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climberjohn Samba Member
Joined: January 11, 2005 Posts: 1840 Location: Portland Orygun
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:45 am Post subject: Charger with two 12 volt outlets and two 2 USB ports |
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Computer using, Ipod toting Samba folks, check this out:
12 volt charger with two 12 volt outlets and two 2 USB ports. I just heard of this, and I think I''ll be getting one.
- Can mount either with double sided tape or permanently wired to the van
- Solidly built (from an online review I read, I do not own one yet)
- Charger can handle 20 amps,and has a 20 amp fuse
- Price is right at $16
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PB8CQI
_________________ '86 Westy, 2.5 Subaru power
Know your limits. Exceed them often. |
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tencentlife Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006 Posts: 10067 Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:37 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I've seen those around. Could be pretty useful, even though the iPod is the only thing I have that charges by USB, and I only have one of those. I'll tell you, though, you cannot put 20A thru a cig lighter plug. Very briefly, like a few seconds, sure, but a minute at that current and the thing will be nearing meltdown. 10A max sustained draw on one of those. If you want to use more, cut off the male plug and hardwire the box. I doubt you could find 4 things that charge that way that would total 20A anyway, but just so you know. _________________ Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
Experience is kryptonite to doctrine. |
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climberjohn Samba Member
Joined: January 11, 2005 Posts: 1840 Location: Portland Orygun
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:38 am Post subject: |
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10 cent,
From the review I read, the guy did in fact hard wire the unit in his VW van so it had the option to draw more amps if needed, which would be rarely. I will post a link to the full review once it's fully up, I read a draft version.
(Who would have thought a few years back anyone would want/need USB ports in a car?) _________________ '86 Westy, 2.5 Subaru power
Know your limits. Exceed them often. |
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Volksaholic Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2005 Posts: 1771 Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:44 am Post subject: |
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So lets see if I get this; that thing would plug into my cigarette lighter and allow me to plug in my two 1000 watt inverters so I can run my laptop, blender (camping margaritas... mmm), television, and Sawzall (for cutting firewood) while I charge my cell phone and iPod? Very cool!
That would be handy in the back of the van. When I travel with the kids they each have iPods and MP3 players they want to charge, we're usually running chargers for AA and camera batteries, the cell phones always need charging, and sometimes the kids want to plug in a portable DVD player. It's pretty scary how many small rechargeable devices we travel with, but I guess it's better than burning through Alkaline batteries. I plan on adding a couple cigarette lighter sockets in the back (fused and cabled to the battery, of course) and I've got the inverter hardwired with a power strip on the floor under the passenger side jump seat. _________________ 1988 Wolfsburg Edition, 2001 Subaru EJ251 |
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tencentlife Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006 Posts: 10067 Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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Volksaholic wrote: |
So lets see if I get this; that thing would plug into my cigarette lighter and allow me to plug in my two 1000 watt inverters so I can run my laptop, blender (camping margaritas... mmm), television, and Sawzall (for cutting firewood) while I charge my cell phone and iPod? Very cool!
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I know you know better and you're just kidding, because we've talked about this stuff plenty in the past, but someone reading this may not, so if I may:
1000w (inverter) / .94 (it's best conversion efficiency) = 1064w
1064w / 12V = 88.66A.
That's how many amps a single 1000w inverter will pull out of a battery at peak load. At surge, it could be twice as much. It takes a 6AWG THHN copper wire to safely carry 90A steadily, under best conditions of cable in free air and ambient temp of 86F. Lower grade insulation, higher temps and/or enclosed cable will all increase the required wire size.
So, let's see, that's only 4 1/2 times the nominal ampacity rating of that jack-box. Since there aren't any real standards for rating that type of equipment for the auto aftermarket, you can bet that the real-life sustained ampacity of a unit like that is in reality not even the full 20A. The wire to the male lighter plug is probably only 14AWG, which is already undersize for safely using that many amps.
Hot wires burn! Many threads here lately on vehicle fires, focused justifiably but somewhat obsessively on the fuel lines. Over-amped electrics start fires too, and for y'all with little keikies, hot wires burn little hands. So consider these things when shopping for accessories for your ride, everybody. If you aren't sure if something you'd like to use is safe, then ask. These things are easy to figure out for the several of us who hang out here who have experience with electrics. And don't trust labelled current ratings on automotive aftermarket equipment; it is almost universally over-optimistic, and they can do that because that market isn't policed the way the building trades are. When dealing with power, the safe approach is the conservative approach.
Safety first. _________________ Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
Experience is kryptonite to doctrine. |
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Volksaholic Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2005 Posts: 1771 Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:23 am Post subject: |
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TenCent... you're correct that I was joking... and trying to make it ridiculously absurd at that... but I hope nobody took me seriously enough to create a unsatisfactory or dangerous situation. I don't think you can even run one 400 watt inverter at capacity off the cigarette lighter... it would pull about 30 amps. My 300 watt inverter hangs off a 25 amp fused pigtail connected to the battery and then I've got a little 100 watt inverter that will run a laptop or charge a cell phone or camera that can plug into the cigarette lighter. I also have pigtails I made for the 300 watt inverter so I can alligator clip it to a battery or plug into the lighter socket, but it mostly lives under the front passenger seat with a power strip in the passenger compartment for easy access.
I do think that device would be handy cabled directly to the battery or the hot lead to the starter* (with an appropriate fuse!) for moderate current applications, but please don't try what I was suggesting in yesterday's post! I could even see using it to charge a couple iPods and cell phones off the stock cigarette lighter, but not much more than that.
*EDIT: For those of us with single battery setups... the ideal is obviously to run stuff like this from a second battery. _________________ 1988 Wolfsburg Edition, 2001 Subaru EJ251 |
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cheekoman Samba Member
Joined: July 29, 2006 Posts: 346 Location: Burlington, VT
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:41 am Post subject: |
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wow, that is very cool. Great for the ipod etc.
I may get this and replace the 3 socket setup I have now if it doesn't constantly draw.. the one I have now, doesn't draw at all unless the switch is on.
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hiram6 Samba Member
Joined: September 29, 2006 Posts: 1880 Location: Beautiful South
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:01 am Post subject: |
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Cheekoman, I've got that exact 3 port 12V thing mounted in exactly the same spot as you!!!!
Too funny. _________________ 1985 Westy, 1.9L automatic (Daisy)
1996 Mazda Miata
1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited
You can't lie around on the beach and drink rum all day.................unless you start first thing in the morning. |
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tencentlife Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006 Posts: 10067 Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:13 am Post subject: |
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I've got the same one screwed to the end of a workbench near the door of my shop. I have a spare PV panel I put outside, an old car battery and a car stereo I took out of my rarely-used pickup. That 3-holer is wired to the battery, the radio and PV plug into it, and there's extra jacks if I need to charge something else 12V. That's the shop tunage setup. _________________ Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
Experience is kryptonite to doctrine. |
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hiram6 Samba Member
Joined: September 29, 2006 Posts: 1880 Location: Beautiful South
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:35 am Post subject: |
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tencentlife wrote: |
I've got the same one screwed to the end of a workbench near the door of my shop. I have a spare PV panel I put outside, an old car battery and a car stereo I took out of my rarely-used pickup. That 3-holer is wired to the battery, the radio and PV plug into it, and there's extra jacks if I need to charge something else 12V. That's the shop tunage setup. |
Hmm. You've given me an idea.
I've got an odd sized Pioneer headunit that came out of a Jeep, just sitting in a cabinet . I've also got a 12V converter with enough juice to drive it. And a pair of 4 ohm speakers in a different cabinet. I've got the makings of a garage tunage system right there. All I need is a cheapie antenna.
Might even flush mount it into the drywall for that extra touch. _________________ 1985 Westy, 1.9L automatic (Daisy)
1996 Mazda Miata
1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited
You can't lie around on the beach and drink rum all day.................unless you start first thing in the morning. |
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McVanagon Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2007 Posts: 1684 Location: Northern part of the Virginia
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:58 am Post subject: |
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I love having 12v in the garage. Makes testing things sooooo much easier. _________________ '69 Mike
'85 GL
'87 Wolfsburg Hardtop |
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tencentlife Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2006 Posts: 10067 Location: Abiquiu, NM, USA
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Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:26 am Post subject: |
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Absolutely. It's always great to have an isolated 12V supply in the shop. I just wish the old battery I have was better. It's just the wasted core from a friend's car that I put a new one in. It won't hold a charge for more than a day without the PV on it. It does hold the station presets, though, which is nice. Sometimes the PV gets taken away for other duties, like putting some charge on one of my parked vehicles.
My radio is also a Pioneer Supertuner cassette deck I put in the truck may years ago. I built it into an MDF cabinet with 4" speakers built in on either side, and a rubber car antenna mounted on top. I looks neat, is portable, and there's room on top to put other things like my coffee cup full of of pens, etc. _________________ Shop for unique Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
Please don't PM here, I will not reply.
Experience is kryptonite to doctrine. |
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Lanval Samba Member
Joined: June 09, 2007 Posts: 905
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pnwkayaker Samba Member
Joined: April 01, 2008 Posts: 918 Location: Sammamish, WA
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:29 am Post subject: |
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Cheekoman, Hiram6,
could you please post aditional information on the 3-port 12-volt outlet that you mounted on the dash (like the one on the picture that Cheekoman posted)? I'd love to mount something similar like that ! _________________ 87 Syncro Westy EJ25 ("Tardis")
Seattle Meetup at Marymoor (link)
A collection of Simple Useful Mods (SUM) (link) |
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mightyart Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2004 Posts: 6188 Location: Portland, Oregon
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:49 am Post subject: |
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I just bought one of those at Wal-mart, was like $11.00, Works fine, really it's just an extension cord with a switch.
As far as using 12 volt stuff in the house, I've made a few " garage stereo systems" and a good 12 volt power supply is great when you have to test twelve volt stuff alot, I have a nice one, and various others that are not as nice.
There are also alot of 12 volt power supplys in your home that nobody really thinks about.
I used to use HO train transformers alot, you could even regulate the output buy using the "train Speed" controller.
If you look at all the AC power adapters you have laying around.
They say what the output is on them, just make sure you check the amp output, as well as the volt output.
Another good one is an old computer power supply. |
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vanaru Samba Member
Joined: November 02, 2005 Posts: 169 Location: Sykesville, Maryland
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:31 am Post subject: whoa, scroll back a bit... |
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was that a small coffee table on the dash... |
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pnwkayaker Samba Member
Joined: April 01, 2008 Posts: 918 Location: Sammamish, WA
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the tip mightyart. Went yesterday to Wal-Mart but couldn't find the 12-volt extension. Was it on a specific section ? It might be that this Wal-Mart didn't carry it, will try another. _________________ 87 Syncro Westy EJ25 ("Tardis")
Seattle Meetup at Marymoor (link)
A collection of Simple Useful Mods (SUM) (link) |
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mightyart Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2004 Posts: 6188 Location: Portland, Oregon
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Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:27 am Post subject: |
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pnwkayaker wrote: |
Thanks for the tip mightyart. Went yesterday to Wal-Mart but couldn't find the 12-volt extension. Was it on a specific section ? It might be that this Wal-Mart didn't carry it, will try another. |
It was in the automotive section, I tried to remember who it was by cause I thought it was strange. Then I remembered it was by Bell, The helmet company.
Here is what you are looking for:
http://www.bellautomotive.com/asp/product_details.asp?id=24666
http://www.bellautomotive.com/asp/thumbnails.asp?cat=2209
If you can't find one at Suck-mart, there are quite a few on Ebay. |
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hiram6 Samba Member
Joined: September 29, 2006 Posts: 1880 Location: Beautiful South
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Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:33 am Post subject: |
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pnwkayaker wrote: |
Cheekoman, Hiram6,
could you please post aditional information on the 3-port 12-volt outlet that you mounted on the dash (like the one on the picture that Cheekoman posted)? I'd love to mount something similar like that ! |
Sorry I missed you question earlier.
It was about $10 at PepBoys, had a cigarette lighter conection of the original wiring, but I snipped that off and just hard wired it. It worked fine, BUT the little swing-out mounting pegs proved brittle after a while, and failed. They were just like the ones on ClimberJohn's photo at the top of this page. So, my dash no longer sports one of these. _________________ 1985 Westy, 1.9L automatic (Daisy)
1996 Mazda Miata
1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited
You can't lie around on the beach and drink rum all day.................unless you start first thing in the morning. |
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Dogpilot Samba Member
Joined: October 03, 2005 Posts: 4205 Location: Flagstaff, AZ
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Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:20 am Post subject: |
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The small extension is cool, but this one has so many more options. Now I can finally use that USB toaster I got for Xmas in the van:
_________________ Geology with a Syncro rocks!
86 Syncro Westy AKA "The Bughunter"
98 Disco I
08 Range Rover SC
08 VW Rabbit S
1951 O-1G |
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