..when all you want to do is re-charge the wife's cell phone or use your GPS when on tour in the T.
Today wired a car cigar lighter socket that comes with pigtail wires (Ace Hardware, about $6) to the Autowa for touring in the next weeks in Boone NC. Wanted to have my cell phone on the app used for speedo, odometer, etc. for routes on tour. And for the wife to stay in touch with her girlfriends
So found hot wire at the dash mounted pull switch for the ditch light, and ground at the windshield stanchion and that allows the pig-tailed socket of the cigar lighter to hang down in use from it normal hidden spot under the wood dash.
As the cell phone chargers use only approx. 5.5v to charge, and reduce any 12v car battery to lower volts anyway, that allows the stock T 6v battery to turn on the charger!
Test made with my iPhone4S, and tested positive, fully charged up the cell phone right away!
...use the stock 6v battery for re-charge of cell phones, no need for 12v in a T!
There are may GPS speedometer aps out there for free this would work good with
Dan Treace:
There are also numerous back up type small batteries that you can cary in a pouch to run your GPS when the battery in the GPS goes flat. They come with a short wire to jump the GPS. They last for a day and can be charged on any house plug in.
I installed a marine quality water-proof charging socket on the dash of our Speedster. We have a 12 volt battery running our GPS. Vibrating regulators can not be controlled very well and they spike as high as 17 volts and drop down to below nine . So we fried the GPS.
The answer was, you guessed it, Plug it in and charge it while parked. Our GPS runs about four hours on a charge. The only issue is the sunshine blots out the screen. I made a shield but its ugly so I mount it on the inside of the cowl down low on the passenger side.
Some 12v chargers will work on 6v but not all. I posted a part # a few weeks ago from monoprice that does work.
Cary
Hope there's a fuse in there somewhere! Some kind of line conditioner? Somehow don't trust the T electricals to be good for sensitive electronics given how bright the headlights get when I drive faster
Been doing that charging thing with my T for over 5 years now.
No, you don't need 12 volts, but if you don't have a T that runs on mag, a 12 volt starter will sure take the work out of hand cranking. They come in handy too, if you want air conditioning or a Boom Box in the back seat.