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Hometall - USB Charging Station

I'm happy I invested in a USB charging station.  It's quite worth it and cost me about $30 for the Hometall charging station from Amazon.  You don't realize how convenient it is to have a single location with all just the right length of cable needed to charge almost any device.  With over a half dozen devices and an Apple Watch, the Hometall 5-port USB charging station is perfect for me.

How to Calculate Watts (Volts x Amps)

I'm not 100% sure but I don't think the Hometall supports Qualcomm QC Quick Charge 3.0 as that requires an output of at least 18 watts.  To calculate wattage you take the number of volts multiplied by the amount of amperage.  The label on the bottom of the charging station indicates an output of 5 volts and 2.4 amps so that would equate to 12 watts (5 x 2.4 = 12).  There is another indication of a max of 50 watts, but I think that indicates how much power can be used to charge multiple devices simultaneously, so my hunch it'll reduce to about 8-10 watts per port if we were attempting to charge 6 devices at once.

I further tested with a Samsung S8+ that supports fast charge and the fast charge indicator did not come on.  I proved that the S8+ supports it by separately plugging it into a Qualcomm QC 2.0 fast charger to confirm the indicator works.  QC 2.0 generates at least 15 watts and typically Samsung adapters use 9 volts at 1.67 amps ( 9 x 1.67 = 15).

While its faster than a standard 10 watt adapter (5 volts at 1 amp), it doesn't appear to support true Quick Charge QC 3.0, nor even QC 2.0.

Blue Light

There is an on/off switch on the side of the base next to the power plug.  At first I thought this was the on/off switch for the entire charging station, but this is actually the on/off switch for the built-in blue light.  The light is kinda cool, but annoying at night as I have this charger in the bedroom.  I was relieved to learn the switch shuts off only the light and it continues to charge devices.

If they labeled it accordingly or put it somewhere in the instructions that would be helpful.

Overall - OK

The non-standard lightning cables have the typical imperfection in that you have to attach them carefully to make sure they are charging.  This is common for non-Apple branded cables and you probably also need to unlock the device sometimes when it fails to recognize the cable.

There are some complaints on Amazon that the charging station eventually ceases to function and I'll be on the lookout for if and when that happens.  For now, it does what I need and kept it in a safe and secure location.

Buyers Remorse - Consider going w/ Anker instead...

As always, a little research goes a long way and realizing that the Hometall may have misadvertised its QC 3.0 capability, I should have considered going with a more known and reputable brand like Anker.  Ankers has several charging stations, while more spartan looking appear to support true Quick Charge and don't cost that much more.

In the future I'll do my research and hopefully the Hometall lasts me a while.  If not, I'll get the Anker.

Update - 9/5/21 - Still working fine after 10 months

It’s almost a year now and this thing still works.  I noticed when I limit this to charging only 1-2 devices at a time it works quite well and charges most devices at a reasonable speed.

It’s main value to me is cable and device management as I can neatly maintain several devices in each slot and all the relevant charging cables without having to swap them about.

Overall, I’m quite happy with this usb charging station.


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