Plugs, Power Outlets and Sockets

[BAYA]

On 11/12/2023 at 7:13 AM, StopTheWorld said:

I’ve taken a non surge protected multi socket adaptor (similar to this but with a UK plug) on board in my hand luggage and it has never been confiscated. 

I'm happy to report that I had it in my carry-on when I boarded the Reflection on Nov. 25th and they didn't even ask me to open the bag so they could examine it. Aside from 2 phones and an Apple Watch my sister and I had 2 medical devices and an electric scooter that had to be charged every night. The ship provided one 4-plug short extension cord so my multi-plug thing from Amazon really was needed and used! 

[desibee]

On 11/10/2023 at 10:41 AM, the penguins said:

Only suites had USB outlets added. In all other cabins power is exactly as before the refit. 

Disappointing.  They could at least outfit all cabins with one of those bedside phones that have a usb port in them so there is something convenient.

[markeb]

1 hour ago, desibee said:

Disappointing.  They could at least outfit all cabins with one of those bedside phones that have a usb port in them so there is something convenient.

Why? They’d almost certainly use an underpowered USB A port in a world of USB C. if you have a newer iPhone you’d have to buy a separate cable just for that purpose. And it would be slow. If the really wanted to do this they’d install a USB A/C hub that plugs into a power outlet so they can easily replace it when the technology changes. 
 

Hard wiring a USB A charging port in 2023 makes no sense whatsoever. 

[someguyfl]

1 hour ago, markeb said:

Why? They’d almost certainly use an underpowered USB A port in a world of USB C. if you have a newer iPhone you’d have to buy a separate cable just for that purpose. And it would be slow. If the really wanted to do this they’d install a USB A/C hub that plugs into a power outlet so they can easily replace it when the technology changes. 
 

Hard wiring a USB A charging port in 2023 makes no sense whatsoever. 

Agree that USB-A makes no sense in 2023, but it would be nice if hotels and cruise ships started installing 2-port 30W USB-C chargers bedside, which would solve for almost anyone's actual charging needs.

 

Personally at this point I've eliminated 99% of USB-A from my life, with the only exception being for charging a water-flosser which uses USB-A for it's charging brick and a weird proprietary plug on the flosser side. At this point, it seems pretty unlikely that anything is going to replace USB-C for the next 5 years at least, and probably much longer.

[the penguins]

46 minutes ago, someguyfl said:

Agree that USB-A makes no sense in 2023, but it would be nice if hotels and cruise ships started installing 2-port 30W USB-C chargers bedside, which would solve for almost anyone's actual charging needs.

 

Personally at this point I've eliminated 99% of USB-A from my life, with the only exception being for charging a water-flosser which uses USB-A for it's charging brick and a weird proprietary plug on the flosser side. At this point, it seems pretty unlikely that anything is going to replace USB-C for the next 5 years at least, and probably much longer.

It's now law across Europe that all devices must have the same USB connectors - don't ask me which. Apple resisted but the threat of a huge fine/ban brought them into line. If course it will take years to reap the benefits but change is coming.

[someguyfl]

36 minutes ago, the penguins said:

It's now law across Europe that all devices must have the same USB connectors - don't ask me which. Apple resisted but the threat of a huge fine/ban brought them into line. If course it will take years to reap the benefits but change is coming.

USB-C is what the EU mandated, and what the newest iPhones have. But even on older iPhones, there have been USB-C to Lightning cables for many years.

[the penguins]

8 hours ago, someguyfl said:

USB-C is what the EU mandated, and what the newest iPhones have. But even on older iPhones, there have been USB-C to Lightning cables for many years.

It's the other end i.e. where the cable joins the device that will also now have to be the same eventually resulting universal connectivity.

[DaKahuna]

We travel with a minimum of four electronic devices - two iPhones and two iPads. 

 My DW has an iPhone 13 (Lightning) and a new iPad (USB-C )

 I have an iPhone 15 ProMax (USB-C) and an older iPad (Lightning)

 

I carry charging devices with both USB-A and USB-C connections and an assortment of USB-A to lightning and USB-A to USB-C, as well as USB-C to USB-C cables.   All I need the ship to provide is a standard 120V AC outlet to plug my chargers into.  

 

 

[desibee]

20 hours ago, markeb said:

Why? They’d almost certainly use an underpowered USB A port in a world of USB C. if you have a newer iPhone you’d have to buy a separate cable just for that purpose. And it would be slow. If the really wanted to do this they’d install a USB A/C hub that plugs into a power outlet so they can easily replace it when the technology changes. 
 

Hard wiring a USB A charging port in 2023 makes no sense whatsoever. 

Anything would be better than the nothing you currently get at the bedside.

[someguyfl]

1 minute ago, desibee said:

Anything would be better than the nothing you currently get at the bedside.

Meh. I consider hotel USB-A ports to be completely useless at this point. Charging on them is so slow that it's not worth the effort of plugging in and carrying an extra set of USB-A cables.

Also keep in mind that plugging into random USB ports is also a security risk, as there have been hacks demonstrated in the past where simply plugging in to what you think is a public charger can compromise your device. The only case I'd even trust those USB-A ports is for something like charging an electric toothbrush or a Qi wireless charger that has no data connection between the charger and your phone.

[hasentreelake]

[someguyfl]

For anyone looking to buy a charger for charging a bunch of devices, and trying to avoid having so many extensions and bricks etc ...
https://www.amazon.com/Satechi-165W-USB-C-4-Port-Charger/dp/B09PMDZWZ6

This charger has 4 USBC ports on it, is capable of maximum of 100 Watts per port, and will intelligently share the power among the ports ... doing 100/60 with 2 ports active, or 60/45/30/30 with 4 ports active. In that 4-port mode, that's enough to charge two 16" Macbook Pro and two iPhone Pro Max simultaneously. Perhaps not at the fastest possible charging on the laptops, but certainly fast enough for 99.99% of use cases.

In my case, I'll be using one of the ports to power a Magsafe Duo charger which will allow charging both an Apple Watch and an iPhone simultaneously...

With this setup, I figure that I'll need at the most 1 additional charge port if I need to charge two laptops and two phones and an Apple Watch while also powering a travel router.

Perhaps I'll need to charge my Sony camera at some point, too ... but the likelihood that I would need to do that at the same time as 2 laptops and 2 phones ... seems fairly low.

[hasentreelake]

28 minutes ago, hasentreelake said:

 

[markeb]

16 minutes ago, someguyfl said:

Perhaps I'll need to charge my Sony camera at some point, too ... but the likelihood that I would need to do that at the same time as 2 laptops and 2 phones ... seems fairly low.

And there are a ton of aftermarket USB C chargers out there for Sony batteries…. (And Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc.)

[someguyfl]

4 minutes ago, markeb said:

And there are a ton of aftermarket USB C chargers out there for Sony batteries…. (And Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc.)

I don't need quick/external charging for the Camera. I tend to do just fine with a single battery on my sony A7 III just plugging in a USBC into the camera and letting it charge that way.

As far as I'm concerned, the fewer charging bricks and cables I carry, while still being able to charge things reasonably quick, the better.

[markeb]

4 minutes ago, someguyfl said:

I don't need quick/external charging for the Camera. I tend to do just fine with a single battery on my sony A7 III just plugging in a USBC into the camera and letting it charge that way.

As far as I'm concerned, the fewer charging bricks and cables I carry, while still being able to charge things reasonably quick, the better.

Yeah. I still have an a6500 with the notorious NP FW-50 battery. I need multiple batteries charged. May move to FF for an Alaska cruise. 

[BAYA]

On 12/8/2023 at 8:49 PM, hasentreelake said:

This looks exactly like the one I brought onboard. It worked great for us!

[PTC DAWG]

Some of yall have a lot of “stuff” to charge, I’ll say that..wow…

[peterde]

With 2 iPhones and two Apple Watches (and various other devices) I have settled on this set up for travel charging. I use two of each to provide super fast charging of our devices (up to 65w) which can be done just before bedtime or in the morning as we get ready so we are able to keep the devices next to us while sleeping and not having to worry about long charging times. 
The angled adopters allow both chargers to be used on one outlet so the other outlet remains free for blow dryers and such.

[Luvcrusn]

I use a multi port USB charger and an adapter and plug it into the European plug and that frees up the 2 US outlets at the desk for other things like a curling iron and hairdryer.