Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/11/keep-your-electronics-charged.html
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This would appear to have some issues- it’s offering grounded outlets & grounded plugs for UK/AU, but looks like it’s just adapting the ungrounded Euro plug to do it, despite having a 3 pin C6 inlet. The UK plug doesn’t appear to meet standards & looks to be unfused.
Also it’s only 200W, so it’s not going to power most things you’d want a voltage converter to.
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Looks definitely handy.
Nice features, but I don’t want to have to go overseas every time my phone runs out of batteries.
[This joke isn’t quite right, and probably not that funny if it was quite right, still, I’m open to workshopping]
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Many laptop power adapters are already built for 100-220V so you dont need a step down transformer for those.
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According to the Amazon reviews, this device has caught fire more than once. And when it works, the fan is quite noisy.
What I do is plug a US extension cord into the wall with a single mechanical plug adapter, then plug all my chargers into that extension cord. They accept 220 volts at 50 Hz. A single Anker multi-port charger takes care of my need for high-speed charging of Android and iPhone devices, as well as my Pixel phone using USB-PD with a USB-C cable.
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Hey, that’s a great endorsement.
If your product catches on fire, is extinguished, and it keeps working well enough to catch on fire again, you have yourself a very durable product.
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Pretty much everything that it could power has 110-240V AC input already and if that thing is a laptop or netbook then it can charge all your USB devices. And if all you have is USB powered devices then half a dozen of those plus the minimal adaptors is probably less weight than that converter anyway.
These are way more compact and work great. It has a pretty clever plug design with blades that flip out and rotate slightly to fit lots of outlets.
Won’t work for the deep socket UK/EU outlets, but for most things it’s awesome.
Seems pretty useless. Everything I travel with has its own voltage conversion in the charger-thingy. My universal adapter has 2 USB outlets, and is much more compact, allowing me to travel without even phone chargers. My adapter doesn’t allow multiple devices (mains power), but how many of those would you get in under the 200W limit of this thing anyway? The issue of grounding also does not appear to be well-handled.
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