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Pop-Up Power Outlet Presents Extra Sockets at the Press of a Button

The OUTlet is a retrofittable solution for those who need more juice

By Rain Noe - January 27, 2016

in Product Design | Consumer Electronics | Crowdfunding

Here's a neat idea for doubling the sockets on your existing power outlet. For the past two years engineer Jeff Forti and chemist Jeff Martin have been working on the OUTlet, which fits in a standard electrical box but provides two extra sockets at the press of a button:

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The OUTlet's merits are obvious, but here's the question I wanted to ask you readers: Is the pop-out functionality needed? In other words, if you had these in your house, would you ever actually find two of the sockets bare, and take the time to press the OUTlet shut?

I ask because I find in my own spaces, I rarely need power temporarily; when I need extra outlets, I need them all the time. If I unplug anything it's typically from the other end of the cord. So I'm wondering if Forti and Martin might be able to produce a less expensive option that is always in the "out" position and doesn't need the hinge and latch mechanism.

The OUTlet's going for $25 a pop on Kickstarter, with discounts offered for buying in bulk. While they haven't yet reached their $40,000 target—they were just under 20 grand at press time—there are still 24 days left to pledge.

The current version is 15-amp and lacks GCFI, but Forti and Martin are working on that for the next version, as well as a 20-amp model and ones with USB ports.

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Juan Cano

8 years ago

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Don't see a need for this at all. I bought an adapter for my daughter's room for $19.99 and it has 4 power outlets and 2 USB ports and just plugs in into the existing socket and you use the center screw on the wall plate to fasten it. Where I think there's a need is for some massive Media Center power strip because every little thing comes with a brick. You have your TV, then your DVD, some kind of sound system, of course your record player (I'm cool), then the roku has a brick, the cable box has a brick, your chromecast has a stick, then I want to plug my phones to it...

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Brandegee Pierce

8 years ago

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That is brilliant, not sure why you think it won't pass UL. Hope it gets fully funded. Sick of having a temporary extension cord in my bathroom while my girlfriend does her hair.

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Red Stone

8 years ago

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Won't pass UL. Won't pass NEC code.

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Jeff Martin

8 years ago

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Hello All,
Rain, thank you for taking the time to cover our product/campaign. This is Eric Forti (under Jeff's account) one of the creators of theOUTlet. I have to agree with the comments that many times you're just going to leave this product in the open position. That's entirely up to the consumer if they'd like to do that. My particular problem that spurred this whole endeavor was when I was in a communal kitchen where people have all kinds of different appliances in the cabinets and we fight for the outlets whenever we take them out to be used. So in my case, having a couple standard appliances like a toaster and a coffee maker consistently plugged in worked well. But when I needed the blender or espresso machine, I could leave other peoples appliances alone and just pop the extra outlets open to be used. My issue with the cheaper alternatives (and there are lots of them) is that they aren't very attractive and I don't always have them handy when I need them. They're lost in a junk drawer or some other random spot that I left them so I'd be sure to remember them...Our belief is that we've got an elegant solution to some common problems that's worth a little more. It's a theory that we're hoping resonates with consumers.

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Arjun Ajjampur

8 years ago

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I must admit the solution is clever from a design stand point but as Juan says, its a self inflicted problem that has already been solved. Unfortunately Kick Starter projects are all self inflicted problems that weren't problems until today.

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