Charging Accessorys

Originally posted by StephenH Originally posted by furpod Best bet for the OP is to install a couple 12v outlet/charge ports. We installed 2. You can either run new 12v circuits, or tie into an existing circuit. In our case, we did one each way, just because it was convenient to do so where we put them. They have 2 USB ports and a 12v socket each. Where did you find the dual-sockets?

!2v Sockets

Originally posted by StephenH Thanks. I have ordered one dual and a three-way with the Voltmeter. I want to keep track of my battery usage and just having the LED lights does not tell me much. The digital readout should be more useful.

Good plan. Voltmeter=Good; LEDs=Worthless. To maximize the VM accuracy it should be wired directly to the battery. HOWEVER, second best and still quite acceptable is to wire it to an unused slot on the power converter. Easily done and described by several on this forum. Connecting to an existing circuit can produce readings erroneously low. Maybe only a few tenths of a volt, but in this application each tenth of a volt can mean 10% error in battery SOC.

Thank you. I had not thought of the voltage drop. I'll see if I can do a direct connect for the Voltmeter.

Those are 10g wires. Good to 30A. The fuse is going to blow LONG before those wires get hot.

Those outlets set only have 1 cigarette lighter type socket, the other is a USB charging port (dual).

There is a negative and positive connection on the back of each outlet. I just brought one wire to each side and then on to the next. This is the same way your house etc is wired, the outlets on a circuit are wired in series. When any electrical circuit is laid out, it is the fuse or breaker's job to protect the wires, not any stuff plugged into the circuit. The circuits these are wired to have 10A and 15A fuses. NOW.. one thing that's "different" from what you might do, I already had 12v outlets in the two places I mounted these. Those were already wired with female ends, so I just added male ends for the hookups, because I had them on hand, and for one of the outlet sets, there is zero spare working room behind the outlets, so this made it a little easier to plug into MY installation.

Back when I played with CB radios, the circuits I ran for them were protected by 10A fuses. Never blew a fuse. All you have to do is look at the CB and the TV and see how many amps, or watts, they pull. But I am sure they will be less than 10A combined, to tell you the truth.

Monday morning boredom results in:

Looking at the manual for the most expensive Cobra model I could find, the 29LXBT, (my assumption being this model will have the most features and the highest power requirements) it says 1.5A max draw. The 19" Jensen 12v TV I looked up real quick appears to have a 3.3A draw. The 2 USB charging ports max at 2.1A and 1A. So even if you used a spliter for the 12v outlet, and had USB stuff charging at max, at the same time you were watching TV and talking to your good buddies, you still wouldn't blow a 10A fuse.

Wow, that is a lot of information to process.  For the most part we boondock, hence our 2 marine batteries come into play a lot.  I have been told, and maybe you already know the answer, that the deep cycle battery should only be drawn down to 1/3 of its full charge before recharging.  This is what we have done since we purchased ours in 2011.  In the winter months I take them out and give them each a trickle charge for a day and put them in our basement until the following spring.  Any advice? Last I checked they still are holding a great charge after nearly 5 years.