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Odd charging behavior on USB wall outlet

T

tesuji

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
7
1
I will try to keep this as concise as possible:

Wanted to install a USB wall outlet & ditch the 5 watt USB power adapter (even though the newer, smaller ones look much nicer than the older, bulkier ones).

Found a Pass & Seymour LeGrand Adorne USB outlet at Lowes. Looked cool, very cool. Installed, along with the matching regular outlet (1-gang, 3-module wall plate configuration). Wiring instructions for USB outlet were unhelpful, so grounded the regular outlet (no ground wire coming from USB module), and wire nutted the regular outlet, USB, and line hot wires together, same with neutral wires. New outlet worked fine, although trendy, closely spaced, opposing outlets design rendered only one outlet usable at a time. First fail.

All fine, until I went to charge my iPhone 5. It charged for a while, but then I started hearing random "starting to charge now" chirps. Phone went from charged to charging to charged status over just a few minutes near the end of its charging cycle while I watched it supposedly charge. BTW, the Adorne USB outlet is 2.1A, 5V, so 10 watts, so can charge an iPad as well as an iPhone, but that shouldn't matter, right?

Waited a day or two to see if behavior would repeat. It did. So, the trendy outlets and wall plate got returned, and I am back to the tried-and-true regular outlet and wall adapter. Slightly bummed, but I care more about my phone battery's longevity than what my laundry room outlet looks like.

My question is: any theories from the hive mind about the odd charging behavior on this USB wall outlet, and has anyone experienced this with other USB wall outlets (e.g. the FastMac U-Socket?) Is there a chip or filter in the Apple wall outlet-USB adapter that was missing from the trendy Adorne USB wall outlet? Could the problem have been the more-juice-than-iPhone-needs 2.1 amps? Defective USB module? House is new-ish (12 years old), and line voltage seems pretty consistent. I wasn't plugging/unplugging anything into/from the regular outlet while iPhone was charging.

Thanks for any and all hypotheses.

Looked great, worked badly:
 

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T

tesuji

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
7
1
Oops, forgot to mention, maybe a wiring error? Should the USB module have been wired into the load posts on the regular module? Like I said, the directions were pretty poor, and it seems like I do all my projects outside of regular customer service hours...
 
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Reactions: HEK
jonfarr

jonfarr

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2012
716
136
Portland
tesuji said:
I will try to keep this as concise as possible:

Wanted to install a USB wall outlet & ditch the 5 watt USB power adapter (even though the newer, smaller ones look much nicer than the older, bulkier ones).

Found a Pass & Seymour LeGrand Adorne USB outlet at Lowes. Looked cool, very cool. Installed, along with the matching regular outlet (1-gang, 3-module wall plate configuration). Wiring instructions for USB outlet were unhelpful, so grounded the regular outlet (no ground wire coming from USB module), and wire nutted the regular outlet, USB, and line hot wires together, same with neutral wires. New outlet worked fine, although trendy, closely spaced, opposing outlets design rendered only one outlet usable at a time. First fail.

All fine, until I went to charge my iPhone 5. It charged for a while, but then I started hearing random "starting to charge now" chirps. Phone went from charged to charging to charged status over just a few minutes near the end of its charging cycle while I watched it supposedly charge. BTW, the Adorne USB outlet is 2.1A, 5V, so 10 watts, so can charge an iPad as well as an iPhone, but that shouldn't matter, right?

Waited a day or two to see if behavior would repeat. It did. So, the trendy outlets and wall plate got returned, and I am back to the tried-and-true regular outlet and wall adapter. Slightly bummed, but I care more about my phone battery's longevity than what my laundry room outlet looks like.

My question is: any theories from the hive mind about the odd charging behavior on this USB wall outlet, and has anyone experienced this with other USB wall outlets (e.g. the FastMac U-Socket?) Is there a chip or filter in the Apple wall outlet-USB adapter that was missing from the trendy Adorne USB wall outlet? Could the problem have been the more-juice-than-iPhone-needs 2.1 amps? Defective USB module? House is new-ish (12 years old), and line voltage seems pretty consistent. I wasn't plugging/unplugging anything into/from the regular outlet while iPhone was charging.

Thanks for any and all hypotheses.

Looked great, worked badly:
Click to expand...

I would guess since the lightning cable is unlike the old 30 pins, that there may just be different power requirements that this outlet couldn't handle.

I really don't see why a standard 110 outlet with the standard apple wall plug doesn't work? I am sire that the outlet you had would charge a 4 or 4S just fine, I bet the chip in the lightning cable just didn't like the outlet.
 
rmboyd81

rmboyd81

macrumors newbie
Dec 2, 2015
2
0
tesuji said:
I will try to keep this as concise as possible:

Wanted to install a USB wall outlet & ditch the 5 watt USB power adapter (even though the newer, smaller ones look much nicer than the older, bulkier ones).

Found a Pass & Seymour LeGrand Adorne USB outlet at Lowes. Looked cool, very cool. Installed, along with the matching regular outlet (1-gang, 3-module wall plate configuration). Wiring instructions for USB outlet were unhelpful, so grounded the regular outlet (no ground wire coming from USB module), and wire nutted the regular outlet, USB, and line hot wires together, same with neutral wires. New outlet worked fine, although trendy, closely spaced, opposing outlets design rendered only one outlet usable at a time. First fail.

All fine, until I went to charge my iPhone 5. It charged for a while, but then I started hearing random "starting to charge now" chirps. Phone went from charged to charging to charged status over just a few minutes near the end of its charging cycle while I watched it supposedly charge. BTW, the Adorne USB outlet is 2.1A, 5V, so 10 watts, so can charge an iPad as well as an iPhone, but that shouldn't matter, right?

Waited a day or two to see if behavior would repeat. It did. So, the trendy outlets and wall plate got returned, and I am back to the tried-and-true regular outlet and wall adapter. Slightly bummed, but I care more about my phone battery's longevity than what my laundry room outlet looks like.

My question is: any theories from the hive mind about the odd charging behavior on this USB wall outlet, and has anyone experienced this with other USB wall outlets (e.g. the FastMac U-Socket?) Is there a chip or filter in the Apple wall outlet-USB adapter that was missing from the trendy Adorne USB wall outlet? Could the problem have been the more-juice-than-iPhone-needs 2.1 amps? Defective USB module? House is new-ish (12 years old), and line voltage seems pretty consistent. I wasn't plugging/unplugging anything into/from the regular outlet while iPhone was charging.

Thanks for any and all hypotheses.

Looked great, worked badly:
Click to expand...
 
rmboyd81

rmboyd81

macrumors newbie
Dec 2, 2015
2
0
Old thread i know... but did you ever find a solution? i get screen tearing and poor scrolling behavior when plugged into this brand outlet. ipad and iphone both have different behaviors when plugged in separately and simultaneously... its easy wiring so maybe just backwards? thanks
 
HEK

HEK

macrumors 68040
Sep 24, 2013
3,547
6,080
US Eastern time zone
Apple supplies a power adapter and connecting cable that works with the iPhone charging circuit built into the phone. Not all power adapters supply the same smooth non spiky, 5vdc power the charging circuit likes to see. I don't have it handy but someone did a real in depth tear down and analysis of various power adapters a couple years back.

It revealed a big difference in the circuitry, robustness, and voltage isolation between the Apple power adapters and a lot of other brands. In particular these power adapters have 120vac power circuits very close to the 5vdc output circuits. Cheap design and manufacturing shortcuts and low grade components really make cross voltage a real hazard.

I understand the supposed convenience of a wall plug 5vdc output, but when spending $1,000 on a phone I am not going to trust any other power adapters. Even though I know their are some good ones out there. But also a lot of bad ones. I have been using the 2.1 amp iPad power adapters on my iPhones for last two years and love the speed of charge. Never had a single issue with the power adapters. A couple of cables started looking worn near the plugs, they worked fine but insulation was pulling out. Apple replaced them free no questions asked. I always had/have applecare+.
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,456
4,406
Delaware
Yeah, About a year ago, I installed one of the Legrand outlets, one with dual USB ports in the center. Charges very good, if I can get cables that continue to work more than a few weeks. It seems to eat cables. The slightest sideways movement of a USB cable while it is plugged in will break the cable end. Maybe just my clumsiness, but I don't see the same problem with USB adapters that plug in to AC receptacles. Or, USB cables just start getting intermittent, or stop working entirely. I have a couple of other adapters that use in the house, and no problems with any cables on those.
 
HEK

HEK

macrumors 68040
Sep 24, 2013
3,547
6,080
US Eastern time zone
DeltaMac said:
Yeah, About a year ago, I installed one of the Legrand outlets, one with dual USB ports in the center. Charges very good, if I can get cables that continue to work more than a few weeks. It seems to eat cables. The slightest sideways movement of a USB cable while it is plugged in will break the cable end. Maybe just my clumsiness, but I don't see the same problem with USB adapters that plug in to AC receptacles. Or, USB cables just start getting intermittent, or stop working entirely. I have a couple of other adapters that use in the house, and no problems with any cables on those.
Click to expand...
That's weird wonder why
 
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