/ Cory Doctorow / 2:11 am Tue Oct 19, 2010

80-port USB charger board


Building a PC? Why not throw in one of these 80 port USB charger-boards, so you can charge everygoddamnedthing you own? No data throughput, and it wants its own power supply (duh!).

80ポートUSBチャージャーボード (via OhGizmo!)

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    1. only thing missing is someone over there linking back here, and we watch the core routers cave under the net equivalent of a infinite loop…

  3. The iPod touch has become popular for delivering multimedia tours in museums, and they spend lots of money on prefabricated charging stations. This could be a key component for a charging station fabricated in-house. Any Makers out there like to provide a design?

  6. The museum tour guide thing seems sensible, good idea.

    However it seems like any individual who feels that he/she needs this at home may have problems which could require serious therapy..

  7. Hmmm, 80 ports times 500mA per, that works out to 40 Amps. (And 13-14 Amps per Molex connector.

    Off hand, (and this is based on years of experience working on less-than-perfectly-designed industrial equipment) I’m guessing that in less than a year, the the solder joints at the power supplying Molex connectors will crack, and/or vaporize.

    And that museum will burn down, down, down.

    1. @PaulIR

      While I’m not familiar enough with high-current/low-voltage systems as you, I am concerned that there doesn’t seem to be any kind of over-current protection on the board (even limited to rows or columns) to prevent a short in some device plugged in from causing a fire.

      This thing looks like a fireball waiting to happen.

    3. according to a recent addition to the usb2.0 spec, if a device only draws power it can draw up to 1500mA. 1800mA if one short the data connectors at the board end with a 200ohm resistor.

  9. I thought I was looking at Space Invaders for a second, then I realized I wasn’t, and I got sad.

  10. Interesting that the Japanese counting word for USB ports “pon” is the same one used for long, thin objects like pencils and bottles, as well as train tracks, rivers and public transportation routes.

    FYI: Counting words are hugely important to Japanese. In English we have a few specialized counting words like volumes of books or reams of paper, but EVERYTHING in Japanese has a specific counting word associated with it. Use the wrong one and people will literally stare at you with incomprehension.

    One whatchamacallit, two thingamabobs, three gizmos, four doohickeys, and a whatsit.

  13. This thing has molex connectors, jumpers, and screw holes, all of which suggest that this thing would go into a computer. However, as far as I know, there is nowhere in the ATX standard to put it, unless you are going to forgo a motherboard. Even if you find a place in your computer to put this thing, you wouldn’t be able to access the USB ports to charge external devices.

    It’s difficult to guess how this thing is supposed to be used. It seems like it would make more sense as a self-contained device, rather than an internal board. You can use boards to make devices, of course, but even a USB charging device wouldn’t use USB ports internally.

    Add in the power and safety problems mentioned above, and this is just a bizarre thing with no real world application.

  14. I am just doing a job that has 50 iPod touches and 10 iPads.
    I actually need one of these!
    Does anyone know where I can get one?

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