The two most common consumer brands for wall plates, switches, etc. - HPM and PDL - both sell wall plates with USB charging options. I don't know that I've seen these at hardware stores like Bunnings, Mitre 10, etc. but I'm sure electrical suppliers like Stewart's and Cory's would probably have them.

They are also available from some overseas websites, e.g. go to alibaba.com and search for "usb wall plate nz", but you're taking a risk whether something you bought online would comply with local building codes.

If you are going to do the rest of the wiring yourself then ask at whatever wholesaler you are going to get the rest of your electrical hardware from and see what they can offer. If you are leaving it up to your builder (or the subcontractor electrician) then just let them know what you want and where you want it, and they will take care of it. It might add a few dollars to the build cost but I can't see it being significant.

I looked at doing this when we built our house just over a year ago and I was advised by the electrician the ones on the market at that time barely supplied enough power to charge an iPad, as in it would take hours to fully charge it and wasn't worth the convenience or aesthetics of installing them, so maybe just keep that in mind and check the output of any brands you come across. 

Yeah, what others have said. You can get modules that fit into standard switch plates from all the main manufacturers (I just spec'd some Clipsal Saturn Zen stuff with USB sockets) but most (all?) are only 1.2A so will be slow to charge a modern device. You also have the smaller guys like Sockitz who have USB power plates integrated and have a higher A rating I believe. 

Ah thats a good point I hadn't really thought of the amps on each one yet. The HPM ones look to have 2x2.1a so will investigate those. Cheers 

Had them in a Hotel in Wellington on the weekend.

Plugged in my Android to be told it was 'charging slowly'.  Plugged in my regular charger and it more than halved the expected charge time.

Don't know the brand sorry.

The plug format for USB will be changed so it'll become out of date long before it's time to change the electrical outlet.

Not only the plug format, but with quick charge 2.0 and now the other USB charging specifications, the outlet needs to recognize the devices requirements and change the voltage and current limitter as requested by the device. its not just as simple as a 1 or 2 amp 5v supply and some resistors on the pins anymore.

Ah all good points, dang I was looking forward to just plugging into the wall.

We just finished our build and have a couple of the HPM Legrand Excel Life ones in our bedroom.  They deliver 2x2.1amp, so charging is nice and fast.

It's not the answer you want to hear but my advice is simple - flag the idea because it's a waste of time and money.

All of the common USB power sockets out there including the HPM are terrible with poor current output and are simply overpriced junk. Because there are no smarts in them you'll find most phones will only charge at 500mA despite the output being rated at 2.1A. Apple devices will also only charge at 500mA on these.

With QC2.0 now becoming the norm my advice is to save your money, put in a normal wall socket and spend $30 on USB chargers like an Anker which are vastly superior.

I installed some sockitz - to be honest I wouldn't do it again - a bit finicky with some iPhones (ie multiple models regardless of official or 3rd party cable) so you hear the disconnect connect charge sound a lot (androids seem fine) apparently that's been fixed but I'm stuck with a substandard device that doesnt really charge that quickly meaning we only use it for charging small capacity devices like a fitbit.  Leave a usb cable in the socket and the light remains on (so another light that shines at night that's annoying) and as others have said standards are changing - fast-charge standard for microusb and usb-c fastcharge who knows how well that will work with current integrated usb wall chargers.

timtait:

 

Our new build has just kicked off and I want to add wall sockets with built in USB ports around the house.

 

Any recommendations on which ones to get and where from?

 

Cheers

 

I would highly recommend not doing this. One of the main reasons is USB-C (which is a different connector) is just around the corner, you might find a lot of your sockets obsolete in the not too distant future.