Question about charging electronics

[Shovelhead]

I've got my bags, crash bars and bash plate installed and am now moving towards adding some electrical, electronic, accessories.
Please be patient with me, I've been riding a long time and have never used a GPS, a helmet bluetooth comm / music system, or incorporated a telephone and computer(Ipad), that may need a power source for charging while going down the road.

I have an iphone 5(S I think). I've never charged the thing, or the ipad, via USB 12vdc but I see there are male plugs that plug in to a 12vdc socket that have USB ports to provide power to these devices. Some have a charge rate of 2.1A, and some 1.0A, from what I've seen.

I believe the 2.1A charge rate is what I need but I'm unsure about the voltage. Seems I remember something about a certain voltage requirement that the AC home charger steps down. ?? I know my Ford pickup and my brides Buick have USB ports just for this but we've never used them. Have only used the cigar lighter type connection.

So I guess my questions are, for charging these things via their factory USB cords and 12vdc, what type gadget and charge rate port do I need for the iphone and ipad?
And what would one use for the 1.0A port?

I'm going to use the Powerlet type sockets and am unsure if the basic plug with USB ports will do the trick or if I need the "apple$hit specific" stuff, or just carry a Yamaha generator on the rear rack and use the AC power charger. O0

Here's what I'm looking at ---

http://www.powerlet.com/product/powerlet-plug-to-dual-usb-adapter-21a/585

http://www.powerlet.com/product/powerlet-low-profile-plug-to-apple-iphone-5-36-charging-cable/631

Another question ----- will this be a direct fit for the Yamaha cigar lighter? The hole requirement is 11/16" x 2" deep.
http://www.powerlet.com/product/powerlet-socket-only/280

Thanks

 

[twinrider]

This 12V to 5V 3A USB Adapter works great, puts out enough juice to keep the phone charging even while using its GPS for google navigation and streaming music with bluetooth. Charges very quickly.

http://www.warmnsafe.com/usb-3with-pouch/

You can connect it to your bike's cigarette socket using this.

http://www.warmnsafe.com/cig-bmw-plug-to-coax-jack-18in-adapter-cable/

Or add a pigtail to your battery, which can also be used to power heated gear.
http://www.warmnsafe.com/battery-harness-with-coax-connector/

Warmnsafe has a lot of other nice power solutions as well as excellent heated gear and heat-trollers, worth having a look.

 

[Juan]

The output of a USB port, be it a computer, a wall socket adaptor or cigarette lighter, is always 5 volts. If the amperage is too low, you might get a slow charge, but no damage will be done.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Starting with volts and amps, basically a lithium battery has an unusual charge characteristic called CC-CV, but a basic way to understand it is that the number of charger volts are how full the battery can be and the amperage is how fast it'll recharge. None of the generic chargers are designed to give enough volts for an overcharge (some are more than 5V), so we can set that issue aside, but you may see some that charge to lesser voltage, meaning that your phone doesn't fully charge and then runs out of juice faster. (Phones show full discharge when the battery still has roughly 2-3 volts. Less damages the battery.)


With respect to amps, the battery industry has come a long way since the early iPhones, GPS's, and other devices. Battery chemistry used to require slower charging and you'll still see a lot of cheap chargers putting out only 3/4 amp (750 milliamps), which is not enough to charge the current generation of phones or many other devices. With 1 amp (1000 milliamps) you're going to get by - probably - but the charge is going to be very slow. I know that on a 1 amp charger, my Samsung Galaxy S5 will ever so slowly discharge if I'm playing music and using the GPS at the same time. At 2.1 amps it stays charged.


So your selection will be ok with 5.25 max volts and 2.1 amps. (It's 2.1 amps TOTAL which then divides between two ports!)


Will the Powerlet socket fit to replace the cig plug? While folks have done it, the Powerlet is a lot smaller diameter, so it'll be loose and you'll want to use a big washer which will look tacky or make a spacer.


Powerlet makes good stuff and unless you do a lot of rough roads will work. With more than 2" of charger hanging on the plug, plus the wire, a rough road could dislodge the charger. The other thing to consider is that there are a lot less expensive ways to go.


If you want to be simple, just get one of the low profile cigarette plug chargers. I've beat a couple of these up for the last couple of years and they stay pretty well because there's nothing hanging out of the socket. The cig plug on the Tenere has a 3A fuse, which can handle it.
Example: http://www.amazon.com/Aukey-iPhone6S-Motorola-Smallest-Powerful/dp/B00M6QODH2/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1443442144&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=low+profile+2.1+amp+usb+car+charger+adapter

You'll probably at some point want to attach a battery tender or air pump, both of which typically use SAE connectors like this:

Powerlet makes adapters to convert to SAE from a Powerlet socket, but the adapter cable then becomes another thing you need to remember to carry. What I am doing on my newer Tenere and suggest is install an SAE plug like the above photo for a few bucks and then connect a charger to that. My SAE plug is next to the rear of the right headlight. The charger below is $15 on the Battery Tender site and $10 everywhere else and can be velcro'd to the inside fairing surface.


That's about $85 less than what you proposed, the SAE plug is available for the compressor and battery tender, and the cigarette plug remains intact. and the charge can be velcro'd

One last note about USB connections and chargers is that they are NOT waterproof. It only took a little light rain to ruin a phone so that I could share that.
:

 

[AVGeek]

One thing that was missed in the above replies was in regards to your iPad. It will need the higher amperage output to even begin charging.

I am currently using a cigarette lighter to lightning charger cable, and I move it between my bike and my truck with no issues. All of my other accessories are mounted in my tank bag, with a single SAE connector to quickly remove and replace it.

I haven't done much remote traveling, like other members, but when I am on the road, I typically don't charge my larger electronics (laptop , iPad, etc.) until I reach my destination, where I usually have AC power.

 

[EricV]

One other tiny tid-bit of info to consider is that the iPhone doesn't have a USB plug on the phone, that is a proprietary plug only apple uses. The other end of the cord can certainly be USB, but you'll need to examine your charging cord to see. Some wall chargers have a USB that plugs into the 110V house portion of the plug. All you need to do there is unplug the USB portion from the 110 portion and plug strait into the USB charger if using one of those low profile Cig to USB chargers that CW wrote about above. You can buy the cables cheap too, if you just need an iPhone to USB cord.

 

[twinrider]

One thing that was missed in the above replies was in regards to your iPad. It will need the higher amperage output to even begin charging.

The Warmnsafe charger I listed handles an iPad fine.

 

[Shovelhead]

Great info men! Appreciate it.

I was surely thinking I didn't need to spend the money on that iphone specific charger.
I like the idea of using the stock outlet with the low profile rig CW listed for the iphone, and will then likely hard wire a GPS to an unswitched terminal on my PC8 fuse block.

Undecided on power location for a compressor and Batt Tender. Right now my batt tender lead is tucked under the side cover with supplied 7.5A fuse. I need to go up on the fuse for the compressor. 16 awg wire should handle a 15-20A fused ckt for the distance I'd be using, even if I mount a Powerlet in left hand dash area same as the factory socket, or just run a longer SAE lead to a point on the bike.
Any reason not to use an unswitched terminal of the PC8 rather than directly to the battery?

Only concern I have with using the same ckt for the compressor and batt tender is the fuse size. The Tenders come with a 7.5A fuse for a reason.
If the charger itself (the 2 prong box that plugs into an AC outlet) was to short internally, is there a chance of bad shit happening using a 15-20A fuse in place of 7.5A?
I suspect if the charger had a direct short if would blow a 20A fuse just as well, maybe, eventually..
I know folks set these up the same way, but.........

As far as the ipad goes, I would rarely have a need to charge it while bouncing down the road but thought it might be handy to have the option.
I've also looked at the Anti Gravity type jump start / charge units and that may be the best alternative for the ipad, if I got in a bind.

Likely for me I'll never be too far away from shore power if needed.

Thanks again ::003::