Thanks for the replies all!
Tons of great info here.
I'll give a little more background into what I'm doing, then address some ideas directly.
Background:
- I want to be able to charge and run gadgets on 12V (Laptop, proprietary camera battery, AA/AAA batteries, goPro, GPS, likely more)
- I really don't like the idea of an inverter and having all my AC chargers for this - inverters are inefficient, heavy, big and hot.
- And almost all those gadgets have a "brick" anyway that actually charge the device at ~12V, so I'd be going 12V DC -> 110V AC -> 12V DC.
- I can do better
Therefore no inverter for me.
So what I'm going to do is make or buy cables so I can charge stuff straight at 12V. Rather than having 6 or more things with the bulky cigarette lighter plugs, with all the downsides I mentioned earlier, I want a different plug.
Note: Nothing I'm charging needs high current. The laptop is the biggest, and it's only 4 amps.
I'll wire my fridge in differently so it won't use one of these "plugs" I'm looking at.
The laptop is the only device that doesn't want 12V (it wants 14.85) and so the "car charger" I'm looking at actually has a brick that steps it up and regulates it to 14.85.
I'm thinking about getting it because it will likely make the power smoother and prolong the life of my laptop. So I'll permanently wire the brick to 12v (with a swtich) and have a plug on the out of the brick to plug in the actual charger for the laptop. I'll have to make sure it's a different plug than everything else because the laptop will be the one "odd ball".
Not perfect, but it should work.
If it is just USB ports you are looking for blue sea has some hardwired ones.
Those Blue Sea dual USB sockets looks fantastic! I'll be getting a couple for sure.
They're cheaper on amazon -
Blue Sea Dual USB Socket
and I notice they have a 15mA parasidic draw.. so I'm going to wire them in with a nice switch (like
these) and make sure they're on the aux battery.
Another option is Anderson power poles. Check out powerwerx.
http://www.powerwerx.com/
Wow, those powerpoles look amazing. If I was doing high current stuff, I would seriously consider them. I'm still thinking about it.
It kind of depends on what you want to run on it. Here are a few choices for consideration.
Rigrunner USB Version
Wow, that rigrunner looks fantastic, and priced right too.
I had been thinking of the Blue Sea version of kind of the same thing -
Blue Sea Fuse Block times 6.
I'll have a good think about if the rigrunner makes more sense - it looks like it will be a little more bulky because of how far out those anderson connectors stick.
I would look at the genuine Hella sockets. Positive locking and pretty robust.
I've never seen those before - thanks guys
They look like an "updated" cig lighter socket - more durable and a tiny bit less bulky.
Would be good if I had high current stuff. I'm hoping for something smaller. They;'re not cheap either...
I like your idea but youre limiting yourself to a specific type of connector.. unfortunately most gadgets come wtih cigarette lighter style plugs. Euro/SA/AU is more Hella style. Im a fan of upgrading to blue sea outlets. Ive never had a plug pop out on its own...I have upgraded a lot of my male plugs to aftermarket ones that lock, have an led indicator and the tip is removable allowing for use with Hella receptacles. I also have dedicated USB ports as well as adapters. I know this probably isnt much help but I think versatility and universal options a key for an overland vehicle.
Very good point and something I have been considering.
I will have a 12V soldering iron on board, and I'll bring a few spare male and female versions of whatever socket I go with.. so I can do any repairs on the road, and if I did wind up with a new gadget on the road I can just cut it's connector (cig or hella) off and solder on a "new" connector.
Also, I'm going to leave one of the original cig lighter sockets in the dash - that way if I absolutely have to use a cig lighter for something, I can.
OP, google Trolling Motor Plug and Receptacle
Very interesting, though it's still about as bulky as a cig lighter. It would be good for high current stuff, but it's beyond my needs.
I have always thought about using the 2-wire version of the trailer plug.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...PtYEo&tbm=isch&client=safari&ved=0CCEQMygDMAM
I found a source for a panel mount plug for it. But that was many moons ago. And I never ended up purchasing any
Hmm.. that could be interesting for the fridge plug - if I don't go with the Andersons above. A panel mount for this could be interesting too.
If you wanted to go full on bonkers, you could go source military style "cannon-plug" connectors?
I'm going "full on bonkers" with enough of the build already - I'll try to keep electrical connectors out of that category
--
I'm still leaning towards the "jack-plug" style I posted in my original post. I think they meet all my needs, and I'm going for low current anyway I don't see any problems. I might even get the "right angle" version of the male plug to reduce the chance of snapping it off. (
like this)
Thanks again all,
-Dan