USB equipped A/C Power Outlets

After seeing the Kadey Krogen 50 Open at the Palm Beach boat show recently, I noticed they have added USB power jacks to many of the power outlets around the boat. I was curious about the parasitic drain of the USB ports and according to Leviton T5632-W outlets draw less than 50mw when no device is plugged into USB ports, which I think isn't too bad. Still pretty nice to only need a USB cable and no wall wart.

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-T563...7542&sr=8-1&keywords=Leviton+USB+power+outlet

I have installed these on about half my outlets.

I put some in at my house and had one get REALLY hot as a failure mode.

I was very much not impressed with that and decided to just use plug in USB power supplies.

I left my AC outlets alone and just added USB duplex outlets in strategic areas.

I put in about 5 usb AC outlets in my boat. I did run into one problem however. The PO had put in some extra outlets on the starboard side of the saloon. The wiring runs down the side of the saloon where the ER vent is. A couple months ago when I got myself into some really bad sea conditions (my fault) I was taking green water over the bow and waves were breaking against the starboard side of the boat. The ER vent opening is normally about 5’ above the waterline, but LOTS of sea water got into the vent as the waves hit the vent. This water ran down the vent chase where these outlets were installed. They got drenched with salt water. The original outlets weren’t bothered, but the USB outlet that was there got fried. It took a while to figure out what had gone wrong and why a whole circuit of my AC in the saloon was not working.

I replaced that outlet with the original and all was fine. The only point is that those home USB outlets are not really very hardy in a marine environment. I’ve had no problems with the others that I have installed but I will be very careful about installing any more.

I never did think about the parasitic power draw however. That is something that I may need to check out.

Edit: Ignore the power drain issue. I think the outlets have about 50mw of power drain per hour. If my math is correct, all 4 outlets would only draw about 5 watts of AC power per day. That may amount to about 6 watts per day of drain on my batteries via the inverter (really rough guess there). So If I’m right, all 4 will only drain a 1/2 amp of current from my batteries each day. So, not enough to be concerned about.

We have an adapter that plugs into an outlet. It has 4 USB ports and an outlet to replace the outlet that it is plugged into. We also have a 12 volt outlet that has 2 USB ports built into it. I believe it is made by Marinco.

Comodave said:

We have an adapter that plugs into an outlet. It has 4 USB ports and an outlet to replace the outlet that it is plugged into. We also have a 12 volt outlet that has 2 USB ports built into it. I believe it is made by Marinco.

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I considered getting a permanently installed 12v dual usb charger. I have a 12volt outlet (cigarette lighter type) in the PH and it would be easy to swap out. However, the Marinco only supples 2.1 amps total between the two USB ports. This is less than the 2.4 amps that an iPad wants to charge. Plug in two phones, or an iPad and a phone, and the usb outlet will only deliver a bit over 1 amp to each and likely get really hot in the the process.

Blue Seas makes a “fast charge” dual outlet that will output 4.8 amps between the two USB ports. That is something I have considered but I think will just stay with the plug in adaptor since when it burns out, it is easy to replace.

So far it seems to work out ok, have not found it running hot. It is enough to charge while we are using the ipads. We also plug them into the 120 volt adapter I spoke about in the previous post at night. Between the 2 it has met our needs. I was replacing the 12 volt outlet and wiring to upgrade them so we can run a chest freezer off the 12 volt outlet so I went with the Marinco in order to get the 2 USB ports at the same time.

We installed several of the USB AC outlets in our boat. dhays summed it up nicely; no real issue with power drain. Loved the convenience.

Funny timing, I was looking at this one yesterday as I’m contemplating the same things. Thoughts?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0748DPQ3J/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A24H22ZFXIDSU7&psc=1

I installed these last year and they are still working well. I chose them because Leviton was a name I recognized, the ratings were mostly favorable and the price was attractive. So far, so good

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-T563...00J3PMU4C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

I put 12V-powered USB outlets all over the boat. Some things I've found:

- The ones that run off 120VAC will introduce a parasitic load. Not much, but if it's enough to keep the inverter powered up, when otherwise nothing is drawing 120VAC, then you've added the inverter's parasitic load, too. That's a big deal for us, trying to stretch our time on the hook between generator runs.

- Be sure to get the ones that have at least one USB plug with at least a 2.1A capacity. Modern USB fast chargers may need even more. Anything less and you're wasting your money.

- Be sure to use the "right" USB cable for your device. I have some cables which are wired internally to be recognized as "fast" chargers for our Android devices. Otherwise the device may think it's a slow charger. But again, look at the Amp rating on the cable; I've overheated them using a lower-amp cable on a device which will accept higher fast charging.

- Beware of lighted outlets. They can be too bright at night. Ours have a small blue LED which is sometimes too much, but at least the rubber outlet cover blocks most of it when not in use. I've actually had to put a tiny square of electrical tape over the ones in the master berth.

- You can never have enough USB ports in all the places you'll want one. Especially with guests and passengers who almost always show up with a dying battery. And don't forget the cables (your guests will!) There are now at least 4 common USB device formats, with possibly 2-3 more less common but still out there.

LarryM said:

I installed these last year and they are still working well. I chose them because Leviton was a name I recognized, the ratings were mostly favorable and the price was attractive. So far, so good

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-T563...00J3PMU4C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Click to expand...

me too...

have 3 aboard at common charging spots, not enougj parasitic to kick on my inverter....

none run hot....

wall warts are just as fire prone if not more so...

my android fast charge seems to be in the wall wart, not the cable....

LarryM said:

I installed these last year and they are still working well. I chose them because Leviton was a name I recognized, the ratings were mostly favorable and the price was attractive. So far, so good

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-T563...00J3PMU4C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Click to expand...

I just ordered 2 of them for our aft cabin.

I bought one of these, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SIQIV04/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1, and wired it direct to 12VDC. It's fixed in place at the helm and is the central charging station on the boat.

Tom

CaptTom,
That is a very good caution on the USB cables vs. fast charge loads.
I have a couple of the Blue Seas dual-USB outlets and they charge/run my stuff OK.

But the one problem I've had was letting the smoke out of one of those low ampacity cables, melted the end off at the USB plug -in.

So I am going to make sure I have more of the right kind of USB cables on board for my stuff and my guests with dead cell phones!

Hang up and boat!

I have found a good and low cost replacement cable store called FiveBelow and all their products are $5 or less... 3', 6' and 10' cables are $5 each. Plus they even work with Apple products and lightning cable jacks.

https://www.fivebelow.com/store-locator

I dont know enough to comment for myself, but I just had my (non-nautical) kitchen remodeled and asked the electrician to install these devices at each location and he advised that they couldn't be in a GFI protected circuit, which eliminated most of my kitchen (and all of my boat.

AlaskProf: this is possibly because the low draw of an idle outlet might be seen as a leak.

GFI/GFCI outlets test power leaks from hot to ground, not hot to neutral.

He might not want to put them near "damp" environments like kitchen counter outlets but near beds at staterooms or in the salon would be ok.

work fine in my GFI circuits.

If they are wired correctly it should not be a problem. GFIs look at the current going out on the hot lead and compare it with the current returning on the neutral lead. If they are not equal within the 6 mAmp tolerance for an outlet GFI, then the GFI will trip because the current is returning on some path other than the neutral. The USB outlets should not be leaking current to ground if they are operating correctly so they should work with a GFI. Maybe the electrician didn’t want to mess with the GFIs since they can be finicky and have nuisance trips. Also GFIs seem to wear out sooner than expected.

psneeld said:

work fine in my GFI circuits.

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Same here[emoji41]

Great info, especially CaptTom’s summary on cords. I’m thinking of converting some old, unused 12-volt outlets to USB, using the BlueSeas stuff. Do I understand correctly that the 12-volt powered gear has no parasitic loads?

https://blackdiamondtoday.com/article/leviton-usb-outlets-optimize-charging-efficiency-cell-phones

Leviton’s USB Charger/Tamper-Resistant Receptacle replaces a standard dual AC wall receptacle with a unit that integrates two intelligent USB outlet ports with high-quality chips and circuitry that recognize and charge all your USB-enabled electronics to optimal levels for each individual device. And when the Leviton USB Charger isn’t charging, it’s completely off—not in standby mode and still drawing unnecessary current.

Nothing concrete....but it seems some 12V ones also have parasitic draw....so you have to check both 12v and 120v models.

Thanks, Scott!

If you have a newer phone or laptop that charges with USB C ports, you might prefer this product since it has both USB and USB C ports on the same outlet body.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07668S975

angus99 said:

Great info, especially CaptTom’s summary on cords. I’m thinking of converting some old, unused 12-volt outlets to USB, using the BlueSeas stuff. Do I understand correctly that the 12-volt powered gear has no parasitic loads?

Click to expand...

Angus, Since there has to be circuitry converting 12vdc down to 5vdc, there will be some parasitic draw. I was impressed that it can sense a load and enable the DC-DC converter to provide power so the draw without an external device attached is under 50mw.

If you have a phone / tablet connected to a USB port, the draw will jump to the power requirements of the device, up to the max limits of the DC-DC converter.

Thanks, Stu.

I’d like to convert the old 12-volt receptacles in our master berth to USB charging stations without adding more AC. (I just replaced all the 110-volt outlets on the boat.) The blue Sea unit looks like it might fit—minus the dustcap. Part 1045 ($30 street price):

- Charges at the speed required by specific devices
- Internal filtering for reduced electronic interference
- Over temperature protection
- Protective dust cap keeps debris and moisture out
- Conformal coated circuit board for the harsh marine environment
- Max 4.8 amp charge
- 1 mA parasitic draw