Review
Visually impaired people are often used to have several devices at home or office: smartphones, computers, Braille display, USB rechargeable devices, and so on.
This means that the house and office, is full of electric or USB cables for charging batteries, with the mess they can cause! Many cables in the same place, with even the risk of falling on them!
A small Italian company, called Feligan, has solved the problem: a unique solution for all devices! Power Brick.
This accessory can charge 11 devices at the same time, with several customizable connectors, 2 USB ports, 2 universal electric sockets on the front panel, and another socket on the powerbrick's back.
It is not a portable charger, this solution is designed to stand on a desk, a table or even a bedside table! It uses a standard wire to get electricity.
Power brick is completely accessible for a blind person, as no visual feedback is needed! There is a led on the front, it indicates if power brick is working or not, but that does not matter: the feedback is given from the accessories Power Brick charges! For example the acoustic signal by nokia phones or iDevices, the status bar of a macbook pro indicating the battery is charging or completely charged, and so on. No need to worry about burning devices because of much electricity transferred on a tool needing less. The power brick automatically detects how much power it has to give to the connected devices!
Description of connectors
Above the power brick, there is a cover that can be easily taken out, under which there are six holes with six customizable connectors, called "power boxes"
These connectors are square-shaped, and they contain a retractable chord: that is, you pull the connector till the cable is completely out, or as long -or short- as you wish. Then, finished to charge the device, you just pull the cable till the end, and leave it, to let it go back to it's original position; people using a Proporta Turbo charger, maybe already know what a retractable chord is.
Available connectors can be found inside the buy page on powerbrick's web site www.powerbrick-charger.com - many brands and models are compatible.
Old nokia (6630, 6600, 9210I communicator...), second generation nokia (n82, n95, C5, E52...)
mini USB, micro USB, Apple (iPad, iPhone and iPod touch) and many more.
As configuration can be completely customized, while buying you can decide which connectors to have on board, and even buying one or more extra-connectors, which can be easily replaced by taking the cover away, to change the one less used, to another most used.
For example:
my original configuration is 1 old nokia, 2 new nokia, one apple and 2 mini USB
I buy the mophie juice pack, the case with internal battery for iPhone 4 and 4s, which needs a micro USB connector. well, I can buy the micro USB power box separately and when I get it home, I just open the power brick cover, take the Apple dock away, replace it with micro USB power box and close the brick again with no effort! The advantage is that, even if the brick is charging other devices, I can open it and replace connectors without any danger.
Of course, during shopping, the electric cable to use (italian, european and so on) can be chosen.
The 2 USB ports on the front pane, can be used for charging USB-only devices, and the funny thing is they work even with USB utilities, such as USB vacuum cleaners, or lunch warmers, or toys! Of course not a pen drive or hard disk, USB are designed just for electricity, not for data.
The mini USB connector works fine even for charging wireless headphones with mini USB charging cable, for example the freetalk everyman:
you are in bed listening to music wearing the freetalk headset. Suddenly the acoustic signal warns the battery is low. What to do? take the power brick, the whole accessory, from the bedside table move it to the bed (of course put it in a comfortable position not to be annoyed by the electricity wire)
pull the mini USB retractable chord out, connect it to headphones, and power is back again, music does not stop even if the headphone is connected to the brick!
This accessory can be bought from powerbrick-charger.com web site, using paypal; people working in Feligan are completely available to answer to customers' questions.
Note: power brick cannot be bought on amazon yet.