Interesting 12V / USB outlet / Battery meter combo

**BroncoHauler** · 03-21-2015, 10:27 AM

Came across this on Amazon. No firsthand experience with it.

http://www.amazon.com/Function-Charger- ... s=12v+plug

Herb

Karsten · 03-21-2015, 11:03 AM

I have a couple of those outlets and the voltmeter laying at my desk, waiting to be installed in the van. They're indeed nice.

gcvt · 03-21-2015, 01:16 PM

Dang it. I just installed one in December with just the USBs and cig lighter and then bought a separate battery monitor. Wish they had this one for sale back then.

reelchef67 · 03-22-2015, 09:33 AM

i have had these mounted since last sept. They work nicely. The mounting plate is purely for looks and can been removed to install the volt meter usb etc in separate locations.
At first I did not use the usb rubber plug covers but i realized the leds inside are very bright at night. I put them back on.
.An the leds are blue light which interrupts the brains sleeps patterns, makes you brain think its time to get up.
All leds that are on on sleeping areas should be red, green is not great either for sleep.

LenS · 03-22-2015, 11:29 AM

Any idea of the standby (idle) power draw??

**BroncoHauler** · 03-22-2015, 02:38 PM

May not be directly applicable, but here are some specs of a similar volt meter & 12V cig outlet (I have this one installed in my Bronco).

For the voltmeter only:
Power consumption
7mA with back light ON
3mA with back light OFF

The USB outlet on the other one will draw some current if for no other reason than the LED. The 12V cig lighter socket shouldn't draw any current when not used.

Herb

Viva · 03-22-2015, 03:58 PM

I don't know if they all inherently draw power when not in use, but the USB "outlets" that I've looked at do. For that reason I've stuck with the basic cigarette lighter outlet and then just have a bunch of USB "males" that can plug into them. Alternatively I might have installed a switch, but since the cigarette lighter way is a bit more flexible (I have both "lighter end" and USB things to charge), I decided to just stick with those.

At first I didn't realize the USB outlets drew power when idle (vs. the cigarette sockets don't).

BrianW · 03-22-2015, 04:34 PM

I don't think it makes a while lot of sense to install the dedicated USB outlets, apart from them looking a bit nicer and/or a cool factor. . For me, having a standard 12v power point (cig lighter socket) + some plug-in "male" USB charger inserts is a much more flexible solution. And, as Viva notes, you aren't drawing any current unless you actually are using them/have them plugged in.

reelchef67 · 03-22-2015, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LenS

Any idea of the standby (idle) power draw??

Not sure of the usb port
but the voltmeter was less than 10milliamps.
I have a spare usb port , I just checked it at 12.7Vdc it drew 25.8milliamps.
The blue led in it draws probably 20ma.I have taken these apart before, the led could be removed/cut off or swapped for a nice red one that draws about 10ma.
15ma or 5 ish ma not too bad.
I already had 3 reg car charger ports, I put two of the usb ports in some handy spots. Happy i did it ..

JohnandMandi · 03-23-2015, 06:02 AM

We added 4 dual USB outlets to the house part of the van and two in the cab. That being said, we added 6 12v outlets to the house as well. We also have 2 12V outlets externally mounted on the camp side on a switch. We went entirely 12V with one 4D, another can be added if we need. Sans fridge, our battery meter reads 99% in the morning before sunrise. We'll know more this week once we put the fridge in.

-John