Bloggers are always attached to their phones and electrical devices which means a need to charge! We asked blogger Ali Clifford, aka @incredibusy, to tell us her ideas for tidying messy electrical cables, and organising herself so that her mobile phone never goes flat again! (a potential nightmare for an epic instagrammer and BritMums BIBs 2016 Choice award-winning writer…)
Ali writes: So in an attempt to sort out the nest of wires dotted all around the house, I started looking into ideas on offer for extension leads. Researching on the internet, I found the funkiest alternative to the traditional extension lead – the PowerCube Extension and loads of equally quirky looking ‘gadgets’ in the same PowerCube range, including a Power USB portable… more on that later (needless to say, it’s inspired!)
So starting with the PowerCube Extended, http://www.allocacocshop.com/products/powercube-extended-3m/ £11.99 (select socket type Original (type G) Used in the UK, the U.A.E, Hong Kong, Singapore)
Basically it’s a five-way extension lead – six sided cube (cubes, aren’t they ALL six sided?!) which instead of the usual ‘strip’ of sockets for your electric plugs, is a cute little stylish cube. It comes with a choice of two cable lengths, a generous 3m, or a shorter 1m length.
There’s an optional secure mount, which ideally would be screwed to the desk for stability (alternatively, it does come with adhesive strips if a screwdriver is not convenient for you…) this would be best used if you don’t want any surface clutter – and prefer to have your power accessible to the side or under the desk.
The adapter locks to the mount with a twist, so bare this in mind when fixing so that the adapter is in the correct orientation when locked.
I totally loved that the design has been well thought through, as each socket is angled at a different orientation to allow for the max number of plugs to be fitted without causing obstruction. (you know how sometimes you can’t plug two things next to each other because the plugs are too big??) Each of the cube units in the PowerCube range are modular and therefore can extend the capacity of this basic extension unit.
Another advantage of the cube extension, in comparison to the conventional ‘strip’, is that many contemporary devices have short power leads, having all sockets on one cube, can be an advantage…. In a compact space, to reach items on your desk.
So, back to the OTHER accidental find, discovered on my quest for the perfect extension lead – the innovative PowerUSB Portable, a USB Charger Hub.
http://www.allocacocshop.com/products/PowerUSBPortable £24.99
This is effectively a portable 5000 milliamp per hour mAh battery charger with four USB charging points, which also acts as a hub, so that you can connect multiple devices to a PC, or laptop to transfer data, whilst charging, via a small micro USB cable which is supplied.
This is brilliant for client meetings where you need your phone on the desk, and you can charge and use it at the same time! (This often happens to me – I travel an hour or so to a meeting, and my phone battery is flat by the time I’ve arrived, and the charging point is nowhere near the desk – nightmare).
Also great for any Apple MacBook users as they only have two USB slots for example – Plugging one of these PowerBank HUBs offers a solution for the lack of USB ports on these contemporary laptops, and means that you can ‘fast charge’ devices, (rather than ‘trickle charge’ which is how my phone charges when I plug it straight into my laptop). AND you can transfer data at the same time, uploading photographs straight from your phone to your laptop for example…
Because the Power USB Portable comes with a plug, you can also pop it straight into the wall socket for even faster charging. A battery charge indicator light allows you to keep an eye on battery levels – you can even buy Travel Plug extension adapters so you can use overseas too!
Note, you have to wiggle the plug when putting it in, as, from a safety perspective there is a child lock on the socket, so it is sometimes a bit tricky to push in and out of the plug. These travel adapters are surprisingly affordable at €6.95 for four plugs for mainland Europe, UK, US and Australia. http://www.allocacocshop.com/products/rewirable-travel-plugs-2/
With four mobile phone users in the house now (yep, I succumbed and let the teen and preteen have a phone, all massive instagrammers too) we often need to charge them all at the same time, this cute little cube is just perfect for that – no squabbling about who used the closest charging point to the sofa – we can ALL use it simultaneously! And it’s a cute looking little cube too… A really good practical gift.
Offer for BritMums readers:
If you add the code BRITMUMS10 at the checkout of www.allocacocshop.com, you can grab yourself a 10% extra discount on any purchase until 21 December 2016.
Visit Ali here: agreenerlifeforus, kidschaos, funcraftskids, britmums and on instagram @incredibusy and @sogoodineverway the #sgiew photo challenge feed.
