USB socket

[Anderzander]

Has anyone found a USB socket that could be fitted in to the dash panel ? so that I could charge phones, ipods and sat nav's etc?

The only things I can find are adaptors to plug into a cigarette lighter socket but I don't fancy that I want a panel mounted one.... but the only panel mounted ones I can find are to convert USB A to USB etc:

This is an extension for a clarion Hifi - but would make a nice neat front end. It'd be an expensive way of doing it though - to buy it and cut the cable down and just wire it up for power..

Anyone able to point me in the right direction.

[GBMUD]

My car stereo has one.

Chris

[Anderzander]

hmmm ......I'd rather find a socket though than pay for a new stereo. I don't really even listen to music that much

This is interesting:

A waterproof extension cable with a panel mounted end. I guess I'd just cut the USB plug off the other end and wire it into a 12v feed and earth.

link

[BogMonster]

Is a USB cable 12 volts (or rather 14.4 with engine running...) output though?

If you just want a socket you can buy a USB extension cable for just a few quid and chop the plug off the end.

[tweetyduck]

try here.

theres lots to choose from.

BTW USB is 5.25 volts max any more and you'd fry it although i run a 5.5V supply on most of my devices. 500mA usually max current.

[m&mv80]

try this link

http://www.indexmarine.co.uk/pages/wtrprfconns1.htm#usb

it looks like the one in your first post but doesnt say its an adaptor

[Anderzander]

Thanks I'll have a look - and look for a little voltage regulator too then.... It would be nice though if there was an integrated solution.

[TheRecklessEngineer]

I mounted a USB socket from the back of a computer in my volvo dash. To get a 5v supply I used a 7805 voltage reg. Works a treat!

[TSD]

As others have said, you want a 5V supply into the usb socket, not 12V.

Also quite a few more recent devices (phones, GPS etc.) require more than the USB standard 500mA to charge properly.

These devices will not charge properly if they think they are connected to a PC port, rather than a dedicated charger.

Several ways are used to signal this, but the most common one of late is for the charger to short the two data wires together to indicate a dedicated charger. This is used by Nokia amongst others.

At least, don't cut the data wires off too short until you're sure you won't ever need them

From memory, standard usb wiring colours are :-

Red - 5V

White - data (-)

Green - data (+)

Black - Ground

Dave

[TheRecklessEngineer]

Several ways are used to signal this, but the most common one of late is for the charger to short the two data wires together to indicate a dedicated charger. This is used by Nokia amongst others.

That's interesting to learn. Certainly my car charger works, but it's not as fast as the wall charger. I'll give it a go.

[Guest]

Or if we hint loud enought MUD may start making them!! for our pods

[Anderzander]

Thanks for all the info guys - I'll see what I can put together and post up the results.

[Anderzander]

Or if we hint loud enought MUD may start making them!! for our pods

That would be the ideal solution .......

[landmannnn]

This one plugs into cig lighter (or a 12v socket). It sits almost flush so it looks like a panel mount.

[TSD]

That's interesting to learn. Certainly my car charger works, but it's not as fast as the wall charger. I'll give it a go.

Complete info on the various options and specs is here but shorting D+ to D- indicates a 'dedicated charging port' which implies 5.0V +/- 0.25V at up to 1.5A, and should be safe for any USB device to be plugged into.

[FridgeFreezer]

The Neutrik panel connectors are a pretty decent solution:

http://cpc.farnell.com/neutrik/nausb/adaptor-usb-d-type/dp/CN09520

An LM7805 regulator IC is pretty small and will give you a steady 5v at up to 1.5A (I think higher current ones may be available these days, to run several sockets from one).

[TSD]

An LM7805 regulator IC is pretty small and will give you a steady 5v at up to 1.5A (I think higher current ones may be available these days, to run several sockets from one).

Be aware that the usual plastic packaged variety (TO-220) of L7805 will be running close to it's thermal limits at 1.5A on a decent heatisnk. Depending on manufacturer they start to shut down around 125C or 150C internal.

[TheRecklessEngineer]

If I was pulling more than 1.5A at 5v from a 12v supply, I'd be looking towards switched mode. Otherwise, that's a lot of heat to dissipate (10W if my mental maths is correct)

IIRC there are voltage regs out there that will do this with only a handful of components.

[ajh]

I was just going to mount a USB hub and plug

it into the inverter or a least a dc-dc adapter.

[FridgeFreezer]

I was just going to mount a USB hub and plug

it into the inverter or a least a dc-dc adapter.

So you're going to convert 12V to 240V then plug in an adapter to convert it back down to 5v to power a USB hub

I'd either just buy, or buy & gut something like this or this.

[ajh]

No, the hubs are all DC devices with a wallwart, so just need to convert DC-DC to power one. Will depend on what's available at the time, doing custom dash panels (think SIIA) so easy enough to mount up a series of accessories.

[elbekko]

I just got one of those cigarette lighter extension thingies with 3x lighter socket and 2xUSB, works very well and even came with its own sticky tape to stick it wherever you want. Cost me €12 or so in the local car accessory shop.

[Ruuman]

hi all, sorry for the thread jack, but I'm trying to fix my tomtom rider charger. It's never worked properly and requires 5v and 2amps.

I bought a couple of 7805's and thought I could wire them in parallel to cover the draw, I guess Ideally I need 3. But on the maplin site it said you can't do this.

I tried anyway and while it does work, they get very hot even when the tomtom isn't charging. I assume there's something else going on here.

Do I need to add a diode to the 5v out of the regulator circuit to make this work properly?

hope that makes sense, thanks Ruu

[TheRecklessEngineer]

Hi Ruuman,

If they are getting hot with nothing plugged in, then I'd guess that their outputs are slightly different resulting in them fighting each other.

Do you have them mounted on heatsinks? They won't last long without.

[Ruuman]

well there seems to be a 0.02v difference in output's, any idea how I stop them effecting one another. My electronic ability is very, very basic.

No heat sink at the moment, just testing the theory that it works and then how I package it up at the moment.