I was perusing the Cyberguys catalog a few weeks ago and I saw the USB Coffee Cup Warmer for sale. Cyberguys has tons of neat stuff and I’ve gotten several items from them before.
Intrigued, I bought one. Today was the first test of it. As usual, I documented the event.
This is the package as it arrived. Looks good.
I opened the package and it had a bit of a cheap feel to it. The warming area was shiny and felt greasy. The workmanship left something to be desired.
Notice that I brought the warmer to work to test it there. You don’t think I’d risk my home computer with this thing do you?
Unfortunately the USB Warmer didn’t warm very well. Perhaps it would be better called the USB Lukewarmer. The blue LED in the USB flashed nicely, and the red/green LED on the warmer also flashed nicely. Too bad it didn’t warm anything much. To think the instructions warn against burning yourself…
The engineer in me got the better of me and I popped the back off to see what was inside being lukewarm. I was a little suprised to see two voltage regulators used as the ‘heating element’ of the warmer. The designer was counting on the byproduct heat of the LM317T regulators to be enough to keep coffee or tea warm. It was a bad idea. I think they need more power or different regulators.
Not to mention the soldering job itself. I think I could have done a better soldering job than this in elementary school.
Overall, the device is a piece of crap, not worth the money or the time I spent playing with it.
Sorry to see you wasted $16.95 for that… Does a USB port actually pushes enough power to keep any kind of heating element or in this case voltage regulators warm enough to safely keep a cup of coffee warm… Hummm, if so, maybe we could see a USB soldering iron?
There are support groups for people who have suffered from similar experiences. http://www.usbcrapsupportgroup.com
Since you’re using the scientific method, did you heat tea to boiling, let it cool to your taste and stick a thermometer in it and then monitor the ongoing temperature?
Get a 12″ powerbook.. that’ll keep anything hot
I don’t think there is enough juice to do that in USB.. Not I did see a USB Gameboy Advance SP charger… that was cool
Cruftbox USB Coffee Cup Warmer Test
Michael of Cruftbox actually bought one of those USB gadgets — no, not the toothbrush or the massager, the coffee cup warmer!
I agree with Brian. Get a 12″ Powerbook. It’s a great heat source, among other things.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 06:33 PM
You knew USB was handy, right? Ah, but did you know you could get a USB coffee warmer? I didn’t think so. Unfortunately, according to this review its performance is, er, lukewarm… [ via Gizmodo ]…
This is moving towards a good idea – a coffee cup warmer heatsink? It could spring out of the side of my laptop like one of those car cupholders. Then my coffee would be perfectly positioned for spilling all over the computer… oops.
According to this page:
http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/power_from_pc.html
The max power available is either 2.375 watts (500mA at 4.75 V) which would give you no heating or 25W which would give you some heating, but not much. The UL switch is set to limit the current at 5A and the voltage supply is +5V
I Want it Piping All Day!
At first I was thrilled to hear about the USB Coffee Cup Warmer. Seriously, what a wonderful idea. No more will worries that the coffee next to me is getting cold interrupt my work! No more wishing that the coffee…
Damn, you people really have nothing better to do, do you?
I have similar experiances with a USB cooler. Last summer, with hot temperature, the USB cooler was a real refreshing in my office.
Kind of mobile airco.
I never tried the heather myself.
I am glad I found your comments. I had one of these on back order from cyberguys.com until today. I requested a refund since I cannot get it before Xmas as it was supposed to be a gift for my Dad. I’m glad it was on back order after reviewing the posts here!
your site is cool.
Jacob
Firewire might make a better coffee hot plate. IIRC the spec for firewire is max 40V. Most PC firewire boards support 12V @ 1.5 to 2 A (24W)
Maybe you could outfit this device to use an array of peltier junctions, if USB would provide enough power to heat them up. That or you could turn it into a device that keeps drinks cold.
Ernie Writes:
“I agree with Brian. Get a 12″ Powerbook. It’s a great heat source, among other things.”
Like what? A door stop? 🙂
If we are all searching for a round-a-bout method of heating a beverage, Might I suggest a USB powered Green house? Stay with me now, if you could plug an entire room of your house into a USB port you could control every aspect of it… of course all the controls and winches would have to be plugged in to 440vac (just unplug the dryer for arguments sake, and be sure not to use any other appliances on the same fuse, infact just turn the computer off…(crap.))
Here’s something you might want to try: unplug the device from the computer completely. Whala! Now it works as a coffee cooler! It won’t take up electricity and is guaranteed to cool hot things down. Surprised no one thought of that.
Dude, we’re jamming!
After perusing the content on this page, I have diagnosed you with a not-so-rare disease called “BAWD”, also known as “Being A Wasteful Dumbass”. On your desk, there is a blue baseball…who buys a blue baseball!? Then there are little pink and green trinkets…which you most likely purchased from those tiny vending machines on the way out of the grocery store. But wait, it gets worse…you purchased some sort of toolbelt for your coffee mug. What kind of purpose does a coffee mug toolbelt serve?!? I mean, you can’t deny it…you have problems with wasting money. I recommend seeing a financial advisor, but don’t wear your gyrating coffee-making hat to his office. He’ll immediately realize that you are a dumbass.
P.S. You bought a USB port mug WARMER, and then complain that it only WARMED your mug.
hey you are great and fun
thanks
jane
anything ‘usb’, or anywhere past the power cord is being powered by the power supply. putting more strain on it, causing voltage loss to the things that need it most. like the mobo and harddrive. unless you’ve got more money than brains, it’s not a good idea to use ANYTHING which is powered via the computer’s power supply.
here’s a little test anybody can do;
unplug anything/everything that doesn’t absolutely NEED to be plugged into the computer. let it run like that over-night. check the temp of the air coming from the power supply. now plug in all those usb ‘things’ and play with them, run them, whatever; for just one hour. now check the temp again. see the difference? everything in there is getting hotter and hotter, and your motherboard and internal drives are starving.
not to mention that; usb ports were originally meant for the flow of INFORMATION, not POWER.
if you want your computer to last basically ‘forever’, and operate at its max, use external everything. at least as much as you can. and i mean with its own power supply, independent of the computers power supply.
Let me guess, designed in India made in China?
I just tried to order one from Cyberguys and here is what they wrote to me:
“We had to discontinue this product pending further testing. Current versions were not working as intended. We may or may not decide to continue carrying this product from this point on. Sorry for the inconvenience”
Does anyone have any idea if one from another company works?
This is a riot. After all of that, Jennifer above just tried to order one!
Females should not be given credit cards, nor computer access except for meeting males for mating purposes.
When will we learn.
thanks for the info, i was actullay going to buy one until i read your comment. keep up the good work…