[N520] 12V power supply for N520 for in-car use

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sjdigital
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:53

[N520] 12V power supply for N520 for in-car use

Postby sjdigital » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:16

I know I can use the cigarette lighter power supply that comes with the N520, but I want to hard wire in a power supply under the dash so as to leave my lighter socket free. My car has an accessory socket in the wiring loom and I could wire in a lighter socket and plug the charger into that, but is there a neater way of doing it, i.e. is there any 12V power supply that can simply be connected to the accessory socket?

Any ideas, anyone?

Mike Austin
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:07

Re: 12V power supply for N520 for in-car use

Postby Mike Austin » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:31

sjdigital wrote:I know I can use the cigarette lighter power supply that comes with the N520, but I want to hard wire in a power supply under the dash so as to leave my lighter socket free. My car has an accessory socket in the wiring loom and I could wire in a lighter socket and plug the charger into that, but is there a neater way of doing it, i.e. is there any 12V power supply that can simply be connected to the accessory socket?

Any ideas, anyone?


I have a Skoda Fabia which has a cigarette lighter aft of the gearstick. Using this would require a cable trailing over the dashboard, behind the door. It also has a fusebox on the driver's side of the dashboard. I have hacked the fuse to the cigarette lighter by soldering on a wire (downstream of the fuse) that powers my GPS Bluetooth aerial. This means just a short (20cms) cable tucked away from sight next to the windscreen. Maybe you could try something similar for your PDA.

sjdigital
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:53

Postby sjdigital » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:39

Thanks, Mike.

Getting the 12V power supply isn't the problem as my car has an accessory socket under the dash. The problem is how to connect that 12V supply to my N520 as it needs some sort of charger device rather than just a straight 12V input. As I said, I could just install an additonal lighter socket under the dash and use my existing car charger but that would be very bulky. What I'm looking for is a small self contained charger unit that just needs wired to a 12V supply. I've checked Maplins but they don't have anything suitable.

Mike Austin
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:07

Re:

Postby Mike Austin » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:57

sjdigital wrote:Thanks, Mike.

Getting the 12V power supply isn't the problem as my car has an accessory socket under the dash. The problem is how to connect that 12V supply to my N520 as it needs some sort of charger device rather than just a straight 12V input. As I said, I could just install an additonal lighter socket under the dash and use my existing car charger but that would be very bulky. What I'm looking for is a small self contained charger unit that just needs wired to a 12V supply. I've checked Maplins but they don't have anything suitable.


Actually, I should have been a bit clearer. I use a GPS aerial and a Palm Tungsten T5 with TomTom 5. The 12v supply goes into the charger which neatly fits under the fusebox cover. The charger is the standard Palm car charger plugged into a floating 12v cigarette socket. I will need to get a N560 charger to replace this now - and hope it also fits inside the box. If a charger were available at Maplins, I think you would still require the special plug for the N560. How would you get around this?

sjdigital
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:53

Postby sjdigital » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:05

The N 5xx series uses a standard power plug (or more correctly a socket) to connect to its own special connector so it would be very straightforward to solder such a standard socket to whatever power supply I can come up with. But it may well be that I'll have to end up with a floating cigarette socket under the dash as you suggest.

Mike Austin
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:07

Re:

Postby Mike Austin » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:16

sjdigital wrote:The N 5xx series uses a standard power plug (or more correctly a socket) to connect to its own special connector so it would be very straightforward to solder such a standard socket to whatever power supply I can come up with. But it may well be that I'll have to end up with a floating cigarette socket under the dash as you suggest.


It is that special connector that we need, unless we use the one provided for both home and car use. You are, presumably, just looking for a 12v to 5v converter at the moment?

sjdigital
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:53

Postby sjdigital » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:24

Yes, the N5xx has a special connector that is used for both the mains and the car chargers. The USB cable also has this type of conector as part of the cable and has a socket for the mains charger to plug into. So probably all I am looking for is a 12V to 5V converter as presumably the device itself controls the charging.

Mike Austin
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:07

Re:

Postby Mike Austin » Mon Jan 29, 2007 13:21

sjdigital wrote:Yes, the N5xx has a special connector that is used for both the mains and the car chargers. The USB cable also has this type of conector as part of the cable and has a socket for the mains charger to plug into. So probably all I am looking for is a 12V to 5V converter as presumably the device itself controls the charging.


You could make something of this for £10:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?Mod ... 3&doy=29m1

One still needs the special N560 plug, though. If that is available separately, fine. Otherwise, one has to buy the FSC car adapter for £33 :shock: (I presume that has its own special plug and does not require the one provided with the N560).

sjdigital
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:53

Postby sjdigital » Mon Jan 29, 2007 14:15

Yes, that would work but then you still need a socket to plug that into which all takes up a lot of space. But as regards connecting to the N520 one of the plugs that comes with that charger would probably do the trick. As I said, the special plug that connects directly to the device has a standard socket into which the power supply plugs.

sjdigital
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:53

Postby sjdigital » Mon Jan 29, 2007 14:20

A further trawl of Maplin's pages produced this http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Mod ... 4&doy=29m1

The cigarette lighter plug could be cut off and the device hardwired into the accessory socket and I'd say that one of the power tips woud fit the socket on the N520 connector. This could be the answer for what I need.

Mike Austin
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:07

Re:

Postby Mike Austin » Mon Jan 29, 2007 15:02

sjdigital wrote:A further trawl of Maplin's pages produced this http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Mod ... 4&doy=29m1

The cigarette lighter plug could be cut off and the device hardwired into the accessory socket and I'd say that one of the power tips woud fit the socket on the N520 connector. This could be the answer for what I need.


Yes, that would also do. Do you use GPS? That is, do you need your PDA near the windscreen? I have TomTom 6 on mine and so I have been looking at different holders that have the N560 plug built in. Something like:

http://www.gpsforless.co.uk/product_details.php?id=4746

but with a suction mounting for the windscreen. This looks like the special plug is fitted directly onto the cable, so it will not drop out like a tip would.

sjdigital
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:53

Postby sjdigital » Mon Jan 29, 2007 15:16

That's a good site! Good to see that the special connectors are available separately at reasonable cost!

I use my N520 as a GPS unit and find the long flexible arm with a suction cup that came with it works very well. My screen is pretty steeply raked so it needs a long arm to get the PDA to the edge of the dash. I mount it on the RHS at the corner of the A pillar and just above the dash and it's very unobtrustive, but easily seen. The power cable plugs quite securely into the special connector and I've never had any problems with it working loose.

lasc
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Feb 08, 2007 13:23

Postby lasc » Thu Feb 08, 2007 17:07

I use a Creative MP3 car charger. It puts out 5V at 2.5 A max, which is more than enough. There are two versions

http://www.creative.com/products/produc ... duct=13882

and

http://www.creative.com/products/produc ... duct=13884

I had the USB version and so had to adapt the cable
(watch out for terminal polarity!)

sjdigital
Posts: 56
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:53

Postby sjdigital » Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:23

Many thanks for this - it's just what I need as I realised that the 5V adapter on the Maplin site referred to above isn't a charger but simply a voltage adapter. All I'd need to do with the Creative charger is cut off the cigarette ligter fitting and replace it with a simple connector to my accessory socket, and replace the charger tip with one of the appropriate size if necessary.

Great! :)

EDIT: Unfortunately I can't find this item on the UK Creative site :?

mjcoon
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:05

Postby mjcoon » Mon Feb 19, 2007 17:02

I've connected a home-grown supply to my Loox (using the adaptor that came with it for connecting to a mains or 12V charger).

I bought a 1.7mm "power tip" from Maplin, Size "I", item AR22. This is a standard 2-pin non-polarised job, so you have to be careful with polarity. Maplin also do a spade-ended cable with a socket that the power tip plugs into. Once the polarity is verified to be correct then a bit of glue could ensure it stays that way...

Mike.


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