Power centers

[the Rewster]

What are you using? I hate the cig outlets that are on everything 12 volt.
What is better? Also is there a better way to do in vehicle USB. I have USB in the stereo, but it will not charge the iPad.
I do not want to use the little converter thing. This is for my Fridge and other accessories.

 

[Mashurst]

I cut off most of my cig stuff and put Anderson power poles on.

 

[Jay H]

Mashurst is right on.
XT 60 are my current favorite. Radio controlled aircraft and cars use some really good high current connectors, Anderson, XT60 and Deans are quite common. I have a TON of deans connectors for various low volt / high current DC applications.

As for usb the inverter I have installed is all hidden away but a usb extension cable brings the charging to a handy location since the inverter has a usb charge port.

Most USB devices just need 150 ohms of resistance between the two data pins to tell them that they can go ahead and use 1A of current. IPads and other tablets need some proprietary amount of resistance on the data pins and pull 2A which makes a lot of 12V to 5V DC-DC converters incompatible since they need to supply 2A instead of 1. A lot of 2 outlet cigarette style adapters can charge 2 phones or other devices at once but only a single Ipad due to it being a power hungry monster in usb terms. USB was only ever intended for 500ma. Its pretty easy to take a cigarette style USB adapter and remove the inner working bits and hard wire behind the dash some where. Many of the products on this site I am about to link are crap at best and fire hazards at worst but there a few jems and this is one

- http://www.dealextreme.com/p/usb-signal-module-for-86-panel-116436

I will be putting one of these along with a 2.5A 5V Linear voltage regulator in my dads tundra soon.

 

[JohnnySkamp]

Hello forum... Jay you seem like you might have a solution for me. My camper Converter is taking shore power (110) and converting it to like 14.5V even 16.5V sometimes. Is there a way to knock that voltage down to 12.5 or 13.5V? I don't want to smoke my furnace and lights. The converter might be broken, I feel that something inside it is whacked.

Thank you. John

 

[Jay H]

So you are going from 110C AC shore power to 11.5-14VDC. It sounds like your AC to DC power supply is failing. Of course when bulk charging a battery 14 volts is totally acceptable and not outside the realm of typical alternator output. I am guessing the shore to DC 12V converter is also a battery charger. After a period of time it should stabilize at float voltage about 13.2V/ I would have it inspected, repaired or replaced if a rectifier fails or the transformer fails it could easily kick out an AC wave form or huge DC spike killing ever thing down stream. A malfunctioning charger will also do an expert job of demolishing a battery in short order. Of course the most likely failure is for it to simply stop working. There are two types of Ac to DC power supplies linear and switch mode. They both have pros and cons. I would expect your camper to have a rather large DC current demand like over 20A. A power supply/battery charger that big is not cheap.

 

[JohnnySkamp]

Thank you for responding and for your help. The camper is a 10' slide in camper, she sits in the back of my truck.... its a 1989 Magnetek series 6400, it may be designed to change an on board battery but I don't think so. I think it is just designed to take the shore power and convert it to DC to power the furnace and lights.... I think its shot but i also don't have the 3 ceiling lights or the furnace hooked up yet. I am reading my volts at the furnace end and at the exposed wires where the lights will be. Maybe having the furnace and lights hooked up will give more resistance to the line and lower the volt output. I don't know, but i don't want to fry the lil furnace after the repair guy gets it back to us (if the repair guy gets it back to us) haha.

Thanks again, let me know if this new info changes your perspective. We are not charging any camper batteries thru this unit.

 

[Jay H]

I would consider the thing cooked of a poor design to begin with. A 1 or 2 volt sag under heavy load I.E. 10A or more is normal. The type of fluctuation your seeing seems way out side the spec. A constant voltage Ac to DC power supply is a lot like a battery charger, so I would look for a replacement that is both a AC DC adapter and a charger. I have actually used an old big heavy battery charger to run my 12V DC fridge while it was parked on my dads porch. When shopping for a power supply its important to know the total load in amps of the things your going to run and buy one with at least 20% more capacity than needed. I.E. 15A load = 20A power supply this assures the unit will last and not get hot.

 

[dwh]

Magneteks have a dodgy reputation.

I often prefer, "the easy way". In this case, the easy way is a Parallax upgrade kit for the Magnetek:

https://bestconverter.3dcartstores.com/MagnetekParallax-to-Ultra-III_ep_8-1.html