We’re not sure why anyone would want to use this, other than for potentially illegal reasons; it’s being marketed as a “test of your system’s power surge protectors”, but let’s be real here… Still, it’s interesting to know it exists nonetheless. It’s called The USB Killer and its only purpose is to try and overwhelm any electric USB-connected system with repeated power surges.
The USB Kill collects power from the USB power lines (5V, 1 – 3A) until it reaches ~ -240V, upon which it discharges the stored voltage into the USB data lines.
This charge / discharge cycle is very rapid and happens multiple times per second.
The process of rapid discharging will continue while the device is plugged in, or the device can no longer discharge – that is, the circuit in the host machine is broken.
In testing, about 95% of devices succumbed to the USB Killer. It’s a powerful and destructive little dongle, and we don’t condone buying or using it. If you want one anyway, it’s 49,95 €, or roughly $56. Currently backordered, since the Intertubes seems to have made this go viral.
[ Product page ]
