Tidy USB Charging Station

Intro: Tidy USB Charging Station

Over time a family seems to collect many USB chargeable devices, some are charged in the Kitchen, some in the sitting room and others at the computer station. One thing all these places have in common is that there are cables that snake all around, get twisted together and look a mess, I wanted to get rid of the mess which is why, instead of selling my sister's toy doll wooden wardrobe from the 1960s, I decided it would work well as a charging enclosure for all my devices.

STEP 1: First Thoughts

I took my largest tablet and dropped it into the wooden box, it was obvious that there would be no room for the cable to plug in because the already fitted shelf was too low and too deep, so I removed it.

STEP 2: New Shelf to Hold the Charging Unit

The charger is 130mm (200 including power cable) wide, 70mm deep and 30mm high so I was able to have a shelf that was not the full width of the box and the shelf could be as narrow as the charger,

The old shelf was cut down in size, a woooden spacer was cut to hold the shelf to the top of the box and one of the old shelf supports was cut down in depth and reused, this was all glued and screwed in place.

There is now room for the large tablet to stand beside the shelf, the rest of the chargable items fit easily under the new shelf.

STEP 3: Cable Access and Tidy Up

I needed a hole for the mains cable to get to the outside world so out with the step drill and a hole just large enough for the plug was drilled.

before the final assembly, I wiped a bit of wood stain around the inside making it all look more or less the same colour.

The charger unit was installed and held in place with a block of wood jammed in between the charger and the top of the box.

STEP 4: All Done and a Bit of Testing

Looking a lot better! The charger is automatic so long-term charging should work out ok keeping everything ready to go when needed.

The USB charger also has thermal protection but I decided to do some temperature checks to see if I need to add a cooling fan, I put a remote sensor inside and closed the door to see what happened, taking into account that it is not likely to be drawing 8A for any long period it looks to be fine, there was very little temperature fluctuation measured.

STEP 5: Future Developments

Due to the size of the galaxy tablet I decided to drop a piece of wood along the back edge of the floor, this will support the galaxy level but the fire, Ipad and kindles can still fit flat on the floor.

I am also playing with dividers to hold the tablets upright, still not sure if it is required as the tablets and phones go in and out easily without them.