DIY USB Wall Outlet

Turn off the power to the circuit supplying power to the outlet at the service panel (breaker box) for your home. Test that the power is off by plugging an outlet tester into the sockets of the wall outlet. Examine the light pattern on the device and then use the pattern legend on the body of the tester to determine that the power is actually off, and that the outlet is grounded. Pull the tester from the outlet.

Remove the coverplate to the outlet with the screwdriver. Remove the screws securing the outlet to the electrical box, and carefully pull the outlet from the box.

Unscrew the wires from the terminals on the outlet. Make sure each wire has an exposed end of 1/2 inch in length. If not, use a pair of wire strippers to remove the wire insulation.

Attach the wires to the AC/USB wall socket by bending the ends of the exposed wires into a 90 degree angle creating an L-shape, and then sliding the exposed end of the wire under the screw block, or as directed by the outlet manufacturer. For end-of-run wire configurations there will be only three wires to connect, a green, black and white wire. Connect the green wire to the green screw or ground terminal, the white wire to the silver screw or neutral terminal and the black wire to the brass screw or hot terminal. Screw the block down over the wire to hold it in place. The neutral and hot terminals will be located at one of the narrow ends of the outlet.

Connect middle-of-run wiring with two sets of wires coming from two separate cables. One cable is the electric feed running directly from your circuit box or an outlet placed closer to the box on the circuit, while the other leads from the outlet that you're wiring to additional outlets on the circuit, using the outlet to pass electricity along the wire paths. Each cable has its own black white and green wires, so you'll need to use both pairs of terminals on the outlet, located on either end. Attach the first black wire from the first cable to a hot terminal on one end of the outlet, and the white wire from that same cable to the neutral terminal. Repeat the process with the terminals on the opposite end of the outlet using the wires from the other cable in the electrical box.

Complete the wiring job for a middle-of-the circuit connection by attaching the two green or bare ground wires to the Cut a 4-inch length of wire with wire cutters and strip the ends with the wire strippers to expose 1/2-inch of wiring within the insulation. Take one end of this cut wire and hold it even with the ends of the two green wires from the two cables. Place a wire nut over the three wire ends and then twist the nut over the wires to join the three together, pigtailing the two wires. Take the free end of the 4-inch wire and place it onto the green ground nut of the outlet to attach the grounds from the two cables.

Bend the wires another 90 degrees so that they all point to the rear of the outlet, and then slide the outlet back onto the electrical box. Secure the outlet to the box with the provided screws. Install the new coverplate.

Restore the electrical power to the circuit at the service panel, and then check the AC plug socket with a wall tester to ensure that the outlet is hot and grounded before use.