IanD

An efficient fridge -- 230V or 12V -- typically consumes about 15W on average, a WiFi router about 5W. Compared to these -- or pretty much anything else that uses electrical power, like lights -- USB mains sockets are totally negligible at <0.1W each...

Fires on boats like this are rare but do happen very occasionally, sometimes with fatal consequences. This is why the BSS rules (for commercial/hire boats only, not private?) require fire exits to avoid this problem, which can be normal doors, or side doors, or large opening windows, or large opening roof lights, and the minimum size/area is specified -- whether Houdini hatches (or windows) meet the rules depends on how big they are, presumably small ones don't. Not having such fire exits on a private boat is legally allowed but not advisable... There was an argument on an earlier thread about whether side doors that might be impossible to open in a narrow lock are OK (this is noted in the regulations but they are allowable), but I doubt that there's ever been a boat fire under these circumstances so they're fine as a fire exit.

But it's really nice to wake up to a freshly-baked loaf for breakfast in a house/boat that smells of baking bread... If you get your pleasure out of making the bread, I agree with you. Me, I get my pleasure out of eating it... 🙂

Can't be arsed. You made a "probably" guesstimate which was wrong. If you don't like being corrected, get things right... 😉

I'd have thought that people staring obsessively at their (charging) phones is less damaging to peace and quiet than most other things... 😉 But I do hate people who are so obsessed with them that they go to a live event and spend all their time waving holding their phone up and staring at the screen just so they can record/stream it and tell their mates what a fabulous time they're having -- instead of actually looking at and listening to and enjoying what's actually going in front of them in glorious eyeball-resolution 3D and live binaural sound... 😞

Yeah, <0.1W each. That's *huge* innit... 😉

People talk about peak output (because it's easy to think about) but it's the wrong thing to use for battery charging i.e. boats... 😉 And incidentally you're still wrong about peak output, the maximum solar irradiance at noon in winter on a clear day drops by more than the panel efficiency goes up because the sun is further away and lower in the sky so travels through more atmosphere -- suggest you go and check the numbers instead of guessing... 🙂

Not according to all the sites that actually work this out, for example here... https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/tools.html Panel tempco is typically about -0.4%/C, so maybe 15% reduction at most -- even with this and optimally tilted panels (~60deg tilt in winter!) the energy output (kWh/day) is only 25% of that in summer. For example, for 1kW of panels (south-facing, ignoring efficiency drop): tilt=0 : 3.3kWh/day in Jun, 0.34kWh/day in Dec tilt=30 : 3.3kWh/day in Jun, 0.58kWh/day in Dec tilt=45 : 3.1kWh/day in Jun, 0.67kWh/day in Dec tilt=60 : 2.8kWh/day in Jun, 0.71kWh/day in Dec Peak output might be bigger in winter (or at least, not as small...) but the days are much shorter, it's kWh/day that matters not the peak output in W at noon, because it sets how much charge gets into the batteries.

Yes Alan, I'm well aware of ISO standards, which is why I said it probably wasn't ISO9001 that mattered here. What is the relevance of this to whether the BG USB sockets are likely to be higher quality than no-name Chinese-sourced ones with possibly dodgy certification?

However IIRC it also confirms that the devices have actually been tested against the standards that are claimed in the documentation -- and if it's not ISO9001 that does this, it's one of the other relevant standards on the list. Products assembled/supplied from a UK-run and certified company like BG are far more likely to have actually had the tests and certification done than products assembled and shipped cheaply from China. If you want to pick holes in their qualification/quality/certification, any other competing products are likely to be worse... 😉 https://www.builderdepot.co.uk/media/akeneo_connector/media_files/B/G/BG_SPCDOC_EN_20210831JW_822UAC30_97f0.pdf

I think you can guess which USB mains sockets I'll be using... 😉

"All products are manufactured to the latest British Standards, and all the companies sites (both UK distribution and manufacturing) operate a BSI approved ISO 9001:2008 accredited quality management system."

To get enough panel area to be really useful on a boat this size (enough power) you need quite a big area of panels. The only sensible alternatives are flat panels -- either on tiltable mounts or flat-mounted -- or good-quality semi-flexible panels bonded to the roof, which are reliable when done properly. Flat panels are much cheaper and easy to add on, semi-flexible can look better but are much more expensive (about 5x?) and really need skilled installing when the boat is built.

That's what all the standards and safety certification I didn't show are for. It's what you don't always get -- or at least, not actually tested -- with cheap Chinese knockoffs... 😉

Note that not all fast-charge protocols are supported via both ports (see above snapshot) -- if the one used by whatever you plug in isn't, it will only charge at the standard USB rate (about 10W IIRC). Exactly, it's just the same as a plug-in wall-wart... 😉

Same as any electrical appliance, see above.

There's a small USB power module inside the socket, these are what goes pop. I believe the better ones (like the BG one) are replaceable, but don't quote me on that... 😉

Chargers and cables can have either connector at either end. Now USB-C has been mandated (soon?) for new phones etc, it's more likely that the power supply end will also move to USB-C -- the reason for USB-A is that there are *lots* of existing things and cables that use this, which is why the socket I showed has one of each.

Some of the cheap ones are either a bit dumb or not properly protected or just plain badly made. As usual, you get what you pay for... 😉

If products are capable of doing that, they can. Usually fast-charging is at the lower of the current/voltage limits of the supply/socket and the appliance plugged in.

It's the other way round, the charging rate is determined by whatever is plugged in -- so long as it doesn't exceed the socket capability, if it does this will limit the current/voltage instead. https://www.builderdepot.co.uk/bg-nexus-13a-double-socket-with-30w-type-a-c-usb-white-moulded-822uac30 The USB-A limit is 5V/3A(15W) or 12V/2.75A(27W), the USB-C limit is 5V/3A(15W) or 20V/1.5A(30W) -- voltage and current are negotiated between the socket and what is plugged in.