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Thread: Anyone have a design idea for an istuff recharge thingee?

  1. #1

    Anyone have a design idea for an istuff recharge thingee?

    My house is suffering from an explosion of istuff - iPhones, iPads, etc - much of which needs to be recharged almost every night. At the moment stuff gets plugged in whenever and where ever someone remembers to plug something in (i.e. nearest plug when the battery dies). I'd attach a photo of the mess of cables on the floor below the 12 year old's study desk, but it's embarrasing - and expensive because it's a gimme that his chair will end up parked on a cable connector or two before long.

    Does anyone have a design idea for something, made out of wood, to organize/fix this? There's about 10" of wall space between his desk and the filing cabinet with a power plug accessible behind the desk. I've thought about doing nothing more than a 3" vertical board with appropriate holes and little shelves sticking out forward for gear, but that's ugly. So ?

  2. #2
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    All those little plug-in things in my life now are USB plugs or mini-USB, or micro-USB. So you only need one power adapter that plugs into the wall. There's one USB cable to run from the power adapter to a USB hub. Out of the USB hub come cables with USB on the hub end, and whichever size of standard, mini, or micro USB at the other end. So you make a "bookshelf" in which each shelf has a USB cable draping out of the back. Maybe the bookshelf has one shelf big enough for a tablet, and smaller shelves for phones or the like. Or maybe the shelves are all the tablet size, and multiple phones can sit on one shelf.

  3. #3
    Honestly, it depends on the devices you want to charge. Are they USB? Plug? A mix? Do a search for USB charging stations, there are a variety of alternatives where you can leave the plugs installed all the time and just plug in everything at once. I think this is more a matter of will than engineering, you just need to set up a place for everyone to plug in their stuff and convince them to only plug it in there. Just having enough open ports in one location will help, but there are plenty of solutions for that.

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  4. #4
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    I built this thing a few years back (we definitely don't have those phones anymore). It's based on a plan from Woodsmith, I think. Simple dowel construction for the most part.

    The part in front of the phones flips down on a Soss hinge, while the piece they are resting on flips up. The phones sit on small dowels that are spaced apart wide enough for a 30-pin iPhone connector. That allows the cables to come in from the back through a small opening, and be mostly hidden. That didn't last long however; these days the cables just hang down from the outlet and we charge our current phones upside down.

    But this might give you some ideas.

    DSC_2623.jpg
    And there was trouble, taking place...

  5. #5
    That is kinda cool - thanks.

    And, yes, evrything iC*p is USB, but draping cables isn't my thing.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by rudy de haas View Post
    That is kinda cool - thanks.

    And, yes, evrything iC*p is USB, but draping cables isn't my thing.
    Hunh? The connection to each one of those things is a USB cable, so you're into draped cables.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jamie Buxton View Post
    Hunh? The connection to each one of those things is a USB cable, so you're into draped cables.
    I think he was referring to the fact that I noted that we don't keep our cables hidden but instead just have them hanging right from the outlet. So it looks a bit messy.
    And there was trouble, taking place...

  8. #8
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    The cables are unavoidable but you can hide them. Build a box with a shelf on top for devices. There's a gap at the rear of the shelf. The cables and USB hub are inside the box. The other ends of the cables are pulled through the gap to attach to devices. It's a mess inside the box but you only see that when you have to open it to change something. Make it eay to open. Allow a little ventilation - some of those hubs get warm and you might have 2 or 3. Have enough height to the box so excess cable drops in easily by gravity and don't make it too tight. Keep cables from falling back when not in use with slots to drop them in or something with rubber bands.

    Depending on your (his) layout, you could have another slot at the bottom to go straight to other devices on the desk.

    [Edit: Avoid the temptation to neatly coil excess cords. Each turn of the coil adds to any electrical interference. It's more efficient from an electron's point of view to randomly bundle them up.]
    Last edited by Alan Rutherford; 01-08-2015 at 12:13 PM.

  9. #9
    Thanks

    I think this is where I'll end up - I've been playing with an 'apple tree" design but making it big enough so the leaves holding ipads don't look disproportionate makes the thing far too big -so basically two shelves: one covered, one with holes, is probably the most sensible option.

  10. #10
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    I know this is not the "Overall Answer" the OP was looking for but this is a single device piece I made for my wife's Iphone. We are a divided family....I am an Android person.
    Jim

    20150108_120031.jpg20150108_120044.jpg

  11. #11
    Very nice!

    Could you add a photo of of the underside, please?

    Several of these on a shelf might be just the ticket.

    (P.S. I had a Samsung G3 before the local apple fanatics beat me into submissioon - and I'm typing this on debian Linux.)
    Last edited by rudy de haas; 01-09-2015 at 11:20 AM. Reason: spelling

  12. #12
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    Thanks Rudy. I realize this design does not resolve the wire issue other than hide the connection point. I would imagine you could come up with a similar design for several units into one longer wood piece. Anyway, I made this particular one out of some Wenge scraps. Had some chip out on edges of Wenge pieces so hid that on the underside. Used some brass rod to connect the pieces. I made another from a solid piece of mahogany but found the 2 piece design easier to shape. That is the trickiest part....shaping out the opening for the phone to fit into snuggly. I also put 2 pieces of black rubber at each end of the opening to help the phone grip as it sits in the stand. Placement of that and length of the rubber strip also helps you to sneak up on a good fit. Otherwise, some rubber feet screwed on the corners to get it off the ground.

    Jim
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    Jim

  13. #13
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    I need to clean up the mess of wires and make a unified docking station for our iStuff.
    Here's a single purpose dock stand I made for my shop iPod a few years ago.
    Attached Images Attached Images
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  14. #14
    Thanks Jim! I may try that.

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