The phone charges beside the bed in almost every household, and the standard arrangement is a cable trailing from a socket behind the bed to a device balanced on a surface. Integrated charging addresses that, with a few things worth checking.
What to Check Before Buying
Charging built into furniture varies enormously in specification, and the useful details are frequently buried in the listing.
- Whether there is a mains socket as well as USB
- USB port type: older USB-A, newer USB-C, or both
- Stated output, since a low-output port charges a phone very slowly
- Whether the ports are on the top, the side or the back
- Cable length from the unit to the wall socket
- Whether the wiring is replaceable if it fails
Pieces combining an outlet with USB charging, of the kind at yeshomy.net, remove the trailing lead, which in a bedroom is worth more than it sounds since sockets are usually behind the bed.
Output Matters More Than Port Count
Four ports at low output is less useful than two at a decent one. A modern phone charging at a low rate takes several hours, which for overnight use is fine and for a quick top-up is not.
Where the listing does not state output in watts or amps, that absence is itself informative.
Port Position
Ports on the top are convenient and visible. Ports on the back are tidier and awkward to reach. Ports on the side are usually the best compromise.
This is worth thinking about against which side of the bed the piece will sit, since a nightstand is frequently mirrored between two sides of a bed and the ports end up facing the wall on one of them.
Electrical Safety
Anything with mains wiring built into furniture should carry the relevant safety marking for your country, and that is worth confirming rather than assuming.
Do not plug a charging nightstand into an extension lead that is already carrying a heater or similar load. Plug it directly into a wall socket where possible.
If the built-in unit ever becomes warm, buzzes, or shows any damage to the cable, stop using it and have it checked rather than continuing.
Charging in Bed
Worth a specific caution. Phones and battery packs should not be charged under a pillow or duvet, where heat cannot escape.
Lithium batteries generate heat while charging, and covering a device is a recognised fire risk. A nightstand with charging is, among other things, a way of keeping the device off the bed.
Height
A nightstand works best roughly level with the top of the mattress. Too low and reaching for a glass of water is awkward; too high and it looms.
Mattress heights have increased over the years, particularly with toppers, so measuring rather than assuming is worth doing.
The Alternative
A plain nightstand and a good multi-port charger achieves most of the same for less, and the charger can be replaced when standards change.
Built-in charging is tidier; a separate charger is more upgradeable. Both are reasonable positions.