How To Install A USB Electrical Outlet
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- Опубликовано: 5 май 2018
- Everything seems to be USB powered today--phones, cameras, and all your other gadgets. Now you can replace a standard electrical outlet with a combo unit that provides a USB charger alongside your regular outlets. They come in different configurations to suit your needs. In this video I'll show you how to replace your standard outlet with a new USB charger outlet. It's great for kitchen counters, bedrooms or anywhere your devices tends to gather.
Another video of mine talks about wiring a standard outlet:
• How To Replace a Stand... 
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perfect, answered all of my questions after having watched 4-5 previous videos. None of them had pairs of hot & neutral wires, due to hub for downstream outlets - thx!
Thank you. Answered my exact question related to the two wires and one connection. 7-8 minute mark. Really appreciate it.
Thank you for the informative video. you broke it down perfectly. My wife and I have been in our new home for 8 years (new to us). All of the previous owners cut a lot of corners.Wiring problems, crappy linoleum floors installed while the appliances where still there. Blue plastic? material for counter tops (our house is from 56 or so.) To see this video as not a domestic or commercial electrician but as an IPC SMT certified specialist, it puts my work in a different perpective. Thanks again.
Wow you are a lifesaver!! I was going to wrap both wires around the same terminal before I saw this after researching to no avail. Thanks so much!
Not sure if being sarcastic or serious. 🤔
Enjoyed the video John
You do a great job explaining the operation and add in valuable tips along the way.
Thanks for sharing, you gave me more clear answers and better explanation and easily understandable on how to wire a USB outlet then some of these how to do electrical wiring videos!! THANKS!
Thanks for this great, spot on, video. I was going to ask my husband to install this plug but it will be much easier for me to do it now that I know what to look for, etc. Thanks for taking the time to show me exactly HOW to install it.
Great video. Well explained and straight to the point.
Thank you very much 👍👍👍
Sincere thanks. You saved me a massive headache and salvaged a project I was about to abandon.
I just moved into an older home and am looking to replace some of the outlets. Thank you for this video. I didn't know an outlet tester device was so important OR that I should wrap the box with tape, Thanks for the knowledge.
thank you for the good easy to understand terms, the good filming. I leaned a lot.
Excellent video - I was in the midst of installing one of these and it didn’t work. I found your video and You mentioned the wire can’t be pushed in too much because the insulation would prevent a good connection. I readjusted the depth the wires went in and success! Thanks again !
Excellent video. I’ve swapped out outlets for most of my adult life, but came across the situation of two black and two white wires along with one ground, but only seeing two screws on the back of the new receptacle. Spot on, well presented video. I’m fortunate that it popped up first when I did my Google search. Thank you very much! Now the next thing must do is subscribe to your channel. ❤
I kept thinking these could only go on the end of a circuit, but now I know I can just pop both hots onto one screw and both neutrals onto one screw. Thanks!
Thanks so much for showing in detail about connecting both hots/neutrals to their correct terminal. No other video explains this well and I almost returned the outlet thinking it wouldn’t work to chain to others.
Awesome video. Oddly satisfying sharpened pencil + high quality resolution. Thank you.
I appreciate your video on this SO MUCH! I am going to check the two USB Combination receptacles I bought to see which of the ways you explained will work best. I’m hoping my new receptacles have those ‘two wire’ plates. Thank you!
Great video! Answered all of my questions without a bunch of b.s. ! Thanks for posting it!
Thank you for this!!! Straight forward instruction that gave me confidence in the lesson AND that I could repeat this process on my own without screwing up my house or shocking myself. There are many other forums and videos where the people on them are more interested in pointing out mistakes and/or with showing off how much they think they know.
Nice instructional video John
Thank you for sharing.
Thank God for this video I just noticed the washer and was worried i would have to go back and redo and whole row of outlets glad to know it's optional and wrapping around the screw is still ok.
I’ve done refrigeration for many years, did a lot of electrical work but never had to come across this and I’m glad I finally found some answers 😉 thank you! Something so simple was starting to stress me out lol I hate electricity and that’s why I’m done with refrigeration 😂
I was wondering about the Black Electrical tape.Thank you!! Old School is the best way!
I've been looking for this explanation and it was just what I needed thank you!!!
Great video. Thank you for your time making! The manufacturer instructions about the double wires should have had 1 up close picture and I think all the confusion could have been avoided.
Thank you for great video John
Just what I was looking for. THANK YOU!
Glad it was helpful!
Perfect video. Very well done and very helpful. Thank you. 🤘
Thank you so much. Great explanation.
Great video. This is what I was looking for. 👌
Excellent video, thank you!
Thank you, this video was super helpful
Super helpful, thanks so much!
Very good and thorough video!
Very good instructor.
Excellent tutorial.
Each electrician has his own way. I would always cap my hots and neturals together like you have on your ground. makes for a more solid connection.
Nothing wrong with that. It's difficult to convey to a DIY person in a short video all of the rules for box loading, though, so I err on the side of less wire to be safe.
Great vlog! Thank you
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This helped me a lot!
I didn’t tape everything off at the end and the hot sparked when I pulled a plug from the outlet. Turns out hot was touching because it was snug against the metal junction box. Seems to be working well now since I wrapped it in electrical tape. Thanks!
Great video. Thank you.
Awesome video thank you!
Awesome Thank You for your video
Great video thanks!
thanks John.
Awesome video sir
Thank you for showing out to install the two screw outlets. Now I don't need to hire an electrician!
Great class
Even if the camera was in the way, Excellent video. Thank You
Thank you for your video, it was very helpful, I am having a problem where the outlet right next to it is not working, what should I do?
Thank you
When you say the outlet right next to it, do you mean a second outlet in the same box or do you mean the next outlet in the room? And, was it working before you replaced the first one?
Great video
Thank you sir
Great video. It all makes perfect sense. Any special considerations when buying outlets? I see UL certified, anything else?
Don't worry too much about it. Whatever is available at your home improvement store is fine. Look, the reality is that in five years time USB will have been replaced by something new and we'll all be switching outlets again!
enduringcharm sounds good thanks👍🏻
Thx!
Thank you for explaining this, when I asked Leviton what to do when I have 2 black cables and 2 white cables, they said, "contact an electrician" wtf lol
This is the easiest electrical work possible. As long as you cut the power, it's pretty hard to mess anything up
Will this work with a non-grouned house like from the 50's and 60's style old homes because it wasn't equipped with ground when we bought it . Will work anyway ?....
Yes, the GFI outlets will work without a ground by sensing a fault with the neutral wire. You will then label the GFI as non-grounded. The box will have specific directions inside.
Thank you so much I needed that
i recently bought a usb wall outlet, rated at 15A 125V, but what i have is a 220v system. is it ok to wire the usb socket with the 220v?
No. It isn't. If you have a 240v circuit you'll need an outlet designed for that voltage if you intend to keep it that way. If you no longer require 240v on that circuit it is possible for an electrician to reconfigure it for 120v service and reuse the existing cable, but those details need to be worked out locally.
So if my ground wire goes to the metal box I have, can I disconnect it from the box and then to the green screw, or do I need a jumper from the wire on the box to the receptacles green screw?
It's always difficult to discuss these things without pictures or being there, but I think I follow you. If you have a metal box, you probably also have an older system which may use armored cable. Depending on the age, that armored cable may have a dedicated ground wire inside or it may use the armor itself as a ground. Since you describe a ground wire connected to the box, it may be that you have a dedicated ground wire. In that case, you should also have a pigtail which runs from the box (and therefore the ground wire too) to the receptacle. That way the metal box itself is part of the protection loop in the event a live wire gets grounded to it.
I prefer not to put the take around the receptacle. That way, if the plug stops working, I can take the multimeter and touch the probes to the screws without having to pull the receptacle out of the box. Just a thought for your viewers, good thorough video!
Putting tape around the receptacle is not required, but it is a traditional step taken by electricians. The point of it is to protect the terminals from accidental contact with tools or other wires and causing a short. It was more important, perhaps, when metal boxes dominated. Still, I have seen boxes where the bare ground wire has accidentally come in contact with a terminal when the receptacle was installed. If the ground wire hits the hot terminal hopefully the breaker will snap. If it hits the neutral terminal, though, you've got a potential hidden safety issue.
Hog roamer couldn’t u just stick the two leads in the hot and neutral prongs?
Is it possible to install these outlets downstream from a GCFI outlet? I've installed a GCFI outlet in my bathroom and previously installed a USB outlet downstream from the GCFI outlet about a year ago.
I checked all the other outlets (standard outlets) that share that breaker and they're wired right.
Can these be wired to have a line and load or because they have one terminal - they can't be set up in a GCFI protected outlet?
Are you having trouble with one? You should be able to wire one downstream. Since I made this video they've also come out with GFCI outlets that have USB built in, if that's what you are after.
@@enduringcharm it doesn't seem like you can. At least with the one I used downstream only had one set of terminals on it and I didn't have a separate connection for the line and load. Once I swapped the usb outlet with a regular outlet - the GCFI outlet functioned normally.
Maybe I'm not clear on your dilemma. If you have any outlet wired downstream from a GFCI and the circuit is wired correctly, then those downstream outlets are also protected. The line/load thing concerns the GFCI receptacle itself, not others downstream. So, any devices downstream should be connected to the load terminals of the GFCI. But those downstream devices do not need line/load terminals themselves. Normal receptacles don't have line/load terminals either. Just for good measure, I checked the Leviton website and they specifically mention that these USB outlets can be used downstream from GFCI receptacles for protection. I can only surmise that maybe you have something miswired or perhaps the USB outlet itself in damaged in some way.
Is there a GFCI version of this for if I want to install one in a kitchen or something?
You'd have the GFCI protection installed upstream from the USB outlet, either in the form of another GFCI protected receptacle or a GFCI breaker.
@@enduringcharm Ah ok. Thanks.
I have a 14/3 Wire in my outlet. Red, Black, White and the ground. The USB outlet is like yours, only has 2 screws, and the green ground screw..., what do I do?
You need to figure out why the red wire is there. There are a number of possibilities. Sometimes the red wire is used for a three or four way switch, if the outlet is switched. It can be used for 240 volt operation, but this is unlikely with 14 gauge wire. Possibly the receptacle box is also being used as a junction box too and the red wire feeds something else while sharing the neutral. Of course, when you removed the standard outlet the wires were hooked up a particular way and you could likely duplicate that with the new outlet if you made note of it. Or, with a multimeter set to volts you can do some basic testing and try to figure out the purpose of the red wire. ruclips.net/video/g0YRkwv40r8/видео.html
I have a question, it has the grown wire, back and the white, but what and where do I put my RED wire???
Red wires are used for various purposes, so you need to investigate further. Red wires are used for 240 volt receptacles to provide two 120 volt "hot" legs (one red, one black), but if you are replacing an existing 120 volt outlet that's not likely. They can be used as an extra wire for use in switch configurations (like as the "traveler" wire), they can be used to feed an additional leg of a circuit in some cases, etc. I'm afraid I can't make a judgement without seeing it in person, but you can put a meter on it to see if it has power or if it is connected to a switch somewhere. Of course, there is also the possibility that it is not used at all or that some previous person miswired the box, so you need to be cautious.
I recently bought a place built in ‘06ish. I think the dry wallers may have been careless and knocked many of our receptacle boxes loose. Is there anyway to reattach/ tighten them back onto the sud? Maybe another video idea!? Thanks for sharing your expertise!
Yes, if the original boxes were plastic and nailed to the studs, they can be carefully removed and replaced with "old work" boxes that clamp to the drywall itself, or you can open up some drywall, remove the old box, and install a different style that clamps and screws over the stud. Either way, some drywall damage is likely and repairs will be needed. Sometimes you can add a screw through the existing box to secure it if you care careful not to pierce a cable.
@@enduringcharm thank you the 7.5 earth quake we had last November loosened a ton of boxes in our 70's building!!
Joe Pesci making tutorials now, nice
This will be one of those items that will reveal the age of a house once USB chargers are no longer in use.
Agreed--sooner or later USB will be obsolete. However, it's trivial to change these out to the next thing and they aren't expensive.
just like the old push button floor switches, but allot of youtubers are to young to know what they are
I ran a lot of speaker wire and coaxial cable in my walls in years past but you have to live with technology of the day.
What if you have red and black hot?
There are lots of ways to wire a circuit, so I can't make a universal statement about your red and black. In some cases a 240 volt circuit uses both a red and black "hot" leg, which can be determined by putting your voltmeter across the red and black wires. If it reads 240 volts, you have your answer. If not, you may find that both the red and black will indicate 120 volts when each is measured to a neutral. In that case, you may have a box which is being used as a junction too, and each wire is intended for a different circuit or a different part of the same circuit. I'm afraid you'll have to do some testing to figure it out.
Went to do this today and noticed there was a red wire connected into the outlet! Is there something I need to do for that?
There could be multiple reasons for the red wire. Red is used as an alternate color for hot. It's possible somebody used a four wire cable for some reason, it's possible that was a 240v outlet at one time that was converted, it's possible a four wire cable was used to feed power to multiple places and that outlet box is also a junction box. Unfortunately the only way to tell is to get out a meter and do some testing. You should also see a black wire from the same cable in the box somewhere, so the big question is where that goes. If you are not comfortable, have an electrician do the work.
enduringcharm if the red is for a light switch (half hot) can this still be done as in the video?
@@EmilysHandle There are just too many potential variables for me to make a judgement from afar. Generally speaking, if you already have an outlet in the box that is correctly wired, then you can replace it with one of these USB style outlets. That includes boxes which may also contain a light switch. If you are re-configuring an existing box which does not currently have an outlet there may be other factors to consider.
Trying to install the same exact outlet, but when I pulled out the old one it has a black, white & red wire connected. Where does the red wire go?
I third red wire can be used for a number of different purposes, including feeding other devices or to connect with a switch so that half the outlet is switched (common in a bedroom) and the other half is always live. The only way to know is to get a meter out and do some testing. You can test to see which wires have power under which conditions and if there is a switch nearby which has an effect, etc. Mostly likely you can just hook the new outlet up in the same configuration as the existing one, so take a picture before you disconnect anything.
Thank you for the quick response! Currently the black & red are on the hot wire side with push type connection & the side tab broken.
I'm assuming the black & red would also go on the hot side in the new one, but where is the tab that needs to be broken?
If there is a tab that was broken then that red wire likely goes to a switch in the room. You should confirm that. If you have the same USB outlet as the video it cannot be split to have one plug switched and the other always on. Either you rewire for both plugs always on or rewire for both plugs switched. I think there might be a diagram inside the box if you are uncertain.
@@enduringcharm Thank you! I appreciate your time.
I have the same problem, i connected both red and black under the same screw and it tripped my breaker. Theres no tab to be broken off anywhere
What If there’s no ground ?
Some very old houses that have not been updated could possibly be without a ground. Or, your ground may be the armored casing of the cable leading into a metal box and you just need a pigtail from the metal box to the outlet. Using a meter and examining the breaker or fuse box you should be able to determine this. I have a video on how to use a multi-meter you might want to check out, or else you could pay an electrician to come take a look. The ground is there for safety reasons, but the outlet will still work without it.
i wonder if his camera ever gets in the way...
Yeah, I know. But it's on my mind as I'm filming because it IS in my way!
Anyone tell you. That you sound like Joe Pesci. Lol
Yes, several hundred have mentioned that! He's a Jersey boy too.
Thank you sir
is it normal for these outlets to hum after being installed? Its not loud, and I followed the video to the letter. So I'm wondering if this is just normal or I have a bigger problem
A very faint humming is not cause for concern, it could just be the internal electronics. My hearing isn't even good enough anymore to hear it! If the humming is buzzing is loud enough to be noticeable while walking by, then you may have a bad unit.