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12 Volt Charging Station

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12 Volt Charging Station
« on: November 15, 2013, 06:33:01 pm »
New toy! We recently learned that the inverter in the Phoenix (and apparently most RVs) is a variable Sine Wave inverter instead of a Pure Sine Wave inverter (thank you Barry for helping clueless people yet again). The reason we care is that I charged my cell phone from an inverter outlet when we had no shore power. It would not turn on again. I had to remove the battery, wait a while, reinstall the battery and then it started back up. We thought it was my Samsung phone until John had the identical thing happen on his Motorola. John’s phone is now flaky on charging – sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. I mentioned this to Bobby when we were at the factory and he checked our inverter power and said we were good. Barry posted electrical wizardry right around then so I did a personal email to him and he gave us the resolution. Our cell phone chargers cannot handle variable sine waves. Computers and other large devices (or maybe devices with the bigger/badder converters on their cords) can usually handle it. Barry suggested we charge our phones using the 12v outlet in the front cabinet. Since we have so many devices and plan to boondock a reasonable amount, I figured we needed a multiple outlet solution and found it in the automotive department at Target – the Bell Charging Port. It plugs into the 12 volt outlet in the cupboard. It has two USB charging ports and three 12 volt ports. There is an on/off switch on the side so you can leave multiple things plugged in and still shut it all off with one switch. The little Bell medallion lights up blue so you know when it is live. It has a small compartment for earbuds and such and comes with Velcro so you can mount it on your dashboard or console. I simply set it up in the cupboard and plugged it in. Works like a charm and John’s phone charges on it with no problems.
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Pax

Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2013, 08:49:36 pm »
Good info.  When you say you set it up in your cabinet and plug it in, does that mean you are plugging it into the Ford cab dash area outlet, or do you have have one of those outlets installed in your cabinet?

- Mike
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Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #2 on: November 15, 2013, 09:22:55 pm »
There is a round, 12 volt outlet in the front wall of the cabinet over the passenger seat. I didn't know it was there until Barry suggested we charge our cell phones with it. Then I went to the cabinet with a flashlight, stuck my head in, and THERE IT WAS! A nice round hole in the wall, just perfect size for a car charger plug. No clue how I missed it before but I bet you have one also.
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Pax

Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #3 on: November 15, 2013, 10:22:41 pm »
Ah!  Probably missed it....gonna hafta look!  Nice!

   - Mike
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TomHanlon

Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #4 on: November 16, 2013, 07:48:38 am »
Good information about charging cell phones in the PC. Gave you a helpful for it.
Is the 12v hole in the wall plate for the TV booster? If so then most of us will have it. We have been plugging our phones into the 12v on the dash at night. So I guess that is why we have not had the problem. I have the 12v charger because I like to listen to Pandora on the cell phone through the dash radio. When I do it tends to run the battery down. So I plug the phone into the dash and the ear plug into the aux/line in hole on the dash. I am not sure if Phoenix still installs the aux/line in on the dash. I had to ask for it on the second PC.

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Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2013, 09:47:38 pm »
Quote from: TomHanlon on November 16, 2013, 07:48:38 am
Is the 12v hole in the wall plate for the TV booster? If so then most of us will have it. We have been plugging our phones into the 12v on the dash at night. So I guess that is why we have not had the problem. I have the 12v charger because I like to listen to Pandora on the cell phone through the dash radio. When I do it tends to run the battery down. So I plug the phone into the dash and the ear plug into the aux/line in hole on the dash. I am not sure if Phoenix still installs the aux/line in on the dash. I had to ask for it on the second PC.

1) The 12v is in a wall plate with what looks like a coaxial cable screwed/plugged onto the top half. If that cable is the TV booster, then yes, it's on the same plate (someday I'll figure out what a TV booster is).
2) The Ford truck manual says not to leave things plugged into the 12v outlet overnight. I assume due to a possibility of draining the battery, so we've avoided that. John likes to leave his phone charging overnight so we needed another option.
3) We have a rectangular plastic plate in the dash with one little metal ring/hole that looks like it would fit a small earphone/speaker jack. If that is the aux/line in then we have it on our 2013 and we sure didn't request it special since I don't know what that does either.
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bobander

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Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2013, 11:19:51 pm »
Quote from: 2 Frazzled on November 18, 2013, 09:47:38 pm
1) The 12v is in a wall plate with what looks like a coaxial cable screwed/plugged onto the top half. If that cable is the TV booster, then yes, it's on the same plate (someday I'll figure out what a TV booster is).

I will try to explain the TV antenna booster because if you don't use it properly you may not get cable or over the air TV reception.  Many times I have been frustrated with the TV reception only to discover that I did not have the booster properly turned on or off.

There are three coax connections on the back of the wall plate, one from the roof antenna, one from the cable input connection on the outside of the RV, one to the rear TV.  The coax connection on the front of the wall plate goes to the front TV.  When you are using the roof antenna, you have to turn the booster on by pressing the button on the wall plate so that the LED light is on.  If you are using cable at an RV park attached to the outside connection on the RV, you have to turn the booster off by pressing the button so that the LED light is off.

The booster uses 12v and the power outlet is added as a bonus, it is also is a signal splitter and multi-input source switch - does a lot for a little wall plate.

Bob

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Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2013, 06:59:26 am »
Thank you Bob! We now know how one more piece works. Little by little, we're getting there.
Holly
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TomHanlon

Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2013, 08:02:01 am »
Holly,

#2: I leave my cell phone plugged in the dash over night to charge it. Never had any problems with it draining the truck battery, even when we park for a four day weekend.

#3: If the hole is the same size as the headphone jack on your cell phone and the headphone jack fits in it, then yes it is the aux/line input for the dash radio. You will need a cord that has stereo RCA plugs on both ends. One end goes in the cell phone head jack and the other goes into the dash. Radio shack and Best Buy both carry this cord. I am sure other places do as well. Change the radio band to aux and listen through the truck speakers. I would guess that you could have a phone call played over the truck speakers as well, but have never tried it.
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Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2013, 06:11:31 pm »
We are finally in a park with cable so we can test our system. We've only gotten fuzzy or no picture so far so we didn't know if it was the park cable or our wiring. We tried with the booster LED off and it doesn't work. We tried with it on and have crystal clear cable TV which is contrary to what works for others. Oh well, at least it works.
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Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2013, 07:58:34 pm »
I have made this mistake more than once.  Check your TV setting for signal source  cable/antenna.

Barry
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Pax

Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2013, 08:16:27 pm »
Ok, note to self......next time I talk to Kermit I will implore him to document all the amazingly wonderful stuff he puts in our homes.  I can imagine some young, techie type motivated person that would love to put down in readable form everything we would want to know....pictures and everything.  Heck, I know a dozen that I could send up to Elkhart for a month and they would love it....well, after this frigid weather anyway. :-)

  - Mike
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Re: 12 Volt Charging Station
« Reply #12 on: December 07, 2013, 01:35:13 am »
Quote from: Barry-Sue on December 06, 2013, 07:58:34 pm
I have made this mistake more than once.  Check your TV setting for signal source  cable/antenna.

Barry

Good point Barry, I also have forgot to change the TV input source on occasion and been frustrated until my wife reminds me!

Bob
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