@gnol I had a couple of those (one with the same exact charring and melted hole). They were recalled by APC and they sent me new ones, telling me to throw away the old ones.
Naturally, I kept using the old ones, because they had been working fine for years… until one day…
@gnol I had everything plugged into the same APC protector but a surge came through the phone line. Fried the phone, a credit card terminal, the pc connected to it all, and the network card on a second pc connected to the first. Phone company said it couldn’t happen, but the adding machine plugged into the APC was OK, because it wasn’t connected to the phone line. But none of my dead equipment looked as bad as that!
Looking at the reviews on Amazon shows that not only do the USB ports only pump out 1amp but they fail rather quickly. If you only want these for the surge protected 6 outlets then it’s probably a decent deal, otherwise I’d look elsewhere.
@Moose@notsofancy Are you saying you have these and the USB ports tested at the full 2.1A per port? How long have you had yours and have you seen any failures with the usb?
Problem is his that these most likely draw a lot of phantom power and there’s nothing you could do about that. You should probably unplug your USB chargers when not in use, but when they are part of the electrical outlet, you don’t have that ability.
@cengland0 I had the same thought. Isn’t it doing the AC to DC conversion even if nothing is attached? I’ve got a Kill-A-Watt that I’m gonna plug in a phone charger minus the phone and see if any juice is flowing.
@Albright It’s taking less load if nothing is plugged in but they are not 100% efficient so they do take power when not being used too.
For a USB charger, the phantom draw is probably less than a watt when not in use, at least I hope so. It depends on how well it was designed. If it was a charger from Samsung or Apple, I’d trust that it was made properly and not draw that much when there is no load, but a no-name charger?!?!? That’s when I’d like to be able to unplug it.
My Kill-a-watt isn’t sensitive enough to detect a draw from a stand-alone USB charger. Whether that’s because it’s off by a watt or two, or the charge is so nominal is anyone’s guess.
If you’re gonna force me to give up both wall outlets to use these, at least make good use of the 2nd outlet. Hard pass. Two power strips will continue to work better for me.
@marilyn80s Usually the socket clamping the plug leads will hold it in place. Howevert, pulling out a cord typically becomes a two handed (or one hand and one toe) operation, as you’ll probably need to press the adapter against the wall.
Serious question- what do you guys think of using either an older strip surge protector or a newer on where the receptacles turn to the side and then adding one of these surge protectors to one of the original surge protector outlets? See any electrical risks with that setup? I’ve seen standard surge protectors linked together…
@RiotDemon I’m 53 years old and last year was the first year I ever put up lights in my entire life. I used those Merkury Innovation outlets that Meh sold to monitor the energy usage.
All the lights took 7 watts total. LEDs are great for that purpose. However, with LED’s, depending on if you’re looking at them directly or off to the side, they do change brightness. And if you only have a half-wave rectifier (in the cheaper strands), then they have an obvious flicker.
Also with LEDs, I can use the 6000+ Kelvin bulbs so they don’t all look yellowish and dirty.
@cengland0 the only time I notice a flicker is if I’m moving them around. The brightness doesn’t seem to matter when you have a bunch of lights. My yard was ridiculously bright. I got a lot of compliments. When I was inside with the curtains closed, you’d think the sun was rising. I wish I had photos. My phone crashed before I uploaded them anywhere, apparently.
I have a friend that hates LEDs because they’re such a bright tone. He hates the bright white. They do make them in more traditional colors now. I thought my neighbor’s house looked dingy compared to mine. All my icicle lights looked the color of show while his looked like peed on snow.
@RiotDemon All the lights in my house are at least 6000K. I get mixed feedback. Most people really like it, and others say it’s too bright. Too bright? It’s the same brightness as any other color but doesn’t have that horrible yellow hew to them. Suppose some of those people that used to read books by candlelight expect all future lights to be the same color as their old candles.
So when I got outdoor lights for decoration, I also picked the 6000K versions. It look so crisp and clean. I like it. The other neighbors can have dirty yellow if they want but I’m not going back into the medieval period.
@cengland0 I’m torn on the inside of the house. I don’t like the daylight LEDs in my living room. They are too invigorating. For garage, kitchen, bathroom, definitely. In my living room I want to relax.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
4x Surge Protectors with USB
Price Comparison
$49.98 (for 4) at Amazon
Warranty
90 Day Office+Style
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Thursday, July 16th
It’s Electric!
@Stallion Go where?
@Stallion BoogieWoogieWoogie
POWER UP!!
@yakkoTDI
Boring!
@Woody1
Bohring.
I just don’t usually have a plausible reason to share this picture of my old surge protector, may she rest in peace.
Edit: everything plugged into her was fine.
you did good 
@gnol aw crap, you let all the magic smoke out
@gnol I got a few of those around the house. Of course considering how old they are I wonder if they would stop any kind of surge.
@gnol I had a couple of those (one with the same exact charring and melted hole). They were recalled by APC and they sent me new ones, telling me to throw away the old ones.
Naturally, I kept using the old ones, because they had been working fine for years… until one day…
/giphy burning
@gnol I had everything plugged into the same APC protector but a surge came through the phone line. Fried the phone, a credit card terminal, the pc connected to it all, and the network card on a second pc connected to the first. Phone company said it couldn’t happen, but the adding machine plugged into the APC was OK, because it wasn’t connected to the phone line. But none of my dead equipment looked as bad as that!
@gnol @Kyser_Soze - That did it.
nice-deluded-radish
@aetris excuse me I’m at work
@Lazarpandar - OMG! Thank God it wasn’t that picture of artichokes!
Eh, I think I’m good with electrical fires, thanks
@nolrak on the other hand, sweet, I could power 24 speaker docks at once
Yay! Speaker doc…
Oh. Wait. Dang.
/giphy disappointment
@stinks come back on Friday. Who am I kidding? Speaker docs are gone.
Hey today’s writer,
The chimney part made me lol. Thanks, and good work!
That is a lot of ports for a storm!
There’s basically no chance I’d have 6 normal sized plugs in one location. Way too many transformers these days.
@cinoclav The more than meets the eye kind?
You still get like four spaces for wall warts unless they are particularly obnoxious ones.
/giphy craven-abundantly-front
Looking at the reviews on Amazon shows that not only do the USB ports only pump out 1amp but they fail rather quickly. If you only want these for the surge protected 6 outlets then it’s probably a decent deal, otherwise I’d look elsewhere.
@jayman007 Just what I was wondering. Thanks Jay Bond.
@jayman007 @notsofancy for what it’s worth, I checked with my own usb amp meter thing and it read accurately, same as my Samsung 2.1a usb plug.
@Moose @notsofancy Are you saying you have these and the USB ports tested at the full 2.1A per port? How long have you had yours and have you seen any failures with the usb?
@jayman007 @Moose @notsofancy the amazon review was a apple device and they are picky about what gets 1 amp and what gets 2 amps
moose probably tested against an android device and it gives 2 amps
@jayman007 @notsofancy I just have a sample that I checked before the sale (with an android, as @communist said)
Problem is his that these most likely draw a lot of phantom power and there’s nothing you could do about that. You should probably unplug your USB chargers when not in use, but when they are part of the electrical outlet, you don’t have that ability.
@cengland0 If a USB charger, or a USB port for that matter, is not connected to a device, what is there that is taking any load?
@Albright @cengland0 Sometimes they have a tiny LED on them? ¯_(ツ)_/¯
@cengland0 I had the same thought. Isn’t it doing the AC to DC conversion even if nothing is attached? I’ve got a Kill-A-Watt that I’m gonna plug in a phone charger minus the phone and see if any juice is flowing.
@Albright It’s taking less load if nothing is plugged in but they are not 100% efficient so they do take power when not being used too.
For a USB charger, the phantom draw is probably less than a watt when not in use, at least I hope so. It depends on how well it was designed. If it was a charger from Samsung or Apple, I’d trust that it was made properly and not draw that much when there is no load, but a no-name charger?!?!? That’s when I’d like to be able to unplug it.
My Kill-a-watt isn’t sensitive enough to detect a draw from a stand-alone USB charger. Whether that’s because it’s off by a watt or two, or the charge is so nominal is anyone’s guess.
I would totally buy a 2-pack of these…
@ELUNO Would it help if you thought of this as a 2-pack for $24 with 2 free bonus units?
@ELUNO on woot for $16
@ELUNO @evantribley https://electronics.woot.com/offers/officestyle-surge-protector-2-pack-7
@communist @ELUNO @evantribley
Was even featured in Woot’s daily email as a Best Seller.
Looking at that last photo… Why would there even be a spark from the ground?
@RiotDemon Shhh, just let it happen.
@RiotDemon His hand that is out of view is holding a bare wire just waiting for a ground!
/buy
@kabijj It worked! Your order number is: jealous-lurching-calcium
/image jealous lurching calcium
Just checked the Amazon. These come in purple, we need purple!
@Kyori
2 purple for $16 on woot
https://electronics.woot.com/offers/officestyle-surge-protector-2-pack-7
@communist @Kyori
Purple!
@communist neato! I prefer our price here though
already bought!
I love purple.
These have been on Woot for some time, 2 pack for 16 bucks. Nothing spectacular but they seem to work fine for the two months or so I’ve had them.
/giphy uniform-attractive-smoke
@carmiac one of the more awkward order photos I’ve seen here.
I couldn’t figure out why all the receptacles looked sad and surprised. Then I noticed it: they’re all grounded.
@Rossome
/wootstalker https://shirt.woot.com/offers/theyre-watching
They’re Watching
Price: $19.00
Condition: Probably New
@narfcake @Rossome
@narfcake I own that shirt!
Who bought 5?
As long as you keep selling terrible products like these, the only thing I’ll ever need more outlets for is my anger.
If you’re gonna force me to give up both wall outlets to use these, at least make good use of the 2nd outlet. Hard pass. Two power strips will continue to work better for me.
Meh. Side outlets!!!
Do you have to screw them in?
@marilyn80s Usually the socket clamping the plug leads will hold it in place. Howevert, pulling out a cord typically becomes a two handed (or one hand and one toe) operation, as you’ll probably need to press the adapter against the wall.
Wow, it’s like a twofer twofer Tuesday!
Serious question- what do you guys think of using either an older strip surge protector or a newer on where the receptacles turn to the side and then adding one of these surge protectors to one of the original surge protector outlets? See any electrical risks with that setup? I’ve seen standard surge protectors linked together…
@Cooky You mean like this?
She’ll be alright.
@cengland0 @Cooky She makes out just fine, it’s Clark that gets the surprise.
KuoH
@cengland0 I’m taking that as a “I have no idea”! Lol
@cengland0 meanwhile last Christmas I decorated an entire front yard with one dual outlet. LEDs are great!
@RiotDemon I’m 53 years old and last year was the first year I ever put up lights in my entire life. I used those Merkury Innovation outlets that Meh sold to monitor the energy usage.
All the lights took 7 watts total. LEDs are great for that purpose. However, with LED’s, depending on if you’re looking at them directly or off to the side, they do change brightness. And if you only have a half-wave rectifier (in the cheaper strands), then they have an obvious flicker.
Also with LEDs, I can use the 6000+ Kelvin bulbs so they don’t all look yellowish and dirty.
@cengland0 the only time I notice a flicker is if I’m moving them around. The brightness doesn’t seem to matter when you have a bunch of lights. My yard was ridiculously bright. I got a lot of compliments. When I was inside with the curtains closed, you’d think the sun was rising. I wish I had photos. My phone crashed before I uploaded them anywhere, apparently.
I have a friend that hates LEDs because they’re such a bright tone. He hates the bright white. They do make them in more traditional colors now. I thought my neighbor’s house looked dingy compared to mine. All my icicle lights looked the color of show while his looked like peed on snow.
@RiotDemon All the lights in my house are at least 6000K. I get mixed feedback. Most people really like it, and others say it’s too bright. Too bright? It’s the same brightness as any other color but doesn’t have that horrible yellow hew to them. Suppose some of those people that used to read books by candlelight expect all future lights to be the same color as their old candles.
So when I got outdoor lights for decoration, I also picked the 6000K versions. It look so crisp and clean. I like it. The other neighbors can have dirty yellow if they want but I’m not going back into the medieval period.
@cengland0 I’m torn on the inside of the house. I don’t like the daylight LEDs in my living room. They are too invigorating. For garage, kitchen, bathroom, definitely. In my living room I want to relax.
Office + Style is a strange name for a company
Wish you offered this in colors like the amazon ones.
@dwineland
Sharpie or spray paint.
/giphy historical-gainful-finch
We’ve been discussing buying a couple of these so…
/giphy smokey-pungent-gremlin
Total 1st try win! Was hoping for gizmo to appear with that giphy!
/giphy loosely-beneficent-olive
What I want are these again
I bought one and now wish I had bought more.
/buy
@crashcom It worked! Your order number is: pushy-puzzled-tiramisu
/image pushy puzzled tiramisu
/giphy numerous-brainy-debt
/giphy coarse-electrical-oxygen
How do you get electrocuted sticking a screwdriver in the ground hole?
@dwana442 … when the hot circuit is shorted or mis-wired to ground.
Would’ve gotten this until I read the negative reviews for the USB port.
I really like that the anchor screw is called out and included…
What fast shipping! Ordered on Tuesday and arrived on Thursday. Yay, MEH!