Charging Accessorys
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URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7365
Printed Date: 01 May 2024 at 3:39am
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Topic: Charging Accessorys
Posted By: snorris
Subject: Charging Accessorys
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 5:10pm
Am I right that you can only charge your cell phone, gps, camera etc while plugged in to electrical service at rv park etc.If this is the case I will have to put in an inverter (good quality pure sine)for charging. I would also put in receptacle for tv so it could run on 12v or 110. Am I right or way off base? Trying to do all my home work before purchase. 
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Replies:
Posted By: jimqbaum
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 5:22pm
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The Pod comes with an inverter that will run certain things on 12volt already. With that said, I am going to stop right here and let the seasoned experts jump in here. ------------- Have A Blessed Day Pod 171 Ram Hemi tow truck. Got rid of the Jeep Wrangler. It was puny and girly |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 5:37pm
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Since most Pods do not have any 12V sockets inside, that's generally true. A better solution is to install one or two 12V sockets (very easy) and use 12V to USB adapters. Cheap and readily available. Much more efficient and convenient. As for the TV, you will have to go the inverter route or get a 12V TV.
------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 5:42pm
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The device in the Pod is a converter that changes 120VAC to 12VDC. An inverter changes 12VDC to 120VAC. I assume the OP wants to charge USB type devices and/or do it without shore power.
------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 5:46pm
Forest river does not install an inverter in pods. There is a converter, which gives us 12v from the 120v supply. An inverter supplies 120v from 12v. 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.    ------------- |
Posted By: snorris
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 5:50pm
| Right.Thats what I want to do. Thanks |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 5:53pm
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Thanks furpod, From now on I may have to call you the ' helpful hardware man.' BTW nice job.
------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 6:09pm
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snorris - yes, the 120 volt outlets are only active when the pod's plug is connected. The battery supplies the 12 volt power for certain things when you are "off grid", like the lights, the igniter on the propane side of the water heater, water pump. When the pod is plugged in, the converter (not an inverter) supplies 12 volts to charge the battery and run the 12 volt items. If you want to run 120 volt items when you are off grid you will need to install an inverter. You can charge a camera, laptop, cell phone without major upgrades, just add a 100-300 watt inverter close to the converter (where the wires from the battery are easy to access), with the size dependent on how much you want to charge. 300 watts is pushing the limits without upgrading the battery and battery wiring, but I often recommend this inverter because it is bulletproof (below). No fan or openings for dust to get inside. http://www.solar-electric.com/inverters-controllers-accessories/inverters/moin/mosu300wasiw.html - http://www.solar-electric.com/inverters-controllers-accessories/inverters/moin/mosu300wasiw.html ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: snorris
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 7:13pm
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Thanks for all the info every one. Makes my decisions much easier.
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Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 7:32pm
Where did you find the dual-sockets? ------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 7:47pm
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N3I1NZW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 - !2v Sockets ------------- |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 8:59pm
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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.
------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 10:04pm
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.  ------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 10:31pm
That's a good plan. I built my own voltmeter very early on, so didn't order the three port one (I think all the monitor panel readouts are hokum) Think about putting at least that bay of the three on a separate switch, for both the glow at night, and the small parasitic draw.. ;)   ------------- |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2016 at 10:32pm
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Thank you. I had not thought of the voltage drop. I'll see if I can do a direct connect for the Voltmeter.
------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: johnmaci
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2016 at 9:32am
Furpod, Could you please explain the connections here? What did you splice together? If you double up on connections and you draw from both does that still leave enough room so that the wires do not overheat? Case in point, I plan on connecting my CB radio to one outlet, and a small 12v (19") TV to the other..... |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2016 at 10:46am
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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. ------------- |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2016 at 10:54am
One thing about the mentioned voltage drop.. Playing with my multimeter, I find my monitor shows .01-.02 less voltage then the multimeter shows at the batteries. I don't see this as problem in any way. If the meter shows a bit "pessimistic" and is showing me I am down to 12.21v, when I am REALLY at 12.22-3V, I see that as a good thing. The battery is not as LOW as shown on my panel, but I am going to use my panel output as "true", meaning, when I choose to recharge, or cut the power to protect the batteries, they are "safer" then shown. I was worried about how exact the output from the gauge would be, and wired temporary at first, in case I wanted to do it direct, rather then put it where it's convenient.. but even from one end of the trailer to the other, it's all short runs, and the voltage drops are pretty minimal, as long as the gauge of the wire is correct. ------------- |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2016 at 11:10am
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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. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2016 at 11:38am
We left ours in all winter, with the pod plugged in. By "marine batteries" do you mean 12v rv/marine? if so, then you should never let them get below 50% SOC. If you have a setup like our old, 2 12v Group 24 RV/Marine batteries. Our 12v batteries tested 100% life when we turned them in as cores for our Trojan T-105s. 5 years old. Those dual 12v are good for about 55-65aH of useable storage. We switched to dual 6v GC-2 sized batteries, fit in the same space, gives us about 110aH of useable storage if we pull to 50% SOC.. almost double, without taking into account that we do now have true deep cycle batteries and can pull them as deep as we need, though I hope we never really have to take them below 50%, but know it won't be "as hard" on them if we do. ------------- |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2016 at 11:50am
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Thanks Mark ! What made you decide to trade out your 12v/marine (same as what I currently have) for the Trojan T-105s since they still tested 100% life? And, what did the Trojan batteries set you back? I like the 110 hours that the 2 6v batteries give. With the 12v we usually go 4 days on one before switching over to the other and that is in colder weather when evening temps run 30 - 45 degrees. However I am drawing it down to about 33% SOC. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2016 at 11:55am
A) They were 5 years old, and I would rather trade them then have them fail when I needed them. And we wanted the capability to be off grid longer. we also like to late and early season camp where temps can be well below freezing, heater runs a lot more then. B) Box and batteries, it was about $400 total. If you click my mod link and go to page 9, whole setup is there.. ------------- |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2016 at 12:16pm
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Thanks, looks good. Nice job. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2016 at 2:15pm
One advantage of wiring directly to the converter panel: Regardless of the length the meter will be essentially correct if there is nothing running from the outlet itself. Connect with #12AWG and you're good to go. ------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2016 at 12:18pm
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Jato, keep your batteries outside where the cold will preserve their life, and reduce their internal discharge rate. If you keep them inside you still should be charging them monthly, if they are outside and it is cold out you can go with one charge in the middle of winter.
50% SOC normally, only occasionally go to 30% SOC to preserve the life. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2016 at 12:27pm
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Thanks, I will do that as soon as I finish here. It is a balmy 20 outside right now, quite a warm-up from the past few days. Guess I will give them a 2amp trickle charge as well to get them through until spring. BTW is your 171 the 2nd pod you've owned? Didn't you have a 2009 before?
------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2016 at 5:35pm
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Got down to 9 here last night. Love the cold. When it is inside the ice cubes in my drink. Only owned 1 pod, a 2010 171 which we sold almost exactly a year ago. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: Don Halas
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2016 at 12:43pm
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I installed this in our 178. 2 usb ports and one 12v socket.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N3I1NZW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 |
Posted By: Patriot Dave
Date Posted: 21 Feb 2016 at 6:33am
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I am a Newbie and hope to pick up our new Rpod in the next week or so.
Reading your reply here regarding an inverter. So with the inverter I can charge things like cell phones, lap tops and so on........my question is when charging theses devices is the draw on the batteries more or less than adding a few 12 volt outlets? Thanks Patriot Dave ------------- Dave & Joyce Never Forget, In God We Trust; This Our National Motto. Member; Patriot Guard Riders, Michigan Chapter Retired; So Every Day is Saturday.... Except Sunday |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 21 Feb 2016 at 8:11am
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The best way to charge cell phones, laptops, and similar 12V devices is directly from 12V outlets without an inverter. The 12V current draw is less without the inverter. An inverter changes 12V DC to 120V AC. Then the cell phone charger must convert 120V AC back to low voltage DC. Each conversion wastes energy, giving off heat, thus increasing total demand on the battery.
------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 21 Feb 2016 at 4:09pm
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To a certain extent, I agree with using 12V to charge 12V devices. With cell phones, when 12V is plugged in, it is converted to 5V for the USB connection that phones use for charging. The dual-socket connectors seen higher up in this topic have a 12V socket on one side and a dual USB connector on the other. I also got one with 12V socket, meter, and dual USB connector. If you have the dual socket, it would be best to use the USB side as you would already have the correct voltage. Depending on the laptop, you would probably need an inverter since many laptops need 19 volts. You would not simply be able to plug one of those into a 12V outlet. However, there are other 12V devices for which adding 12V outlets would be very handy. ------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 21 Feb 2016 at 4:22pm
Most laptop manufacturers offer car chargers for their computers. Technically they they are DC-to-DC converters and convert 12VDC to 17 or 19VDC. They avoid the 12VDC-to-120VAC then 120VAC-to-19VDC of the inverter/charger combination and are somewhat more efficient. They also avoid some control and overhead power of the inverter, but at some point, we are splitting hairs. I have individual car chargers for two laptops which provide more flexibility, somewhat better efficiency, and more stuff to haul  . Camp on.
------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 21 Feb 2016 at 8:03pm
I had not thought about a DC to DC converter. You are correct in that if one is available, it would be a good choice. I did a quick check to see how much they cost, and they are reasonable in price. Thanks for the additional information. ------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2016 at 7:39pm
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Most of the time it is easier to just get the inverter. If you must have the highest efficiency DC-DC converters are the way to go, but to justify that you would need to camp off-grid a lot. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2016 at 8:33pm
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We have and use this one.. http://www.amazon.com/Laptop-Car-Charger-Dell-Inspiron-15-3520-17-3721-XPS-Studio-15/dp/B002UI2Y8Q - Charger. ------------- |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 22 Feb 2016 at 9:00pm
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We already have a small inverter that is adequate for charging laptops/netbooks. We also have a generator, we will use the generator and 110V some of the time and the inverter for laptops when we don't want to run the generator and/or are not on an outside power connection. We will use the USB outlets for phones. I can't see buying 12V adapters for our netbooks at the moment. That may change later.
------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: howmanyds
Date Posted: 22 Mar 2016 at 12:45pm
| Can someone please tell me where the converter panel is? Is it connected to the fuse panel or is it just inside from the port side shore power connection, which would be under the seating area in my 183G? |
Posted By: Outbound
Date Posted: 22 Mar 2016 at 1:14pm
Its an all-in-one unit - and, yes, the power panel (with both 120v breakers and 12v fuses) is the front of the unit. ------------- Craig :: 2009 RP171 towed by a 2017 F150 |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 22 Mar 2016 at 1:45pm
If you go to my mods link, page 8, you can see exactly where it is, and what it is, in relation to the power distribution center.. Click Blue Link V v V v V ------------- |
Posted By: howmanyds
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2016 at 2:37am
| Thanks |