Panel Mount USB 12V Charging

[whaup]

Anyone use the "Hella" connectors- I understand they are fitted to some motorbikes as well as HRs.

They look better than cigarette sockets but don't seem anything like so common. Would be nice to find decent adapters for them

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Anyone use the "Hella" connectors- I understand they are fitted to some motorbikes as well as HRs.

They look better than cigarette sockets but don't seem anything like so common. Would be nice to find decent adapters for them

Yes, I've used them on a couple of car projects and they're certainly way better than a fag lighter, but if you want to use a device's fag lighter adapter you're then into a world of taking apart the plugs to get 12V into them securely.

 

[NickRobinson]

I've fitted several of these interior only budget ones- They are lit, but not too intrusive, and charge well.
(from several suppliers, eg this one.) 2/4/6PCS Dual USB Car Charger Power Socket Panel Mount Fast Charging Adapter 12V | eBay

 

[lustyd]

I've fitted several of these interior only budget ones- They are lit, but not too intrusive, and charge well.
(from several suppliers, eg this one.) 2/4/6PCS Dual USB Car Charger Power Socket Panel Mount Fast Charging Adapter 12V | eBay

Looking at the total wattage these are unlikely to charge modern phones and tablets at anything like a reasonable speed. They're not particularly cheap either compared to the more capable options

 

[PaulRainbow]

Looking at the total wattage these are unlikely to charge modern phones and tablets at anything like a reasonable speed. They're not particularly cheap either compared to the more capable options

The listing is for 4, for £12.09.

Although, that's still too much IMO.

 

[lustyd]

The listing is for 4, for £12.09.

I thought that at first too but that's the per unit cost and £12.09 is for one unit. If you buy two they are £11.49 each. That's only a quid cheaper than the 60W unit I bought from Amazon today which does PD on two ports with variable voltage. My post originally ended "they are cheap though" and I had to edit it!

 

[Wing Mark]

I'm thinking of buying a LEnovo tablet.
It has a 7Ah battery, they claim over 3 hours to charge fully from flat.
That looks like a max of 2A or so to me.

I expect some toys are fussy, but all ours seem to charge OK from the 2.1A USB output from the mains socket in the kitchen at home.

 

[lustyd]

It's not about fussy it's about filling a leaky bucket, or filling the water tank while the taps are running. 2.1A will charge anything but at 5V that's 10.5W. My laptop uses around 12W while in use for browsing so would be losing power, and many tablets are the same. They will charge when not in use, but if they're on they'll gradually lose charge. At 18W my laptop can function and gain charge, and at 30W it'll charge pretty fast while in use. Given how close in price they units are it seems a no brainer to get the PD version.

 

[Poignard]

Without having the benefit of the expert advice available here, I recently bought one of these although I haven't fitted it

USB POWER SOCKET - TWIN USB SOCKET & STANDARD 20mm POWER SOCKET FLUSH MOUNT <br>ALT/USB142PANEL-28

Good buy? Or should I have spent more and got a better product?

It will be used for charging tablets, phones and running a small USB fan.

 

[Wing Mark]

Laptops are a different game.
Mine wants 20V and 3.5A. 70W.
Then again my PC has a 400W power supply.
Compare with the R Pi wanting 2A at 5V. (and it means 5V, none of your 4.95 thank you!)

My phone is 2.9Ah battery and nothing I've ever done to it has flattened it in less than 5 hours, including using it as a wifi hotspot serving 2 people.
Only times it's gone flat are when I've used the GPS after not charging it for a couple of days.

Navionics on the phone seems to be quite heavy on the battery BTW?

 

[lustyd]

Good buy? Or should I have spent more and got a better product?

It's not a bad buy and it probably does what you need. It does "only" have normal USB so may be a bit slow on the tablet charging. I didn't mean to cause panic, just that for the money the other ones offer better value and are a bit more future proof

 

[Poignard]

It's not a bad buy and it probably does what you need. It does "only" have normal USB so may be a bit slow on the tablet charging. I didn't mean to cause panic, just that for the money the other ones offer better value and are a bit more future proof

I'm a Yorkshireman and the thought of possibly having wasted £12.67 plus postage is guaranteed to send me into a panic!

 

[lustyd]

Mine wants 20V and 3.5A. 70W.
Then again my PC has a 400W power supply.

Neither will use that, the 70W will be to charge in a shorter time but it probably needs 10-20W to run. The laptop I tested was a Surface Laptop 3 with i7 and 16GB RAM so quite high end and it used 12W

 

[lustyd]

I'm a Yorkshireman and the thought of possibly having wasted £12.67 plus postage is guaranteed to send me into a panic!

It's not wasted, you just saved 30p by not buying what you don't need. You're a true Yorkshirman and should be proud

 

[PaulRainbow]

I thought that at first too but that's the per unit cost and £12.09 is for one unit. If you buy two they are £11.49 each. That's only a quid cheaper than the 60W unit I bought from Amazon today which does PD on two ports with variable voltage. My post originally ended "they are cheap though" and I had to edit it!

No, it's 4 pieces for £12.09, 2 x 4 pieces of four for £11.49. A single socket is £5.48.

 

[lustyd]

No, it's 4 pieces for £12.09, 2 x 4 pieces of four for £11.49. A single socket is £5.48.

Ah so it is. Hard work to get to that though as the description has different quantities all over the place! In that case yes much cheaper if you just need basic power