, but I think I can help. When electricity flows, it produces a magnetic field around it. That magnetic field can be used to consume energy, just not very much.
Put another way, this works the same way that a Qi charger or your kid's electric toothbrush (the one that sits on a charging base with no electrical contacts visible) does. It also uses the same principle that makes it a bad idea to run your cat5 and electrical wiring together - or, for that matter, why your cat5 is pairs of twisted wires (it reduces signal leakage). The same principle powers non-contact voltage detectors, too :-)
@mcosby Also not an electrician but I'm pretty sure @thomasaelliott is right; there's a little metal ring in each hole that a plug would go through, so it just touches the prongs and sucks electricity out.
@mcosby Electrical Engineer here. If this is how it works, then this charger would only work when whatever was plugged in through it was drawing a significant amount of current. A lamp that was plugged in with but turned off draws no current, so there's no magnetic field to harvest energy from. It must be some kind of direct contact on the prongs or this thing is pretty useless.
@SixOneTwo Agreed. Would also be wayyy more complicated than simple metal-touching-metal…
Well for any who were in doubt it is indeed a hair thin piece of wire running on the left and the right of the hot and neutral prong, sketchy as hell.
I was hoping it was some kind of current vampire since they go out of their way to mention its a "surge suppressor"... but this thing has no certifications at all, no UL, no MET, in fact it goes so far as to say on the device "UL recognized module inside", and oddly enough a FCC logo... um... sketchy.
Thanks meh that was fun
picture of the "connection" method (flashlight behind to show the wires and the transmission path inside the plastic):
1A no me
Uhh... what is this thing? I mean, I think I get it. I just can't imagine...
This seems dangerous.
5v 1 amp output means its junk, really.
Looks dangerous too
I am strangely intrigued by these. In for three.
@conandlibrarian very strangely.
@conandlibrarian You do know it's 2fer Tuesday, right?
@mechcozmo Yes, I know. I am looking at these as hugely disappointing stocking stuffers.
Future Fuku fodder
Charge it or u can pay cash :)
Wait, what? Have I made a harrable mistahke? I thought these would make good stocking stuffers...
@notyoutoo well you ended up here... so obviously. :)
@notyoutoo
Are you amped up for this sale?
@AttyVette Barely...
You spin meh right 'round baby right round, like a record baby right round round round.....
@asteller1 lol I want your meh! Meeehhhhh
This seems like black magic...like the Ouija board of USB chargers. I'm not opening up any USB based demon portals in my sockets thankyouverymuch, I'M OUT!
1 amp - when you need it charged by 2 days from now.
No UL, CSA, or ETL listing?
I'll be on my way now.
LMFTFY
I'll be on meh way now.
So you have to make sure you plug another device's plug into the wall in order for it to work? Very meh. 😴
@Kerig3 That didn't even occur to me!!! yup
Hmm... I missed that 1A part. Oh well.
vapid-laughable-grog didn't give me anything satisfying, so I'll just leave this here:
@eVil that there is a pretty can u got
*edit well shit the mountains ain't blue tho
@blndfayth It wouldn't taste any better if it was cold... ;)
@eVil Wouldn't be interested if it were Super Cold even. No, sir. I will not tap your Rockies anytime soon.
This time the picture confirms that it works with a Mac. But is it baby arm compatible?
@djslack In the Mehiverse everything's baby arm compatible!
@djslack Yes because the baby arm has a hand so a finger can be put into the wall outlet.
These are okay if you have an old flip phone! But if you have a smart phone, don't bother. It'll take forever to charge
This actually looks useful, and I've got a working smoke alarm, so I'm in.
gauche-discouraged-kale
i see a bra
@dickie541 Hey, her eyes are down there, buddy! 😁
perforated-fast-sulfur
I don't need anyone perforating my sulfur but in for 2 TWO sets since I'm going on trip soon and these seem sooooooo convenient!!!!!
The pdf linked describes it as a "compact surge protector". I'm guessing that was Marketing's attempt to describe something having only seen a picture of it.
@djslack Surge protector in the sense that any power surge would probably vaporize this thing instantly.
@awk ...thus alerting you to the power surge! I get it!
Demons or Ghosts on piggy backed chargers ?? These chargers are electrifying but not for me.. Maybe a Hellcat car owner will risk owning these chargers but the idea spooks me. Two for Tuesday, alas, I hate passing you by but I not amped up for this sale. Tonight I don't get a charge out of this deal nor will I.
@AttyVette I'd get a charge out of a Hellcat.
I think I'm in for a set solely because I've all too often felt the pain of two phones, an iPad, and a laptop to charge and a single lonely outlet on the base of a hotel lamp. Wonder if I can stack three of these behind the laptop plug? Wonder if the sprinkler system works?
(I know, the iPad won't charge from this)
reminiscent-drain-cheddar
@djslack Been traveling with one of these for years. While they're not made quite as nice as they originally were, they still work fine. And the plug rotates. Never plug your precious electronics into a receptacle without surge protection.
@RedOak I've got one of those plugged in next to me right now, all plugs full, does the job.
@djslack Now that's what they need for travel, a built in surge protector. Meh, get on it!
Everything I've got will charge at 1 amp, maybe not as fast as I'd like, but it still works. I'm not going to jump start my car with it.
More stocking stuffers!
I'm buying this & then I'm going out & making a friend so that I can give this to my friend. That is all.
@gertiestn Meh can make you 52 new friends a year! (Some better friends than others.)
I stopped playing Quake 3 for this? Meh!
@yakkoTDI i stopped playing Fallout 4 for THIS!!??/?????????!!!!\
MEH
@yakkoTDI \m/\m/ for the old school. :D
@yakkoTDI I stopped playing Commander Keen for this?!? Meh!
@yakkoTDI I just paused Sunday's DVR'd "Good Wife" for this? And the NSA geeks were passing wonky goat videos back and forth.
@yakkoTDI I stopped playing The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy for this? Meh!
@yakkoTDI I stopped watching ¿Highly Questionable? for this?!
@yakkoTDI I stopped playing Miner 2049er for this???
@yakkoTDI I stopped scrolling down to comment on this??!!?
@yakkoTDI I stopped playing Leather Goddesses of Phobos for this???
this screams arcing fire hazard
Twisted my arm for 4
Hope obligated-heavy-drain is not what will happen to my electricity.
(W3W: Near Gates of the Arctic National Park, Northern Alaska)
I didn't see the 1A before I ordered either.. But I'm not concerned. I know it will charge my blackberry, and it will probably slowly charge my iPhone 6S Plus. It should charge my Martian Notifier that just arrived too! Plus, these things should run a Raspberry Pi just fine (as long as the amperage is steady)!
@kadagan I seriously doubt they paid apple for the chip to let the iphone charge ;)
@thismyusername I haven't tried with my newest phone, but my iPhone 5 would charge (slowly) with a non-certified charger. I did it every night, and it was almost always 100% by morning.
@thismyusername It's not the USB port that contains the Apple MFi Certification (the "chip") - it is the cable.
or I can get a 3 outlet cube tap for a coupla bucks
My dad does, apparently.
@jqubed your MOM does! #SickBurn
For $4, I really can't say no. Even if it's 1 amp.
Do I get some kind of bonus for ordering shit multiple days in a row? Or am I just breaking your VMP forecasts?
@adamselby yeah, i got meh'd out at the 1 amp spec too.
Why?
Here is a review
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/bracketron-twist-charge/
A snippet from the review that might be useful based on the 1 amp conversation above: "Twist & Charge works as expected: attach a 30-pin or Lightning cable to its USB port, and it’ll put out 1 Amp of charging power. This is enough to charge an iPhone or iPod at full speed; iPads will still charge, but at a slower rate. The only issue you might run into: if the shape of the wall plug or adapter you’re using doesn’t fit within the Twist & Charge recess, you won’t be able to pair them. Apple’s classic iPod and current full-sized iPad adapters won’t fit due to the shape of their plastic bodies, but the 5W USB Power Adapters it has shipped with iPhones for years fit just fine, as will virtually any conventional wall plug you opt to pass through. Plugs with larger left than right blades work just as well as plugs with identically sized blades."
@Kidsandliz Good catch - but note the date of the review - June 7, 2013. Subsequent generations of devices may require more amperage. Newer devices will occasionally warn of inadequate voltage at 1 Amp. For many devices, 1 Amp is at best a trickle charge to prevent drain of the device in a powered state.
well i really hope those things are grounded.
I can't see any reason to replace a $1 cube tap with this wonky low power thing.
Very clever in theory but lemme echo the sentiment that this is gonna start a house fire somehow
I got one of these from an old deal site. It worked for my non-smart phone ok at an airport. But for smart phones it sucked. Power the phone off and get a couple of percents. Or better yet find the sucker who doesn't understand their phones power requirements and talk them into plugging their USB into it while you use the regular outlet.
For $4 I had to bite. I think this is going to be like those Android smart car charger things. Seemingly useful, but still in the box.
immense-lawful-soup
@ACraigL I'm actually using those car chargers! Unlike some of the other car chargers I have, it's not so "noisy" to affect the radio in my truck.
Wow, I can plug this in behind my 2.1-Amp charger!
Ho-Ho-Ho Merry Christmas...
external-fascinating-riddle (sold item # 1672,73,74)
hmmm... camel stew anyone?
(plus one scary Hentai porn pic...)
@chienfou So, the sons borrowed an extra camel. The oldest got 9, the middle got 6, and the youngest got 2. They then gave the extra camel back.
"You know all those times you wish you could plug two things into one outlet?"
Umm.... with the exception of my 220v dryer outlet, they pretty much come that way.
Well fuck, it's Tuesday already? I've been crazy sick the past few days and to top it off got a wonderful strep diagnosis this morning. Here is a half-hearted attempt just to continue the tradition.
As we travel to the corner of temptation and impuslivity near that janky ass pawn shop on the wrong end of town, we can't help but hear some strange noises coming from the alley. As we peer around the corner, we notice that the normally dark alley is extremely vibrant with light. Twofer Tuesday, that filthy temptress is running around like a lunatic surrounded with dozens of extension cords. "Everything has a place and there is a place for everything!" No more ultimatums for power consumption, I can simply turn everything on! Well, not everything, Twofer. No dice.
@studerc Oh, if you've got impuslivity then you really are sick. Take two Bracketron Twist and Charge USB Chargers and curl up with a good fire extinguisher.
Be well soon.
...isn't slower charging better for your battery anyway? Slower charging and less heat is better for your battery? I use a 1A charger for my phone and it's always charged in the morinng except for the night I only got 2 hours of sleep. but that was only off by a few percent which got topped off in the car. my car battery is 14 years old by the way and I don't think I'm going to make it through this winter. I had to jump it the other morning when it was 44 degrees. whenever it was dead, I always trickle charged it back to power rather than just blast it to get the car started. meh...
Got mine today. One of them was broke where it pivots. Message sent to customer service.
@StrangerDanger Did you try reaching out to the warranty company?
@Thumperchick "The customer is responsible for all shipping costs." yea since it was $2 the shipping alone would exceed that, Lesson learned about buying stupid crap.
@StrangerDanger you could write into meh.com/support - since your items were DOA, they may be able to refund you.
Have 4. Opened two and the pivots broke before I could get them plugged in. Worthless. I'm an idiot. Should've known better.
@okisher Have you tried reaching out to the warranty company?
@okisher Same here