iPad device management: charging multiple devices

This is the first instalment of my device management themed posts (I am building myself up to discussing Apple Configurator)


I am currently using seven of my iPad teaching set, so charging devices between use should not be a big deal! Right? Erm... This is just the kind of thing that can turn your office into a health and safety nightmare that resembles Cable Junction in Jaws 2. Since my uninterupted power supply base unit is on the floor by the side of my computer desk this meant all the iPads were jumbled all over the floor. They were blocking access to my filing cabinet, I was in danger of running the wheels of my chair over the delicate white cables and as there were only three spare plug slots I could only charge a few iPads at a time. Each device requires 2-3 hours of charging time depending on how much the students used the in-built camera in the field. This meant I needed a full day of jostling devices between the available outlets to get them all ready for use again. This is not a particular issue if you are in your office all the time, but if you are out teaching for extended periods, running back to your office to switch over a charge lead can be a real pain. To try and keep track of this process, I drew up a table on my office white board and had a simple tick system (see image below). What a fath! 

Documenting the iPad device charge rota!

SURELY THERE IS A BETTER WAY THAN THIS...?

The XtremeMac InCharge x5 Charge Station is currently retailed at £129.99. This ingenious device has five docking stations, enabling you to simultaneously charge five iPads from a single power supply. Wow - what a great solution to the socket outlet issue I am having. The lovely screen shot of this unit shows the iPads all neatly lined up, making it space saving as well. However, the iPads are shown without cases, and from what I can tell the only way they will dock is for me to remove my heavy duty cases. Now I will have a post dedicated to the cases soon, but for sake of brevity and in respect for my finger nails, I am not removing the Griffin cases every time I need to recharge my units.

Since the Griffin cases are what is causing me the trouble, perhaps Griffin will have a solution? Yes they do!!! The Griffin PowerDock5 Charging Station, with a retail price of £79.99, so is cheaper too. The unit has five USB conection points that you use to link your iPad via its USB cable and five physical spaces for you to hold your iPads in. So thankfully, you do not have to remove the device from its case. In a review by the Huffington Post on 28 Oct 2013 they note the cables can get tangled, and question whether its "worth paying for something that isn't technically that much more useful than a normal plug extender".

This got me thinking in Blue Peter fashion. All I really need is a physical divider to hold my iPads and a surge protected power bar to connect the iPads to via their USB charger (in this case four devices running off a single plug socket). And so I introduce you my low tech and very inexpensive multi-charger unit (see image below). Its a paper tidy holder. The iPads are placed vertically into it, with two iPads fitting in each slot and connects to an extension power bar that was going spare in the tech office. The USB cables sit behind the desk tidy so do not get all tangled. AND (the best bit), I have a simple system of charging the iPad on the lefthandside of each slot first and then switching to the iPad to the right afterwards. GENIUS. I have to admit that when I started working with iPads I did not realise how important this kind of stuff can be.

Innovative solution: paper holder used as iPad holding station