usb port how-to
#1
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usb port how-to
I got a new phone last week and want to be able to charge it while in my car. I did this once with my friends audi where the end of the car charger came out under the arm rest in a little cubby. My phone uses a USB plug so i wanted to do a USB setup so i could charge any other USB items.
Enough with the explanation though.
First off you need to pick up a few things. 12v car jack (about $2 on the internet. $6 at auto zone) a 12v USB adaptor (i bet they are really cheep on ebay i paid about $15 for mine, you want it to be approximately 5v and 1A) and a USB cable extender (shorter the better but because of the nature of what it is the shortest i could find was 10')
Strip the wires off the 12v plug adapter and attach them to the ones coming out the back of the cars 12v plug (there is a black and redish wire. the red one corresponds with + and black - so it's kind of hard to mess up). Put the USB adapter in the 12v plug, at this point you can make sure you got everything put together correctly.
I decided to put my plug in the little coin thing to the right of the shift area since i never use it and it is kind of inconspicuous, it pops right out if you push from behind. it was a mess down under and around the area so you might want to get some cleaning supplies ready
I cut out a slot for the female end of the USB cable and used some superglue to secure it in there.
Secure all the cables, put everything back together...
Enough with the explanation though.
First off you need to pick up a few things. 12v car jack (about $2 on the internet. $6 at auto zone) a 12v USB adaptor (i bet they are really cheep on ebay i paid about $15 for mine, you want it to be approximately 5v and 1A) and a USB cable extender (shorter the better but because of the nature of what it is the shortest i could find was 10')
Strip the wires off the 12v plug adapter and attach them to the ones coming out the back of the cars 12v plug (there is a black and redish wire. the red one corresponds with + and black - so it's kind of hard to mess up). Put the USB adapter in the 12v plug, at this point you can make sure you got everything put together correctly.
I decided to put my plug in the little coin thing to the right of the shift area since i never use it and it is kind of inconspicuous, it pops right out if you push from behind. it was a mess down under and around the area so you might want to get some cleaning supplies ready
I cut out a slot for the female end of the USB cable and used some superglue to secure it in there.
Secure all the cables, put everything back together...
#5
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It took 22 minutes from the first picture i took to the last picture i took so it's not like there was all that much involved
thanks for the feedback though
#10
Nice! You can probably eliminate the battery clip adapter by just soldering wires directly from the usb adapter to the power wires (the battery clip adapter probably has some inline fuses though).
He did use a "cigarette" usb adapter...it's just installed behind the trim with a USB cable routed so that the usb connector is flush with the dash.
Only thing is it might pop a fuse if you have two power-hungry devices plugged into your USB port & the 12v accessory outlet at the same time. If this is a problem, you could use the accessory outlet's positive lead (or accessory wire) as the trigger for a relay that gets power directly from the battery.
USB ports are just 2 pins providing 5 Volt and then 2 pins for data. USB "powered" devices just care about those 5 Volt pins. I've always found USB ports convenient as a DC supply when I need 5 Volts (for example, a portable device that takes four 1.5V AAs...they can usually can run off 5 Volts).
He did use a "cigarette" usb adapter...it's just installed behind the trim with a USB cable routed so that the usb connector is flush with the dash.
Only thing is it might pop a fuse if you have two power-hungry devices plugged into your USB port & the 12v accessory outlet at the same time. If this is a problem, you could use the accessory outlet's positive lead (or accessory wire) as the trigger for a relay that gets power directly from the battery.
USB ports are just 2 pins providing 5 Volt and then 2 pins for data. USB "powered" devices just care about those 5 Volt pins. I've always found USB ports convenient as a DC supply when I need 5 Volts (for example, a portable device that takes four 1.5V AAs...they can usually can run off 5 Volts).
Last edited by ridinwitha35; 11-29-2009 at 09:46 PM.
#11
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Nice! You can probably eliminate the battery clip adapter by just soldering wires directly from the usb adapter to the power wires (the battery clip adapter probably has some inline fuses though).
Only thing is it might pop a fuse if you have two power-hungry devices plugged into your USB port & the 12v accessory outlet at the same time. If this is a problem, you could use the accessory outlet's positive lead (or accessory wire) as the trigger for a relay that gets power directly from the battery.
Only thing is it might pop a fuse if you have two power-hungry devices plugged into your USB port & the 12v accessory outlet at the same time. If this is a problem, you could use the accessory outlet's positive lead (or accessory wire) as the trigger for a relay that gets power directly from the battery.
The two plug adapter is 5v 1A max so if you had 2 devices it would draw 500mA each but never totaling more than 1A. Way below the limit for the circuit
#12
Because he already answered that question....
#13
#14
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There are tons of ways you could wire it and places you could put the plug. I'm not in my car while it's off and my phone stays with me so i didn't really need to make things any more complicated.
#17
In general, if you had two devices, they would draw the current they need...but the voltage would drop if your power supply can't sustain that amount of current at the power supply's spec voltage.
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