More Power! USB Charger upgrade for the camper

[Hodakaguy]

Quick after work upgrade. On our last outing I noticed that the USB charge ports in the camper charged my phone and tablet very slowly, there is no rating printed on the factory USB units so I assume they are cheap low amperage chargers.

Time to upgrade!

Here's the factory USB chargers, taken as I'm removing them from the camper.

I'll be installing two Blue Sea 4.8A chargers. I've used these before and they work great.

The new Blue Sea charger next to the removed factory unit.

Marine heat shrink terminals installed on the factory wiring and new chargers going in.

And all installed...ready to charge up our gadgets while we travel.

Hodakaguy

 

[longhorn1]

Nice install. Do you have additional 12 volt, or only the center one? I ended up buying a 12 volt with 2 USB outlets that I just plug in when I need the USB. We have more 12 volt needs. jd

 

[pghjon]

this is great, thanks for sharing. Any issue with overloading the fuse? I

 

[badtoytrd]

Did pretty much the same thing on my older Fleet. I had to enlarge the holes and panel cutout though. Good work!

 

[PJorgen]

Very cool! I've already ordered one. I too will have to enlarge the holes as they are 7/8" to accommodate the old-style cigarette lighter style receptacles.

Connected to a 15A breaker so plenty of juice to charge.

 

[Advmoto18]

Installed these in my 2015 Hawk last summer. I very nice addition!

A Dremel opens up the hole to accommodate the Blue Seas unit very quickly. I recommend covering the entire outer portion of the plate with blue painters tape to prevent scratches while opening up the hole.

I charged 2 iPhone 6S, my Bluetooth SoundFreq speaker, and a 8000mAh battery at the same time without an issue with blowing a fuse.

 

[Bill D]

Nice job. Too bad the factory ones apparently aren't 4.8 amps to begin with. Seems like more of an oversight than a cost savings. The price point on 1A and 2.4A chargers is negligible.

 

[ntsqd]

Nice to see that those don't have the little green LED power indicator light on them. I'm thinking to swap out my old Blue Sea USB power ports just for that!

 

[rando]

Has anyone ever found one of these with a USB-C output? I have a feeling we will be switching to USB-C pretty soon, so while I like the idea of upgrading, it seems wise to do it with the new about-to-be-standard.

 

[Old Crow]

I'm just trying to match photos but it looks like those gray-and-orange connectors in the second photo of post #1 are Wago Lever Nut Series 222 connectors (item 222-415).

Those are pretty interesting. If you click on the video about half-way down that page, we see them subjected to a very high overload.

If you search for '222' in this brochure pdf, we see they accommodate quite a range of conductor styles and sizes and are very simple to use.

Also -- According to this overview pdf, the successor to the 222 Series is the 221 Series and they are 40% smaller.




.

 

[craig333]

Well shoot. I have the blue sea 2.1 amp unit and I didn't even know I needed to upgrade until now. /sigh ordered one.

 

[Sharx]

Awhile back I did some simple research on my phone (Samsung) chargers thinking if I bought a charger with the max. output, I could charge my phone in as little time as possible. What I found was that the newer Samsung's have what is called "Adaptive Charging". As long as you use a charger with that. I checked this by downloading the app called "Ampere" to check voltage incoming from a variety of chargers and cables too. I found that some chargers (and cables) are better than others. I also found that if you use a charger that puts out less than the max. acceptable to my phone you will get that amount, but if you use a charger that outputs more (than 2 amps) you will still only get what the phone can take. The phone adapts to the charger to keep it from frying. The most interesting thing I realized was that my Samsung charger (w/the adaptive charging feature) actually charged my phone faster than another charger with more power. Even ones that said they had adaptive charging. The phone charges real fast at the beginning of charging and then slows as it gets close to 100%. There also is a major difference in charging with the phone off than I knew. It could take an extra hour (or 50% more time) to do so with the phone on. After a recent software update, I now get a message on screen that tells you that you can charge your phone faster if you use one of their chargers. Maybe they built the phone to keep you from wanting to buy 3rd party chargers.

 

[ntsqd]

IME all batteries behave that way, fast to initially charge and then get slower and slower as they approach a full SoC. I would venture that while all charge curves are logarithmic in curve shape, that the curves aren't the same for each battery.

That sort of message would have me dumping the fone for something else. I abhor that sort of coercive programming.

 

[rando]

This is kind of what I was alluding to above when asking about a USB-C option for this plug. The charging standards on most newer devices (and more going forward) are increasingly becoming interactive - ie the device asks the charger what standards it supports, and then negotiates the fastest option. I think Samsung uses the Qualcomm 'quick charge' protocol, and going forward more and more phones will use USB-C 'power delivery'. The rumor is that new iphones/ipads will start shipping with USB-C charging cords later this year and do away with the old rectangular 5V USB plugs that are used now.

This is not devious, it is just that in order to safely charge lithium batteries quickly, you need to have a little more intelligence in the system.

If someone made something like this that could be flush/hard mounted, it would probably your best bet:
https://www.amazon.com/AUKEY-Charger-Samsung-Qualcomm-Certified/dp/B01E764DXM

You can use the older USB-A port with the 'quick charge' logic and USB-C with power delivery. I have one of these for the cab if the truck and it does charge my iphone much faster using a USB-C to lightening cable.

 

[pghjon]

I'll throw out another need for intelligent chargers, but ones that do not charge to 100% capacity.
Not to derail this install conversation, but I guess I will a bit..charging to 100% is detrimental to the life of your batteries.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

 

[PJorgen]

Installed these in my 2015 Hawk last summer. I very nice addition!

A Dremel opens up the hole to accommodate the Blue Seas unit very quickly. I recommend covering the entire outer portion of the plate with blue painters tape to prevent scratches while opening up the hole.

I charged 2 iPhone 6S, my Bluetooth SoundFreq speaker, and a 8000mAh battery at the same time without an issue with blowing a fuse.

Thanks for the tip on the painter's tape. Installed today and it looks great. Had to use the Dremel to enlarge the cabinet face opening a bit as well.

 

[Ripperj]

Nice, I put the same ones in my Alaskan last year. You didn't like the caps? I think they are slick and keep the dust out

 

[badtoytrd]

In my mind, a step bit works even better than a Dremel at making the charger socket hole larger. Did have to use the Dremel to make the cabinet hole bigger though.

 

[Bill D]

In my mind, a step bit works even better than a Dremel at making the charger socket hole larger. Did have to use the Dremel to make the cabinet hole bigger though.

I was thinking the same thing. A step bit does a very good job.

 

[Sharx]

I would add that cell phones are seemingly upgraded nowadays faster than their original batteries go out. I remember having to buy extra batteries and charging them to change them out as the one in the phone would lose its charge quickly. I have a sealed battery now and I don't think I will wear it out before the phone needs replacement. The stories coming out lately have upcoming cellphone battery tech (and I assume tablets) being able to be charged much faster (like less than 50% current) AND will last much longer. This will probably make the importance of having high powered USB charging ports more mute going forward. What will become more important is having more solar panel efficiency and power. I stated a long time ago that having your entire rig running by solar is the holy grail. Using the free Sun and not having to refill tanks and having no propane use saves money and the potential for dangerous gas emissions/explosions (and no more monitor false alarms). I can't even think of how much weight would be saved as well (tanks, propane system, etc.). I can cook without it now, I think it's a matter of sooner rather than later that you will be able to heat without it too. Here's hoping Atwood is already working on this idea or some other manufacturer.