Voltage Reduction

[Scott Bennett]

I recently bought a new vehicle for chasing and I am serriously considering going without a power inverter.

The typical response to all the little gadgets in the vehicle tends to lead to using this gigantic box to get all our power to 120 volts then we fill power strips with "Wall Warts or Bricks" to drop back down to all the lower voltages we need to charge our gear between 5-12v.

I have no experience with circuit level electroncis but I am thinking there has to be a better way. I know Radio Shack sells yet another line of "Car Warts" that will give a selectable way to get the voltage you need however I want to build my own cables.

Anyone know of a resource to do such a thing?

I know as a kid with RC cars you could install a diode that would connect to the main battery 7.2v and drop the power you would need to 6v for the radio receiver. I am trying to think along the same lines.

For Example...
Cradlepoint needs 5v
My Dash Cam 8.4v
USB Hub 4.8v
HD Cam Charger 9v
Laptop already has a DC power supply

All of these voltages could easily be handled by the vehicles power system without the need of a battery killing inverter.

 

[D. Hayes]

I would go with the radio shack type with selectable voltage and interchangeable tips.

http://www.amazon.com/Multi-Device-Power-Adapter-Phones-Games/dp/B001JSZO2Q

You could just buy a few of those and disassemble to install in a project box for a nice clean setup if you routed wires cleanly.

I'd just get a couple 4 way splitters and wire them (fused) direct to the battery and mount them under the dash. Don't forget they make 12v USB plug adapters for cars.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10826&cs_id=1082602&p_id=3523&seq=1&format=2

 

[Brad Goddard]

Scott,

I contemplated the same thing when I set up my new vehicle. It seems there should be some hard wireable voltage converters out there on the market that would allow you to set up the correct voltages. I was not able to find anything however. It would be relatively simple to build your own converter boxes to supply the right voltage, but in the end I determined it was easyer to just install several 12v power outlets in out of the way locations and connect the 12v power adapters that came with whatever piece of gear to them and route the wires from there.

 

[Jerry Prsha]

I recently bought a new vehicle for chasing and I am serriously considering going without a power inverter.

The typical response to all the little gadgets in the vehicle tends to lead to using this gigantic box to get all our power to 120 volts then we fill power strips with "Wall Warts or Bricks" to drop back down to all the lower voltages we need to charge our gear between 5-12v.

I have no experience with circuit level electroncis but I am thinking there has to be a better way. I know Radio Shack sells yet another line of "Car Warts" that will give a selectable way to get the voltage you need however I want to build my own cables.

Anyone know of a resource to do such a thing?

I know as a kid with RC cars you could install a diode that would connect to the main battery 7.2v and drop the power you would need to 6v for the radio receiver. I am trying to think along the same lines.

For Example...
Cradlepoint needs 5v
My Dash Cam 8.4v
USB Hub 4.8v
HD Cam Charger 9v
Laptop already has a DC power supply

All of these voltages could easily be handled by the vehicles power system without the need of a battery killing inverter.

Scott, these are for non-laptop machines but it might helps some...

http://www.carnetix.com