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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2019 8:11:20 GMT
As USB has become more or less universal for device charging it seems to make sense to install low profile USB sockets here and there on the boat. What have people used? As I am retrofitting I decided on surface mounting rather than hole mounting. Another advantage of the surface mount is if it is made in china rubbish of the first order there won't be a great big hole left behind when it is removed and thrown into the furnace in disgust. These ones. Two 3.1a sockets with a green (or red or blue) LED ring around it. £3.70.  www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-1A-12V-Dual-USB-Car-Charger-2-Ports-Adapter-Power-Socket-Charging-Panel-Mount-/202816257409Has anyone tried these or any others? Another useful little DC outlet is the Hella Din system like this. Again it's surface mount so much easier to retrofit into an already lined out boat. Obviously these ones are straight through whereas the USB is dropping to 5v.  |
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Post by phil70 on Dec 1, 2019 8:41:51 GMT
I fitted a couple of these about 2 years ago, one was a twin usb and the other was a duplex ie usb + din. Great quality, cost about a tenner from Vehicle Wiring Products. A very useful bit of kit.
Phil
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Post by Telemachus on Dec 1, 2019 8:50:51 GMT
We’ve got a mixture of usb sockets built into 13A mains outlets (we tend to leave the inverter on 24/7) and a couple of recessed 12v to USB outlets. I recently installed a third and surface mounted USB outlet next to the bed for charging phones and tablets over night. Your ones do look handy but one has to be careful about the light - I was careful to choose one without illumination to go next to the bed.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2019 8:53:26 GMT
Good point about the light yes. These ones are for the wheelhouse. I think for the bed I might opt for a long extension lead instead of a dedicated socket.
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Post by naughtyfox on Dec 1, 2019 9:02:40 GMT
We plug our phones into the socket at the end of the cable which plugs into the inverter. We have two cables but have never had the need to use them both at once. A simple life is a happy life!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2019 9:08:49 GMT
Agreed about the simple life.
There are also a number of lighting products I will be running off the USB outlets so it's worth having a few. Not talking dozens.
I dislike the principle of using 12v dc to generate 230v AC then drop that to 5v DC...
Inverters are for 230 as far as I'm concerned.
Useful things to have (I will be fitting a Prosine 1800 and a Xantrex Prowatt 700 on the frigate) but not the most efficient way to run DC devices on the boat. Of course if you are on holiday engine running for hours every day there won't be a power problem but for full time use it's best to try to be as efficient as possible. Specially in winter when there is no solar.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2019 9:37:34 GMT
All of my mains sockets have 3 usb points. I only use 12v to power the inverter and 3 lights.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2019 9:52:09 GMT
It's one approach but I have always preferred to have basic systems running direct from batteries. Putting an inverter in adds a potential failure.
Even on the barge which is on mains electric most of the time all the lighting and pumps are 12v DC.
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Post by JohnV on Dec 1, 2019 10:05:58 GMT
Even on the barge which is on mains electric most of the time all the lighting and pumps are 12v DC. Agree with the philosophy Andrew, on Sabina the water pumps and toilet are 24 volt, there is a very small amount of self contained emergency lighting but everything else runs off inverter/generator/shore power |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2019 10:14:53 GMT
I've got 16 LED downfighters. All 12v. They were fitted already but were halogens. The LED ones are a bit bright so I have covered them with Davey jellymould lamp covers and some horsebox lights which also have good frosted glass lenses and were not expensive.
Disperses the light well.
And the charger is a 20amp True charge. Old one.
There was a geyser on canalworld called Gibbo who seemed to know his stuff and he said the Truecharge was the best charger.
Can't fault his advice.
Fanless which is good. I've always found fans end up noisy. It's a 24/7 charger so the fan bearing would wear out.
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Post by JohnV on Dec 1, 2019 10:59:15 GMT
The lighting on Sabina is all 240v this is because I didn't pick the right horse in technical development.
It's nearly 30 years since I started designing Sabina's systems and at that time the only low voltage lights were tungsten.
There were some low voltage self contained fluorescent fittings around but most buzzed and had poor reliability.
Using tungstens I calculated I would need some 500 watts of lighting to achieve reasonable illumination but that I could achieve better illumination levels with only 120 watts of fluuorescent. So although I introduced the complexity of an inverter I quartered the battery bank requirement. (LED's were in their infancy)
I decided on folded fluorescent downlighters driven by a transistorised inverter, modified sine wave ones were appearing at that time (although the first one was a home built version of some 200 watt capacity)
As I started fitting out Sylvania started making their hockey puck shaped micro-lynx lamp and a surface fitting that was in total less than an inch and a half deep. I was very impressed by these and at 6 watts each were perfect for me (I also thought that because of their slim design they would become the standard for under shelf lighting ...... wrong again)
Eventually an LED version of the GX53 came out (but that was comparatively recently) and I now run on those giving even better lighting with less drain.
It's always the trouble when you are planning for the future ...... some bastard always invents something totally different that you hadn't thought of
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Post by JohnV on Dec 1, 2019 11:03:06 GMT
 just to add .... yes Gibbo was God
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just to add .... yes Gibbo was God