Charging accessories

[Young Ed]

This is something Merle and I pondered sitting in the WI dells car show and I think I've maybe talked to one or two other guys about it too. Most cell phones GPS's etc use a 3.x volt battery. So if the cigarette charger is used which is designed for 12v will it charge with only 6? Do they just allow the proper amount of voltage through or do they say drop 12v by 75% to get the proper amount? Anyone got a test for this without trying it with expensive electronics?

[Don Coatney]

Ed;

Do you have a multimeter or a volt meter? If so plug your impliment charger into your cigar lighter and check the output voltage. Report your findings so we all know.

[greg g]

are these devices polarity sensitive???

[moose]

I was just getting ready to try this. Went to Radioshack this morning, and bought this:

Gonna try to use it with a GPS. the cord for the unit says output is 5v and can be used with 12 or 24 volt systems. So maybe 6 right? I am guessing they would be polarity sensitive, so will switch the wires inside the male part of the extension. Might be able to let you know how it goes tomorrow, the GPS is in the wifes car.

[Young Ed]

Ed;

Do you have a multimeter or a volt meter? If so plug your impliment charger into your cigar lighter and check the output voltage. Report your findings so we all know.

I do but I'm not too familiar with operating it and also most of these devices have a multi pin output the size of a pen so getting it in the right spot would be tricky.

The polarity issue is one I had not thought of and it probably is an issue.

[moose]

Mine also has a small head that plugs into the unit, so I'll just probe the two wires that come out of the converter. I'll report when there is something to report.

[suntennis]

This is a guess. I would try removing the battery form the unit being tested, connect a voltmeter across the terminals this battery was connected to and connect the unit being tested to a 12 volt cigar lighter. If you get 3 volts, then you can try connecting to a 6 volt cigar lighter to see what the voltage is. If there is no voltage reading from the 12 volt system, then this idea will not do the job.

[old rat 49]

Polarity will be an issue for sure. That's fixed easy enough. One way to check these tiny connectors is to use a couple of straight pins in the plug or push the pins through the insulation into the wire just enough to make contact. Then you can touch your meter leads to the pins to get your voltage reading.

[TodFitch]

Those voltage reducers use polarity sensitive solid state devices so I would be very surprised if you could just plug it in and have it work.

Here is what I did: http://www.ply33.com/Repair/cellphone

Works great! Over last weekend we drove the old car up to the Mendocino coast and I used the GPS and movie camera built into the new cell phone for the whole trip up and back. That was about 450 miles round trip. No problem running the battery in the cellphone down.

[Frank Elder]

That is so cool....you da man:)

[moose]

It works!!! It works!!!

Our GPS is a TomTom, and it might be different than any other kind. It doesn't used a USB port. But I'm not getting lost anymore!!

I bought an extension from RadioShack(10 feet, they didn't have any shorter ones) then disassembled the male lead, switched the leads inside and re-soldered.

I am very happy. Testing the speedometer is on the schedule for tomorrow!

[Young Ed]

Moose our Tomtom does use a usb type charger. What type of end does yours have?

[moose]

I don't call myself a computer guy. Is this what yours has? Is this a USB? Whatever it is, if you've got it, it will work. Just switch the polarity.

[TodFitch]

I don't call myself a computer guy. Is this what yours has? Is this a USB? Whatever it is, if you've got it, it will work. Just switch the polarity.

Looks like either a micro-USB or a mini-USB to me. I get confused between the two..

[Young Ed]

Yup thats what ours has. Do you have a name for yours? We named ours Mandy. She sure is bossy though!

[greg g]

We have the British guy voice on our tom tom. "Take the third exit off the round about and take the motorway" We refer to him as Nigel. He seems to say "keep left" a lot more than the other voices though........

Just plug him into the jumper pack stuffed behind the seat. seems to last forever on a charge.

[Young Ed]

Ya Mandy tells us to stay on the motorway too. I guess thats prefered over going in the ditch

[moose]

A while back we downloaded Eddie Izzard(Cross-dressing British comedian) "Keep left you fool!" "Take the roundabout to the motorway"

We had to send the TomTom in for repairs and we haven't had Eddie since then. Time to get him back!

[BobT-47P15]

We call our GPS lady "Gypsy".

Its a Garman.

Used it on a short trip in the Plymouth, but ran it on it's own

battery power after charging it up.

[Merle Coggins]

I heard someone call theirs "Betty the B**ch" and it seemed so fitting I adoped the name for mine.

Merle

[Captain Neon]

I tell my wife that I am going to download the William Daniels (aka. KITT) persona into our Garmin.

[aero3113]

I always thaught that CARla was a good name for a GPS with a female voice