good luck with your project

This post was edited by Renovator8 on Sun, Mar 23, 14 at 8:22

I have a cell phone charger that has a USB/wall socket adapter. The adapter is a simple, convenient, cheap little unit that allows me to use any outlet as a USB outlet.

They will provide plenty of opportunity for people on this forum 20 years from now to post pictures and queries about "what the heck is this funny hole in my outlet for?"

I installed them and LOVE having them in key places in my house. I have the dual receptacle-USB ports for the outlets below my bedside tables (for charging cellular devices and tablets), in addition to one in my pantry and kitchen for the times when I need these devices (or cameras, etc.) to charge.

While I realize that as other said, they'll eventually be outdated (though the USB has actually been around for a long time at this point), the wonderful thing is that with a screw driver, ability to read and flip a breaker and a set of needle nose pliers, when they are no longer of use, I can swap them out for regular receptacles or whatever is "cool" in about 3 minutes a piece.

Seriously. It's cheap, easy and convenient. It's not exactly a $5k expense that if you hate in five years is costly or timely to change.

I'm with Awnmyown. We put several in, they perform well, weren't expensive, and easy to change in the future.

No need for them. But would agree with Ann that a simple, cheap adaptor that would plug into any outlet would serve the purpose without the hassle.

USB next generation is of course going to be different and is coming soon. It will be symmetrical so that you don't have to orient the plug like with the current plug.

That and working somewhere with old BNC and parallel network plugs in the wall are why we went with regular plugs. :)

Except USB is a port, not a hard-wire that runs through the walls. I would concede it may be different if we were discussing running Cat6 in the walls or whether to Coax or HDMI should be run in your studs. But a USB outlet is literally just a "cover plate". Changing light fixtures is more cumbersome. And I guess I like with the dual USB/ dual receptacle plugs, I can have a lamp, a clock radio AND my tablet and cellphone all charging at once, without needing a powerbar.

We have a few in our current house, which is 25 years old. We replaced existing receptacles with ones that included usb ports, so it wouldn't be cumbersome to switch them back if usb was no longer a common charging format.

When you've got multiple phones, tablets, e-readers, running watches and various other devices that need charging, the fewer adapters you add to the mix, the cleaner it will be.