Table charge

T

Two Bears

New member
I have an I pad and used it recently on Two Bears and powered it with a adapter in one of the "cigarette lighter" power outlets. The adapter has a USB port and I just plugged the I-pad into that. Over the coarse of a few hours the I pad lost charge, even with the green light on for charging. The loss was not great, from about 80% to about 70% over three hours. This does not happen when I use the I pad in a car. The adapter has two outlets, and one seems to be better than the other.

Is this normal with my Suzuki 90, or do I need larger wire, or junk the adapter and try something else? I've always felt I had good charge with the motor, a fast idle of 1500 rpm brings the batteries up in from an overnight on the 'fridge & stuff in 30 to 45 min. What else do I need to look at?

Chuck
 
Tablets need about 2 amps to charge, especially when you are also using it. Some USB charge adapters do not put out enough current. Ones with two outlets sometimes have different ratings on the two plugs. The top one will be about 1 amp for phones and the bottom will be about 2 amps for tablets.

You can get USB adapters that put out 2 amps at each plug, but you need to look out for them and they are a bit more expensive.

It should say on the adapter what the outputs are.
 
For travelling, I got an after-market plug for the iPad2. It's Travelocity brand, and that is the only print on the entire device, so no info on output characteristics. The adapter is dual mode: cigar lighter and flip out 110 V prongs. That way, I could use it in the car, with a 12 V jump starter on the boat, or in motel rooms!
Well, WRONG! It turns out, in all modes, that the iPad signals "not charging." I guess it provides operating power only, however I have been so disappointed with the damned thing that I don't know yet if it 100% spares the battery or just slows battery drain. Either case might prove useful, I guess, but it sure was not what I planned. :cry
Rod
 
We have a 400 watt inverter both in the boat and the truck plugged into the cigarette lighter and on the output side we use a six way surge strip. We just use the regular chargers that come with our devices and have no issues. We use the same setup to power a hot spot and to recharge IPADS cell phones, our navigation laptop, and camera battery chargers. I even use it for powering a CPAP machine when not on shore power. Been no trouble in the last five years and we get off the porch a fair amount.
D.D.
 
Chuck, we too use a 400 watt inverter for everything except charing our iPhones. Inexpensive and they will run a multitude of little things, like computer charger, coffee grinder, etc.
 
Chuck,
I had the same problem as you with my I-Pad. I use the Garmin navigation on the I-Pad when traveling, so this was a real pain... I found some consumer info that steered me to an adapter (PowerGen 4.2Amps / 20W Dual USB Car charger Designed for Apple, Android Devices) and purchased it on eBay for $10. Problem solved!
 
It is very possible that the cig lighter plug is not getting enough voltage--due to other appliances running on that circuit--check the voltage, with the adaptor on. The solution to this is a separate circuit for the 12 volt cig. plug--I have a total of 4 in addition to the built in one on the "console"--all are at the voltage of the battery--which is usually 14.1 volts when running. These plugs are made for cars where the nominal voltage is 13.8 (except some of the new cars, which shut down the alternator to save fuel--when the battery is charged).
 
I bought 2 of these and mounted them in front of both the captain's seat and navigating admiral's seat. They are hard-wired to one of the accessory breakers so that when I shut down and clear the panel they are off. Each also has an on/off switch. Each has 3 USB ports, 2 lower powered for overnight charging and 1 higher powered port for the tablet being used as we travel. So far so good. Very thin delicate wires but easy to install. I can post pics later if desired. We each have a phone and a tablet (Navionics app) and we use a small single blue tooth speaker ($12 on ebay) as our entertainment system. We use my 4g phone as an internet radio and we have our CD's on tablets etc. The speaker has a USB rechargeable battery and travels to the back deck when we want it out there. Sounds very hi tech but I promise it's simple, cheap and modular, and it works. No holes it the boat, no car radios to rust up, no speaker holes and wiring, the expensive stuff (phones and tablets never go outside unless we are sitting around an anchorage with Wi-Fi and reading email. We also have a $15 battery powered am/fm radio as a back up.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/121263860541?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT
 
A regular USB charger is about 1 amp. An iPad charger (that comes with the device) is rated at ~2.1 amps. It's, in all likelihood, not the wiring but the charger itself. ssobol is right on IMO.

Charlie :thup
 
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