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Ditching power bricks for USB-C
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- Published on Apr 17, 2026
- These old wall wart power adapters are such a pain, if only there was a way to replace them with something a little more sleek.
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Howto & Style
You breezed passed the biggest issue with the usb-c power strip plan: every time you plug or unplug a device, the strip resets all of the plugs to make sure it can supply each device with the proper voltage without going into overload. This is not a big deal for battery powered decives like cell phones or laptops as they do not reboot. This is a big problem for items like routers, monitors or USB powered lighting. One solution is to employ two USB power strips, one for battery powered devices that come and go and another for always-on devices that stay put.
What strips do this I've never seen that happen I usually use anchor or similar
@ReedithUSBC renegotiates power everytime something is added. You can see this most obviously on GaN power bricks with multiple USBC ports
For a desk it probably is fine but for a network rack it might be a problem
Some USB power hubs have ports that do not renegotiate power when plugging/unplugging, but it’s a bit of work to determine which ones those are. I needed to find one for my travel setup, after figuring out why my travel router kept losing power.
@GeorgeCoghillWould you care to elaborate on how to figure this out? Or at least let us know which one(s) you found?
Thanks for your consideration!
Some dude on a bike said to come here.
😂😂
Came here from there 😂
Same
Same here!😂
😂
You totally want to look at home assistant to replace all of those smart home hubs.
Home assistant for initial head aches. Or Homey pro for ease of use but less customizability. (I plan to eventually go back to home assistant)
I was thinking the same thing
It's definitely going to be a video at some point!
@kennedyishcant wait, take my single sub
*Home Assistant looks at you from the future*
Hahaha it's coming!
I’m very happy for you to change directions. Just the way my life has gone over the years, I watch less MTB and more DIY so this is perfect. Let’s go!
Sounds awesome! Hope I can get some good stuff going!
He started with this then went MTB route. I believe his first was a water sprinkler unit
the 10V devices usually happily accept either 9V or 12V power
Ahhh! Didn’t think they could handle such a range
1:03 nah bro he did not say that😂
I came to the comments to find one like this. I am cooked. And u are too, don’t deny it
6, 7
six _seven_ :3
The less obvious consideration... The original wall power adapters are designed to continuously supply power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to the device they came with. The USB-C "chargers" are often not designed to be a continuous power supply and may not have adequate cooling for the internal components or other compromises. In my experience many are not reliable when put to continuous use and die after a few months to a year. I have a stack of dead ones. Hopefully this changes. In the meantime I get reasonable life from the USB chargers if I keep the load to no more than 1/2 of what they are rated to supply.
I've also found that USB-C cables are a lot more expensive than replacing a typical wall power adapter. Cheap USB-C cables work fine for 30 watt and less - suitable replacement for most wall adapters.
Oh wow, that is really interesting. You're right about the original use case for those hubs. Even if it's for charging 3 laptops, you're just charging and not continuously powering. But these hubs I bought have a massive power capacity and the stuff I'm plugging in is pretty low draw. If it all falls apart I'll have to make a new video!
@kennedyish....or just see if they get hot, then add a usb-c fan on them 😊
Bkxc playing with dongles on jan 1st was not on my 2026 bingo card, but I'm here for it!
Hahahaha love it
Repeat after me "we listen but we don't judge" 😂
Another benefit of this usb-c centric approach is you can get rid of the high pitched whine from cheap (likely near failure) AC to DC adapters. I have at least two in my office that are starting to make some annoying high frequency whines. I'm going to try your idea here and see if I can get those replaced!
Oh wow, that's a great point!
Bro went from epic sends to epic power bricks. 🥺
Hahaha!
A multimeter might help keep the magic smoke inside where it's meant to be :)
Haha, even better just reading what it says on the board!
@kennedyish Multimeters are very useful - and take seconds to learn and use.
I took a different approach. Got myself a DC UPS with many outputs that are all independently voltage selectable. It’s about the same size as one of those many usb-c power bricks you have. I hook up 4-6 devices per unit. Helps a lot for all my mini power outages.
Which UPS do you use? Does it remember the port settings 100% reliably? Even if I clearly labeled them, I’d be worried that it could lose its settings and fry everything.
@caddyzigit’s a Skazeke brand. I split off similar voltages per port (running 2-3 devices per port, just make sure not to overload it). Been working fine for a year now.
@hpjtv Thanks for the idea and the feedback! I’ll check it out.
I had not seen something like this! Very cool
Next up is to get Seth on here to do electronics/build stuff.
Haha, that would be fantastic!
@kennedyish right? He used to do car audio, and rebuilt that ebike and his mtb b&b!
Good to have you back mate
This feels like the equivalent of car guys doing engine bay wire tucks but for home nerds… love it
I bought a pack of those short extension chords 15-20 years ago when I was working in IT
still using them
one of the best discoveries I've ever made : )
They're too good! Surprised I don't hear more people talk about them
I managed to find some that have pilot lights in them! You can see when they're powered up!
0:50 in all I want is that huge power strip 😂
Thanks for bkxc and looking forward to being a continued fan!
Love to hear it!!
Thanks for this video. I have been waiting to have the time to disassemble many of my devices to change out the ports, but such a hacking project was too time consuming and risky to do, so the solutions that you found are a relief to be sure
Yeah, I'm scared of the soldering!
I remember this guy
my solution for power adaptor and cable management is to just hide it all. Out of sight, out of mind! Lol.
Hahah yep, build a box around it!
Good luck on this new journey!
Thanks so much!
I used to have an AC to DC block that had adjustable voltage output and multiple barrel plugs at the end of the cord. I fried a portable DVD player, and I smoked a DVD polishing tool. After that I threw the adapter away before I started a fire.
The surge protector with the 8 inch power cord extensions looks like Ursula‘s garden of poor unfortunate souls from the Little mermaid lol
Definitely!! A brutal beast
Love the idea for this channel! I'm at the same point in my life with less riding (and less watching MTB videos) and more interest in DIY and tech projects. I haven't found the courage to trade out my nice corporate job for a passion yet, but your journey is inspiring.
Love to hear it! Thanks for coming along!
Following! Your biking channel really came when I needed it the most. Got my mountain bike and never looked back. Thank you! 👏🏼
Welcome aboard!!
Apparently some dude told me to scan a QR code and here I am. 😂😂
Been watching your channel since 2019. Hoping to still ride with you someday. Thanks Brian
Hahaha, love it!!
Very cool video. I enjoy trying to declutter wires and make my home a little more smart.
It's an endless battle!!
Good luck! And I will continue watching your MB videos as they motivate me to get better on the bike 👍🙏
Thanks a ton!!
Don't know how the algorithm suggested this video, but thoroughly enjoyed it! Subscribed!
Fantastic!!
well once i saw the fire, i was out
Been trying to do this forever! I thought I was the only crazy one, great job!
Haha! awesome
Good stuff homie
This. Exactly this.
I've been staring at a similar pile of wall warts, power bricks, and multiple power strips and seething about the lack of a standard for months now.
This is a great start though I'm not sure I have the balls to trust that I get each conversion right and not set the house on fire and wreck all my tech gear.
I wish North America would adopt that EU standard of USBC for everything under 240 watts. We managed to set up a universal standard for AC plugs and lightbulb sockets over a hundred years ago, why hasn't DC power connectivity been given the same love?
Thanks for addressing this issue with a custom fix video for it. Hopefully enough people agree this is a big issue and needs to be addressed and standardized.
Same reason we fully standardized on the metric system in the USA in 1893 (for real) and officially began converting to metric in 1975 and nobody knows what a meter or a kilogram or what 20 °C feels like.
Same reason Chicago burnt down around 1900 when every fire truck in the region came to help, but couldn’t because they all had incompatible hoses for the hydrants, and over 100 years later they still do, after the NBS (later NIST) established national standards for fire hydrant hookups.
It would have been too expensive to change the existing tooling at the time, when there was approximately a thousandth as much of it.
We’d rather, quite literally, make the problem a thousand times worse before course correcting, for some damned reason.
(Don’t get me started on Promises in JavaScript.)
N.B., the real conclusion to the fire hydrant story is that every fire truck now carries something like 100-200 pounds worth of adapters.
I hope we can get a USB-C standard here!
I’ve ridden bikes my entire life. I got married, had a kid and have another on the way.
Needless to say I love riding my bike, but my priorities have changed drastically and I’ve been binging home improvement videos, so I am excited with the new channel as I already love your bike videos! Perfect timing, and I am sure I am not the only one feeling that way.
Haha, yep!! Different seasons of life
I have that same Ambient weather station! Works excellent after 3 years full-time in our RV, 49 states and Canada! Recorded 67.13" of rain last year!
67 inches!!? Holy moly!! As I get older I love my weather station more and more
The final resul is just awesome!
So nice with all the extra junk taken away!
Interesting. Looking forward to future videos. Love that we got some of the old BKXC shed and board in the video!
Haha, yep! It'll be there for a while!
Great video - inspiring organization
Thanks dude!
Wow! Subscribed! Excited for this fun next new chapter Brian!
Thanks so much Jason!!
Appreciate your effort and time... 👍🏾💯
Thanks!
Guy drops his first video and sounds like a 10 year veteran. Excellent work. Very relatable.
Haha, I have been doing RUclips for 10 years on my MTB channel BKXC
Here to support your life pivot and see where this goes. Looking forward to seeing the home hunt, purchase, and renovation.
Awesome, I hope I make it that far!
Given your resourcefulness at Everstoke, this new endeavor should be a fun ride.
Gonna do my best!!
1:36 off to a great start! hahaha I had no idea about these barrel to USB adapters. It is quite frustrating that they make them all so random. The QR links on screen are extremely helpful. Most of my RUclips viewing is now done on TV and if theres a helpful "link in the description" I have to grab my phone, open the app, look for the video in my history. Half of the time I decide it's not worth it or think I'll go back later and look for it but typically just forget all together. The on screen idea is genius.
Smoke 'em if you got em! I agree, I'm always watching on the TV so it's much easier to pause and then check out the links!
I really do wish you the best in your new endeavors
Thanks so much!
I LOVED this video! I just spent the last week doing EXACTLY what you were doing. I was prepared to solder some connectors to my USB cables until I found a similar "underground" of adapters and usb C or A cables. It seems like the 5 mm x 2.1 mm connector is almost a standard for the non-USB C adapters. Other than that, I hate that I buy 5 adapters, then pick one tha works throw the others away.--except I don't. I kepp them somewhere for "future use".
One thing I suggest is get a cheap digital Caliper. It will help with the Outside diameter of the connector you are replacing and limit the guess work to the inside diameter. You can almost guess the ID using the calipers.
Keep it up. Looking forward to the next video.
Oh man, that's a great idea about the caliper! So true about the bin of "future use" parts
Use stick on Velcro strips and attach as much as you can(like the various hubs) to the underside of the shelf, and double your usable shelf space(and it can also make them a less visual mess). 🙂
Love the velcro stuff! So good at hiding everything
Remove all those hubs, you need Home Assistant in your life :)
Haha, I've got Home Assistant and I definitely want to start over from scratch with everything I know now!
I worked for a couple last year on a landscaping project! The cable and tech in that house was unreal! Although the existing house was from around 1100 ad. The best thing was the bambu lab 3d printer really handy for making conduit reducers and fidget spinners!
Wow!! That is awesome.
Fantastic video!
Thanks!
This is going to be a great channel.
Glad you're along for the ride!!
looking forward to future videos from you
Awesome!
Nice start to your channel! This is really relevant to 10in mini rack builds.
Nice dude, didn't know much about any of this!
Sweetnes!! It might help, but it might also break something!
Finding a decent USB power hub, can be an entire rabbit hole in itself, as you experienced. A lot of the cheaper ones say 180w, but the second another device is plugged in it splits it say 80w by 80w or even less, or even can maintain that 180w for long and a myriad of other annoying quirks.
Definitely! A couple of the ones I bought made it pretty clear which "groups" of ports are shared and how much power one group can take
Excited about your new channel! I’ve always wanted to learn how to remodel. I’ve got my own condo and i’m going to use it as the training ground :)
Haha, awesome!
I've been putting type C on all my home-built stuff that calls for a barrel jack and wall-wart or laptop brick. I did one or two barrel to usb-c a few years ago, good idea I'll do this for some of the existing devices too.
For the maker stuff usb-c trigger boards much like that one that let's you select voltage are usually what I use.
Bad ass! Glad I'm not the only one
this is every man's frustration :-)
Hahaha yes it is
Biggest problem I find with USB connectors is that they fail quickly with use versus the older type of jacks. I’ve had many fail which I ended up cutting the usb and splicing it back to the bayonet style which was way more reliable
But in this case they won’t be plugged and unplugged very frequently. USB gets abused so it seems to fail more. With devices that use barrel plugs that actually need unplugged unplugged often like my game boy color, the barrel jacks are weak too.
Yep, basically plugging them in once and letting it sit!
@1:33 - "Wall Warts!" Now a permanent part of my vernacular. Thanks, Brian!
Haha, my pleasure
Great video I really like this project, networking items love these barrel plugs. I would say worth creating a label maker sticker on each of these with the power specs for help years from now. You know what my first project will be, the ember mug… I hate the plug they give you.
Label maker is a great idea!!
This video is useful and fun, you’ve earned my subscription and I will be watching your future content.
Thanks a ton!
Good luck with the unified system! I went the easy route and dumbed-down my smart home. My soul needed to go more analog so badly and I'm lucky(?) that I don't need that much tech in my life. Idk, maybe I'm just getting old andy brain is telling me to prepare to return to my roots.
Good luck on the new channel and thanks for the amazing and extensive catalog of videos on the bkxc channel!
Man, that's the key with the smart home, making it dead simple. But it's so hard to do that!!
Nice. Given me some ideas for cleaning up a cable mess here and there. I'd suggest getting an inexpensive digital multimeter for measuring voltage, polarity, etc... to avoid letting the "magic smoke" out of any other devices. Harbor Freight has them for not much money and they're handy for DIY stuff around the house.
Yep, I’ve got one but didn’t even think far enough to use it!
I am 100% in agreement and on the same page as you. There are so few of any videos of this type exactly on here. That are entertaining explain in Laymans terms, etc. etc. so kudos to you my brother well done. If I’m not already a subscriber, he just earned one. And there are a few solutions out there I agree, but this is a great video. Thanks. / barrel plugs basically suck lol
Love to hear that!! Welcome aboard
I'd have been happy if clunky adapter designers simply had a 6" extension from the block to a normal size plug so the plug doesn't take so much real estate on the outlet.
Good luck with the unifi build! You won't look back! You can ditch the fibre modem too by plugging the fibre directly into your Unifi Cloud Gateway/Router and inputting the ISP settings/passwords. One less bit of clutter / plug!
Hahaha, yes, I have seen that rabbit hole with pon.wiki!! Seems like a lot to deal with!
Every device you plug in has a specific voltage & current rating. If you look where you plug in those jacks, the rating is clearly printed on the outside. Most of them that is 😊
Most definitely!
Great storytelling Brian, wish you much success.
Thanks a ton!
Well sir, another chapter begins. Another success awaits.
Thanks for the kind words Paul!
Can’t wait for unify project. I want to do the same.
It's been a fantasy for a long time!!
Once the smoke escapes, those electronics never work the same.
The soul leaving the body
Keep creating!
Thanks Gramps!
I did something similar with my Lenovo Mini PC cluster. You can get the usb c to the Lenovo yellow rectangle plug adapter and just had to find a beefy hub as they were all 65w each @ 19-20v. Works great.
Perfect! Once you figure out the volts and amps you're good!
The Unifi with the PoE and USB-C will be a life changer for ya, plus all the options especially for work from home and kids is amazing.
Oh wow, I really did not know that PoE stuff was so versatile!
Best of luck on your new endeavor
Thanks so much!
Was such a big fan I started my own MTB RUclips channel. But, more recently my favorite videos have been your projects up at Everstoke. Looking forward to more projects on this channel and maybe you will inspire me to clean up a rats nest or 2 around my place!
Hahaha, love to hear it!! The rats nests must go!
It aggravates me the range of DC device voltages. I’ve dreamt about wiring my house with DC along with AC but…all the different voltages. I would likely guess correctly that at least half the need for a wall outlet is to plug in something working off of DC, the only exception might be the kitchen. It warms my heart when I pick something that uses the USB-C style connector though. I wish all devices used this as a standard. Another is POE. This would help a lot with network devices, one power source and the rest get their power delivered via Ethernet from an appropriately designed switch/hub/router. I also liberally use those stubby extensions on my power strips for all the wall warts, very handy, I understand your frustration.
Exactly! That's why USB-C is such a great solution. Still many problems left to solve!
2:32 Barrel plugs drive me nuts. Now I know it’s not only me. Thank you for restoring my sanity.
Haha, they're just so lame!
I did the very same thing a few years ago. Behind my work desk I've got a Raspberry Pi (mostly a print server), an Ethernet switch, and one of my two external monitors all plugged into one USB PSU. I have to be mindful about disconnecting the Pi or I'll give myself an Internet outage!
Similarly I had my cable TV converter box (recently turned in--service got cancelled), my Wii, my Blu-Ray player and a TG-16 Mini all plugged in together on a USB PSU in my media center. I'm less likely to accidentally trigger a renegotiation there.
I had to go through the same research process that you did to get each of the devices the kind of juice it needs. Overall I'm still happy I did it!
Very cool!! Especially when you can just set it and forget it
What a goofball
OK Brian, I can truly appreciate the chargers, adapters, wires, cables etc. menagerie! Retired Gentleman North Central Florida, USA
Thanks a ton!
You should measure power usage before and after.
Good idea
Nice pivot BK...BK-USB-C...looking forward to more content
Hahaha, I love BK USBC
Alternatively, I actually use PoE for that - some converters are multivoltage so I can choose between 5, 9 and 12V depending on the gear. There are also nice PoE to USBC adapters.
Man, I’m missing out on PoE, I hadn’t thought about it at all
good project. all those cables and adopter jacks and USB hubs cost quite a lot of money
I think it was worth it!
Cool great new channel congratulations Brian 😎🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
Thanks a ton!
he said the 6 7 thing
Ready to follow you on your new quest friend! Hope to see you out on a trail some day! Cheers!
Welcome aboard 🚂
Use werewolf where you can program each barrel Jack with the voltage
Nice dude, subscribed
Welcome aboard!
Nice improvements! You might want to put your NAS on a higher shelf so it inhales less dust.
Ha, you're right!
That's an interesting idea and is tempting. The one thing that would give me pause is that I've had several different brand USB charging blocks die on me. Either all at once or by the port. But I've never had the individual power bricks from devices do that. But I would bet having a single AC->DC block is better for power efficiency that N of them.
Haha, that would be a dark day if the USB hub broke down!
I think this a topic not too many have considered but it’s a useful one with the flexibility that PD power has. I think you should also talk about gan power adapters and when you shouldn’t bother swapping to usb power.
You should continue to use the original power supply for the monitor or anything where the cables are easily organized or pd power can measurably affect performance (gaming laptop). It can be a waste of time and money to swap those for USB.
Where it actually makes sense is converting a large travel power brick to a more portable one that has multiple functions or for tidying a small rats nest of lower power devices.
We switched a portable O2 concentrator from a comically oversized 19v power brick to a SlimQ 150w. It weighs a lot less is much smaller and 3x more powerful with additional ports for small electronics during travel. In addition it can use a compact extension cable to increase it reach, also useful for travel.
Keep up the good work
That's awesome, very cool that you got this going for travel!
Interesting solution, nice one. I've been using PoE switches to run some devices with a network to USB adaptor. Works well for lower powered devices that normally take a few AA batteries.
Man, I had not even thought of POE, but quite a few people have mentioned.
@kennedyish Oh that's good to hear. It's quite good though, my switch is a bit clever and I can schedule turn on and off power. Upstairs kids bedroom and loo has USB port in ceiling that's powered by PoE switch via a cheap adaptor. Switch is powered by UPS, so if there's a power failure, lights can stay on for many hours, as can the internet connection (fibre).
I label all of my wall warts with the voltage and current and store them in zip lock bags. That clears up most of the problems, just knowing what's what goes a long way.
Oh wow! that's great
here we are 30 years later and basically same problem. USB-C does offer some nice streamlining but average person wont be able to do it. I've always just stuffed wall worts into a box and manage the cables as they exit, not perfect. Using a DIN rail power supplies could be a clean solution as well but would get expensive..
Went to Ubiquiti several years ago, Dream Machine Pro, 10G switches, wireless every corner of the house, good stuff.
Nice!! I hope these companies will just give up on the wall warts now and start doing USB-C!
Nice bike!
Thanks!