09-30 stackable GaN wall chargers

[Image above] The new HyperJuice Stackable by Sanho Corporation promises to expand USB charging capabilities while saving space. Credit: HyperJuice Stackable GaN Charger, Kickstarter


When I was in college, one of the constant challenges around campus was finding available wall outlets to charge my electronics. Be it the library, physics labs, or dormitory commons area, students were constantly fighting over the few existing spaces.

Some people would plug in power strips to increase the number of outlets, but that solution took up valuable table space and could quickly turn into a hot mess of cables. Unfortunately, that approach was the only real cost-effective solution for us.

Though I’m no longer in college, I still have friends facing the outlet struggle. Which is why a new campaign on Kickstarter that I discovered this week immediately caught my eye.

Before diving into the details, let’s take a trip back to last March, when I took a look at gallium nitride-based wall chargers, an emerging application of GaN that is quickly gaining attention in the electronics community. Compared to silicon, GaN devices convert power more efficiently and thus open the door to device miniaturization.

I highlighted GaN wall chargers offered by electronic companies Anker and RavPower in that CTT post, but since then another company has broken onto the GaN wall charger scene—Sanho Corporation.

Sanho Corporation is a consumer electronics company started by Daniel Chin, an electrical engineer who moved from Singapore to the United States in 2005 to set up the corporation. Sanho focuses on creating consumer electronic products under the HYPER brand name, such as HyperDrive portable storage and HyperThin cables.

In July 2019, Sanho began selling the HyperJuice, a 100-watt gallium nitride USB charger funded through a Kickstarter campaign the previous fall. At only about the size of a deck of cards, the HyperJuice features a total of four ports: two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports.

Now, Sanho has launched a new Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their follow-up to the HyperJuice: the HyperJuice Stackable.

Compared to the HyperJuice, the HyperJuice Stackable comes in both 65-watt (three port) and 100-watt (four port) versions. But the biggest difference is that the new mint box-sized chargers can be stacked together to create a supercharger of up to 1,600 watts!

“While multi-port chargers give us the ability to power multiple devices with a single charger, we are still limited by the power capacity of those chargers,” Chin says in a press release. “HyperJuice Stackable GaN Charger truly expands your USB-C charging capability by allowing you to increase your charging power and number of ports as you go, all the way to a 1600W supercharger with 64 ports, all from a single power outlet and in a compact, space-saving form-factor.”

According to the Kickstarter page, the HyperJuice Stackable will only be available in a U.S.-style flat pin version; there are no plans to release an E.U., U.K., or Australia version at this point. And they caution against using a plug adapter to make the charger work in these other countries because “plug adapters are generally not rated for 1500W pass-through power and will not support the stacking ability of this charger.”

You can check out the Kickstarter video below. And for university students searching for ways to increase outlet space, this device could be the solution for you!

Credit: HyperJuice Stackable GaN Charger, Kickstarter

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