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USB ports in the car how to charge ?
- Thread starter ng4ever
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GotNoRice
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I bought a pack of these, and they work fine:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264936137421
Buying a USB-A to USB-C cable would work fine also. It really doesn't matter which way you go.
I would caution however that there is no guarantee how much power the port in your car will output. I've noticed that many car USB ports actually output hardly any power, and seem more intended to interface with the phone/tablet more than to charge it. In that case I'd recommend buying a good USB battery pack to essentially use as a buffer. Allow the low-power car USB port to basically trickle-charge the USB battery-pack, and then use the battery-pack to charge your iPad.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264936137421
Buying a USB-A to USB-C cable would work fine also. It really doesn't matter which way you go.
I would caution however that there is no guarantee how much power the port in your car will output. I've noticed that many car USB ports actually output hardly any power, and seem more intended to interface with the phone/tablet more than to charge it. In that case I'd recommend buying a good USB battery pack to essentially use as a buffer. Allow the low-power car USB port to basically trickle-charge the USB battery-pack, and then use the battery-pack to charge your iPad.
Thanks. Sorry don’t do eBay but will find the same ones somewhere else
Zepher
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Zepher
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Really, most cars should have a 12V socket somewhere in them.I would easily do that but the car does not have a cigarette lighter.
What kind of car? If it's new it should have 12v ports. If it's old, should have cigarette lighters if you have neither, knowing what kind of car will help us advise. You can always hard wire something but that requires tapping an existing circuit or running wires all the way to the battery.
if you have neither, knowing what kind of car will help us advise. You can always hard wire something but that requires tapping an existing circuit or running wires all the way to the battery.What type car? Everything I have seen has at least one accessory outlet somewhere.I would easily do that but the car does not have a cigarette lighter.
Otherwise adding a circuit isn't that hard to do.
Susquehannock
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As an aside ... I have always found it interesting how cars still have 70-80 year old tech that is the clunky cigarette lighter port yet have not had an actual lighter in them for near 30 years.
Zepher
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probably since there are so many accessories that use that port. air pumps, inverters, vacuums, chargers, tv's, dvd players, radar detectors....
I used to have a splitter so I could run radar and GPS in my old Trans Am's and Formula's.
I installed a 96+ Firebird center console in my 88 Formula which had a cigarette lighter and an extra 12v socket on the side. I used that for the Radar.
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Susquehannock
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Certainly true. But is it because the port is superior, or legacy and an industry unwilling to compromise on standardization. At least the myraid of phone charger cord designs is dwindling. Sure most of us have seen those pay charger stations with 15 types hanging out the front.
Zepher
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probably because it is a simple robust connector and probably really cheap to make.
Because it works and there's a huge base of ports and devices. There used to be lighter ports you could mount in a 5.25" computer bay, when we used to have those. In case you wanted to use your air pump near your computer, I guess?
USB is well on the way to replacing it, but USB is tricky for things that really need more than 5v@0.5A, because you can't count on it. Also, there's currently a choice of USB-A or USB-C. Some people live in my world and USB-A is clearly the right choice for power, because it's everywhere; others live in a world where their power supplying devices mostly have USB-C.
Device makers can make this work by using USB-C as the inlet and expecting the users to bring their own cable, but that feels cheap. Otoh, give me a C-C cable and I can power the device from my phone? Or give someone else an A-C cable and they can make a terrible necklace? Some split the difference and include a small A-C adapter.
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