Hjdcti

Why isn't airport relocation done gradually?

Extreme, unacceptable situation and I can't attend work tomorrow morning

Is three citations per paragraph excessive for undergraduate research paper?

Monty Hall variation

How to answer pointed "are you quitting" questioning when I don't want them to suspect

How to manage monthly salary

Why do UK politicians seemingly ignore opinion polls on Brexit?

Why is Grand Jury testimony secret?

How to create dashed lines/arrows in Illustrator

Idiomatic way to prevent slicing?

What tool would a Roman-age civilization have to grind silver and other metals into dust?

Where to refill my bottle in India?

Access elements in std::string where positon of string is greater than its size

Landlord wants to switch my lease to a "Land contract" to "get back at the city"

Spanish for "widget"

I looked up a future colleague on LinkedIn before I started a job. I told my colleague about it and he seemed surprised. Should I apologize?

Which Sci-Fi work first showed weapon of galactic-scale mass destruction?

How to make payment on the internet without leaving a money trail?

Manuscript was "unsubmitted" because the manuscript was deposited in Arxiv Preprints

A poker game description that does not feel gimmicky

Why Did Howard Stark Use All The Vibranium They Had On A Prototype Shield?

Does light intensity oscillate really fast since it is a wave?

Inflated grade on resume at previous job, might former employer tell new employer?

How are circuits which use complex ICs normally simulated?

Are USB sockets on wall outlets live all the time, even when the switch is off?

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;

5

I got a USB wall socket fitted. When it was installed, I tested the USB port with a tester with the switches off, but the USB outlet was live. Is this normal?

electrical receptacle uk

share|improve this question

edited 23 mins ago

manassehkatz

10.8k1440

asked 11 hours ago

sean kellysean kelly

262

New contributor

sean kelly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Hello, and welcome to Home Improvement. It's hard to understand your question; would you edit it to clarify? (Some punctuation would be great...)
  
  – Daniel Griscom
  10 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  4
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Could you please provide the actual switch/outlet you used.
  
  – Ben
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This can only be a UK question.
  
  – Harper
  33 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

5

I got a USB wall socket fitted. When it was installed, I tested the USB port with a tester with the switches off, but the USB outlet was live. Is this normal?

electrical receptacle uk

share|improve this question

edited 23 mins ago

manassehkatz

10.8k1440

asked 11 hours ago

sean kellysean kelly

262

New contributor

sean kelly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Hello, and welcome to Home Improvement. It's hard to understand your question; would you edit it to clarify? (Some punctuation would be great...)
  
  – Daniel Griscom
  10 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  4
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Could you please provide the actual switch/outlet you used.
  
  – Ben
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This can only be a UK question.
  
  – Harper
  33 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

I got a USB wall socket fitted. When it was installed, I tested the USB port with a tester with the switches off, but the USB outlet was live. Is this normal?

electrical receptacle uk

share|improve this question

edited 23 mins ago

manassehkatz

10.8k1440

asked 11 hours ago

sean kellysean kelly

262

New contributor

sean kelly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 23 mins ago

manassehkatz

10.8k1440

asked 11 hours ago

sean kellysean kelly

262

New contributor

sean kelly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 23 mins ago

manassehkatz

10.8k1440

asked 11 hours ago

sean kellysean kelly

262

New contributor

sean kelly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

edited 23 mins ago

manassehkatz

10.8k1440

edited 23 mins ago

manassehkatz

10.8k1440

asked 11 hours ago

sean kellysean kelly

262

New contributor

sean kelly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 11 hours ago

sean kellysean kelly

262

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

21

In the US, no the USB ports will not have power when the outlet is not powered. Most outlets in the US don't have power switches on them, so if you switch them off there is no way for power to be provided.

In the UK, outlets often have power switches. In that case, your USB ports are usually powered while the outlet switches are off. This is because the outlet assembly itself is always powered, but the switches only control the outlet and not the USB power transformer.

You said cheers in your original post, so I'm assuming you're probably British and have the UK type of USB outlet. Yes, this is normal.

Other answers are assuming that you are in the US, where that wouldn't be normal.

share|improve this answer

edited 9 hours ago

answered 9 hours ago

DotesDotes

2,555314

add a comment | 

4

Sometimes power supplies/transformers can hold voltage in capacitors to make it look like they are on for a short time after they are unplugged. Rather than checking with a tester, plug a phone (or anything that actually consumes power) into the charger and operate the switch to see if it is still on when the switch is off.

It's not impossible for the USB portion to have power all the time, but I've never seen a USB receptacle that would allow for it in the US.

edit: UK outlets can have integrated switches where this is much more plausible. See the other answer for the UK...

share|improve this answer

edited 4 hours ago

answered 10 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

10.9k22548

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I have the British type as shown in Dotes' answer. I'm trying the experiment and so far it is charging my phone perfectly well with both switches off. I'll look in a few minutes but I'm pretty sure no capacitors are doing the charging.
  
  – chasly from UK
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @chaslyfromUK, that makes sense. Our receptacles are different in the US and don't have integrated switches like that so it would be hard for this to happen. The UK based answer is right, but I'm leaving this answer because it can explain why voltages or small led lights stay on even after a charger is unplugged or switched off.
  
  – JPhi1618
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "73"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);

else
createEditor();

);

function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);



);

sean kelly is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fdiy.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f161734%2fare-usb-sockets-on-wall-outlets-live-all-the-time-even-when-the-switch-is-off%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

21

In the US, no the USB ports will not have power when the outlet is not powered. Most outlets in the US don't have power switches on them, so if you switch them off there is no way for power to be provided.

In the UK, outlets often have power switches. In that case, your USB ports are usually powered while the outlet switches are off. This is because the outlet assembly itself is always powered, but the switches only control the outlet and not the USB power transformer.

You said cheers in your original post, so I'm assuming you're probably British and have the UK type of USB outlet. Yes, this is normal.

Other answers are assuming that you are in the US, where that wouldn't be normal.

share|improve this answer

edited 9 hours ago

answered 9 hours ago

DotesDotes

2,555314

add a comment | 

21

In the US, no the USB ports will not have power when the outlet is not powered. Most outlets in the US don't have power switches on them, so if you switch them off there is no way for power to be provided.

In the UK, outlets often have power switches. In that case, your USB ports are usually powered while the outlet switches are off. This is because the outlet assembly itself is always powered, but the switches only control the outlet and not the USB power transformer.

You said cheers in your original post, so I'm assuming you're probably British and have the UK type of USB outlet. Yes, this is normal.

Other answers are assuming that you are in the US, where that wouldn't be normal.

share|improve this answer

edited 9 hours ago

answered 9 hours ago

DotesDotes

2,555314

add a comment | 

In the US, no the USB ports will not have power when the outlet is not powered. Most outlets in the US don't have power switches on them, so if you switch them off there is no way for power to be provided.

In the UK, outlets often have power switches. In that case, your USB ports are usually powered while the outlet switches are off. This is because the outlet assembly itself is always powered, but the switches only control the outlet and not the USB power transformer.

You said cheers in your original post, so I'm assuming you're probably British and have the UK type of USB outlet. Yes, this is normal.

Other answers are assuming that you are in the US, where that wouldn't be normal.

share|improve this answer

edited 9 hours ago

answered 9 hours ago

DotesDotes

2,555314

share|improve this answer

edited 9 hours ago

answered 9 hours ago

DotesDotes

2,555314

answered 9 hours ago

DotesDotes

2,555314

answered 9 hours ago

DotesDotes

2,555314

4

Sometimes power supplies/transformers can hold voltage in capacitors to make it look like they are on for a short time after they are unplugged. Rather than checking with a tester, plug a phone (or anything that actually consumes power) into the charger and operate the switch to see if it is still on when the switch is off.

It's not impossible for the USB portion to have power all the time, but I've never seen a USB receptacle that would allow for it in the US.

edit: UK outlets can have integrated switches where this is much more plausible. See the other answer for the UK...

share|improve this answer

edited 4 hours ago

answered 10 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

10.9k22548

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I have the British type as shown in Dotes' answer. I'm trying the experiment and so far it is charging my phone perfectly well with both switches off. I'll look in a few minutes but I'm pretty sure no capacitors are doing the charging.
  
  – chasly from UK
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @chaslyfromUK, that makes sense. Our receptacles are different in the US and don't have integrated switches like that so it would be hard for this to happen. The UK based answer is right, but I'm leaving this answer because it can explain why voltages or small led lights stay on even after a charger is unplugged or switched off.
  
  – JPhi1618
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

4

Sometimes power supplies/transformers can hold voltage in capacitors to make it look like they are on for a short time after they are unplugged. Rather than checking with a tester, plug a phone (or anything that actually consumes power) into the charger and operate the switch to see if it is still on when the switch is off.

It's not impossible for the USB portion to have power all the time, but I've never seen a USB receptacle that would allow for it in the US.

edit: UK outlets can have integrated switches where this is much more plausible. See the other answer for the UK...

share|improve this answer

edited 4 hours ago

answered 10 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

10.9k22548

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I have the British type as shown in Dotes' answer. I'm trying the experiment and so far it is charging my phone perfectly well with both switches off. I'll look in a few minutes but I'm pretty sure no capacitors are doing the charging.
  
  – chasly from UK
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @chaslyfromUK, that makes sense. Our receptacles are different in the US and don't have integrated switches like that so it would be hard for this to happen. The UK based answer is right, but I'm leaving this answer because it can explain why voltages or small led lights stay on even after a charger is unplugged or switched off.
  
  – JPhi1618
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

Sometimes power supplies/transformers can hold voltage in capacitors to make it look like they are on for a short time after they are unplugged. Rather than checking with a tester, plug a phone (or anything that actually consumes power) into the charger and operate the switch to see if it is still on when the switch is off.

It's not impossible for the USB portion to have power all the time, but I've never seen a USB receptacle that would allow for it in the US.

edit: UK outlets can have integrated switches where this is much more plausible. See the other answer for the UK...

share|improve this answer

edited 4 hours ago

answered 10 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

10.9k22548

share|improve this answer

edited 4 hours ago

answered 10 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

10.9k22548

answered 10 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

10.9k22548

answered 10 hours ago

JPhi1618JPhi1618

10.9k22548