Oh my god I think I love you :D THANK YOU :D

I must say, that is the most sophisticated charging station solution yet.

I wonder what other techno-eyesores are lying around my apartment that I could hide in something this smart looking.

I think I'm with Bobly. But I wonder if the box should also have a tray or something to hold the items being charged? Probably not a simple addition since each phone, iPod, etc is a different shape.

Thats great for kids too...keeps little fingers away.

Is there any worry about the heat from powercords with their own transformers? Is a bunch stuck in a box without a fan something to be concerned about?

This very unsafe. Power adapter generate a great deal of heat. It would be bad enough keeping one in an enclosed box, but multiple adapter/power strips is bad news. Even if you put ventilation holes/slots on the box, it still wouldn't be enough.

Same thing goes for desk that have a computer tower cabinet. You should never use them, since it builds up heat. Heat is the leading cause for electronic failure.

I love the idea but was thinking along the same lines of monkeyboy.

FWIW, there was a very similar project in a recent issue of Blueprint (the newish Martha Stewart mag) - if anyone is interested, you can prob find it in the archives online at marthastewart.com. There seemed to be much more ventilation...

Also, a lot of chargers draw power when they are plugged in to the mains, regardless of whether the device is plugged into the other end or not. I recently bought a four-way with individual switches, so I can leave my most frequently used chargers plugged in but switched off. I rest the four-way on a box with space for the devices, and put the other, less often used, chargers in the box for easy access when I need them.

I agree with the last two posts, the heat is an issue and in addition to having it in a paper/cardboard box, the chargers draws power. This might be quite dangerous. I have a feeling that this is against some rule for my dorm.

Great idea, bad design. Reminds me of the old computer case beverage holder.

http://www.inventgeek.com/Projects/Minifridge/Overview.asp...

You can find these snap and store boxes at many office stores in many, many sizes (from index card to file folder size)

http://www.buyonlinenow.com/snap-n-store.asp

And they're pretty cheap. The CD boxes would work well for this.

I generally only charge one device at a time, and could leave the lid off while charging and turn the power strip off when done.

it is kind of like a cheap version of the Multipot:
http://www.multipot.com/

Design Within Reach was selling these, not anymore though. they are pricey and I too had a safety concern.

I had a vintage hard suitcase I was planning on using for a recharger station, but again safety concerns nixed it. I would strongly advise against this project.

My pal Cali Lewis of GeekBrief TV built a slightly different cord/charger on-screen. So if you like powertools and organization, check it out. It provides a bit more heat friendly design, albeit in a slightly larger configuration.

And now you are saying...where's the link? Sorry. Early still...

http://geekbriefwp.podshow.com/gbtv-0108-geekbrieftv

I agree with the folks who say the heat is an issue. A good friend lost his house and all its contents - the source was too many electrical chargers plugged into the same outlet, generating heat on a card table with a plastic cover on it. The cover melted and the cloth padding that is underneath it caught fire and the house burned down. VERY, VERY UNSAFE.

This box needs some ventilation - at least some more holes or computer cooler. AND a common switch outside of the box to turn off all chargers with single button when they are not necessary.

It is also strange that they made the holes not on the upper side. It would be more convenient if you could put the charging device on top of the box, not near it (where there can be no free place).

I'm not an "expert", but I've been charging electronic devices for years. Yes, in the past nearly every wall wart could be counted on to heat the room it was used in. Now though? Sure, a little warm to the touch if you were to leave it powered non-stop.

But generating enough heat in that thin-walled cardboard box that does have holes in it (the cord ports...) to cause a fire? No more likely than that power strip causing a fire on its own due to failure of some kind.

Mountain out of a spot that a mole might someday consider to be good enough for raising his family.

The wattage drawn by these adapters in an idle state is negligible. If an adapter in an idle state is producing a lot of heat, it should be replaced because it is probably defective. Plus, if a fire is going to start, it will start irregardless of whether it is in a box or not. The very least, the box will contain the incinerating plastic for a couple minutes longer than if it was exposed.

While I think the idea is nice for the simple fact that it contains the rats nest into a nice little package. But, the devices still hangout and the wires will eventually be exposed. It just doesn't look pretty with that many devices plugged in at once.

On a somewhat related side note, I was reading a woodworking magazine once and a guy had created holsters for his rechargeable drills using PVC pipe drilled to the underside of his garage cabinets. The chargers were plugged in below at the outlet. It looked really professional.

"But generating enough heat in that thin-walled cardboard box that does have holes in it (the cord ports...) to cause a fire? No more likely than that power strip causing a fire on its own due to failure of some kind."

Yes, you clearly are not an expert.

And to Brian, I stopped reading when I saw "irregardless." Sorry pal. :D

I made something like this last year as a gift (Link), and, since, I've made a bunch more: (Shameless). So far heat hasn't been an issue.

An external switch would be handy, however.

My wife has these for ribbon.

What about having the powerbar mounted on the underside of your desk and then fed into a smaller box that also has a USB hub in it? The idea of a box sitting on the desk is nice and all... but it's a box sitting on my desk.

All this talk about fire. Sure it probably wouldn't happen, but HEAT is what you should be worried about. Heat damages electronic components. Overheating leads to failure.

@Lars H,

Do you have bigger pics on your site? 150x97 images doesn't so much detail.

Also, what kind of wire is the yellow wire on the first link?

I use an upturned wireframe metal basket. It looks ugly, but it achieves the main goal of keeping the wires out of the way, while providing access to wires/adapters without heat problems.

Coincidentally, I had a friend ask me for a picture to better describe it just yesterday: http://flickr.com/photos/relgar/361225493/

Steve W: There are plenty of desk-mounted cable management solutions: Here's one with a USB hub; Here're a bunch more.

I bought a lovely little wire basket, attached it beneath my desk top (I have a desk that's like a table, like the ones in Ikea), and put my cords in there. It's out of sight and heat isn't an issue because the basket's wire and it's not remotely near enough the bottom of the desk top to heat it. I learned after I did it that extricating one cord from even a carefully done pile was a pain, so now I use cord labels and twisties to keep cords separated from one another. Not a perfect solution, but darn close for me.

I've seen ribbon storage boxes out there that already have the holes in them. Something good for lazy, non-crafty people like me. :-)

http://www.orientaltrading.com/products/65_85104.jsp

I'm curious.. is this FIRE SAFE?

It's cool, but I don't want to burn down my house. My adapters get quite hot.. will this still be safe?

monkeyboy: It's the cable that comes out of the powerstrip (Item #PB001005. 14/3 SJT grounded.

Improving the online pix is near the top of my to-do list.

@justforfun

Care to lend any credence to your words beyond a meager attempt to appear "smart" to us poor, lowly netizens?

By "no expert" I meant "I don't have a degree in 'wall-charger thermal output and its effects on a cardboard box I bought at the store'".

What I do know is that there are around a dozen devices in my house that use these types of adapters and transformers that I check regularly and keep clean, and not one of them produces enough heat to set anything on fire, save perhaps gasoline vapor under perfect conditions for combustion.

So unless you're just here for the petty ego boost you get from insulting someone over a typo, perhaps you could provide some countering evidence?

Hm. Is it just as dangerous (in terms of fire risk) to leave your junk plugged in, and/or sitting on a carpet floor? Hmmm. Anyone? Oy vey.

Took a look at the site with the box on a table.

Definitely looks nice. Someone, please inform me if there are or aren't fire risks associated with either a) this box or b) me leaving my power outlet strip on carpet.

Any pre-manufactured versions of this out there? I suck at crafts.

Worth noting though, if you are worried about the heat buildup, is that you could adapt a PC case fan or equivalent to provide cooling for the little box when it's "on". It would add a slightly more technical aspect to the project, but it could be done.

find me a power-strip manufacturer that would endorse this kind of set up: putting one in a box, plugging it in to the wall AND plugging all of your re-chargers into it.

obviously there are many hazards in every home. but why take yet another chance?

@BMR,

Exactly. Thats why we don't see devices like this sold in stores...

Grungydan - it's not a fire issue right off the bat, it's a heat issue. Also, depending on what you have in the box and what the box is made of, it could potentially be a fire hazard (lots of laptop/speaker power supplies have large bricks that generate excessive heat, and hiding them in a pretty box isn't the smartest or safest thing to do). I didn't expand because people had already spoken to the common sense safety hazards. Make sense now? No one is saying that if you build one it will go berserk, but excessive heat in a compact, closed environment can electronically and physically (read: melted plastic) damage components. Of course, like all things, it could work fine. Just make sure your fire alarm has batteries. :P

Heat should be a non-issue for cell phones, iPods, and other small portable electronic devices. The current draw for these units usually ranges between 500~800 mA, which means they will generate very little heat when charging. The powerstrip alone should not generate heat.

If the chargers plugged into the powerstrip had a high current draw, I'd be worried. I don't see any problems with this set-up.

Grungydan - also, "irregardless" is not a typo, it's a crime against the English language. I don't care about typoes, we all mak thim somtimes. ;)

theDevilsDue - it's probably not a good idea to endorse this assuming that everyone will limit their boxes to low-current devices. Also, you are assuming that high-quality chargers are going in the box - what happens when someone puts an aftermarket charger for an ipod in there with a poorly designed safety circuit for ovp (or god-forbid, none at all) - theoretically the batt's safety circuit can handle this, or the surge-protector limits any surges right away, but I'm sure you could see that it becomes a slippery slope at some point. I don't think I'd go for this one.

Let's punch "Charging Station" into Google and see what comes up:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/02/con-and-cons-e-base-gad...
http://www.brookstone.com/store/product.asp?product_code=5...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=...

I have a nice little antique side table that has an interior space. The chargers go in there, and I route the wires up the back.

Though the box is an interesting idea, but how about wrapping excess cords on a spindle, or for those of you who know a bit about simple mechanics, make a retractable cartridge of the sort?

I'd LOVE a retractable cartridge, but I tend to wrap up my excess cables and keep them together with plastic twisty things.

Regarding the shoebox-on-fire scenario, let's see if we can drop some science (hopefully not of the bogus variety) on the subjetc:

The box in question is largely paper. Paper has an ignition temperature of 451F. Granted, it will begin to smolder at lower temperatures but it's been shown experimentally that a paper book placed in a 451F oven will approximate the kind of burning we're trying to avoid (http://vroman0.tripod.com/aug22.htm).

Going with an average room temperature of 68F, the chargers in the box must raise the air temperature within the box by 383F.

Let's also assume that the chargers are putting out 5 volts at 1 amp (that's more than most chargers use). That's 5 watts. Assuming that the switching topology is 50% efficient (switching regulators are more like 70+% efficient, but become less efficient when hot), that's 2.5 watts per charger wasted as heat. Multiply that by 5 chargers and you get 12.5 watts.

So, the question is whether you could raise the temperature inside the box 383F using only 12.5 watts of power. Intuitively, I'd say "no".

Okay, let the hole poking begin...

justforfun- I see where you're coming from, but again it just strikes me as people running around Chicken Little for very little to no reason (other than that our society is actively promoting that these days, but that's another issue).

We're not talking about putting your PC's 5.1 surround system's brick, printer brick, your old NES brick, etc. in a metal container and putting it up against your newspaper rack (which I'm still completely unconvinced would ever actually generate enough radiant heat to cause a fire, but just for comparison's sake). We're talking about fairly small, low current portable device chargers. My headset charger and cell charger have been plugged in for a few days now here next to my desk (yeah, I know, I'm wasting billionths of kilowatt hours :P ) and neither of them are even approaching warm to the touch.

Now, if someone goes and creates a situation such as you describe, by piling dumb/bad idea on dumb/bad idea, and then they stick it all in a box, never check on it to make sure it's ok, and it sets something on fire, well I'd be tempted to say that it's hardly this article's fault.

To me, it's perfectly "responsible" to provide this, because in the project it gives intended use. If you go outside intended use, it's no longer the provider's responsibility.

And typo or outright mistake, it's still nothing that I'd use as basis for not bothering to get someone's thoughts. That's just rude. ;)

@rogerkaplan,

I like the box in your second link. The power strip is on the back of the box and its not enclosed. Good design.

Lol. I had to create one of these when we went from a HUGE TV armoire to a stand. I just didn't think of posting it on my blog...

OMG, you friggin knuckleheads. You think you're smarter than UL?

Fire Marshal Bob you are not. Ease up on the desire to get public notice due to lifehacker's high profile.

Gina...seriously...it's time to consider a rating system to comments. I LOVE the site. You guys bring innovation to my life for pennies on the dollar. But each month I have to wade through another 100 yards of seaweed to make it to the nice clean water in the bay that I want to swim in.