Like a number of you I’m sure, I have a number of devices that power from USB. Each time a new USB device arrives, it seems I spend a good 20 minutes trying to figure out what’s the optimum arrangement to plug in the power adaptors into the multi-gangs I have so that the devices can all be charged.

The place where this seems to happen is mostly by my bed, and the multi-gang adaptor I had there was a massive jumble of cables I’d often end up tripping over. So, there had to be a solution…

Searching on Amazon, I came across Anker‘s 5-port 40W adaptor, so 5 USB devices could be plugged in to one adaptor, and the adaptor itself was around the size of a deck of cards. PERFECT. One plug, 5 USB devices!

Having also been a fan of Ikea Hackers, I’d always wanted to try to customize the furniture to something that was of more use. I thought of an idea to mount the adaptor in such a way as to keep it off the floor out of sight. So, over my lunch break today I thought of building a cradle I could attach to the base of the unit out of “L” brackets, then tack the cables along the back in order to have something to keep them a bit tidier.

With the cradle complete, the device sits in it quite nicely:

Turning it back over and re-installing the radio & lamp, the cables are now tacked in the far back corner within easy reach. They fall out over the back when not in use, and don’t sit messily over the front. Not bad for 15 minutes of work.

Must find more projects like this to do…

B