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

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

Postby sjdigital » Mon Feb 19, 2007 17:13

Mike,

Can you clarify exactly what you did? My N520 came with a mains charger and a cigarete lighter car charger. Did yours have some sort of combined charger?

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

Postby mjcoon » Mon Feb 19, 2007 17:55

Hi SJ, my N500 came with both of those chargers too.

The charger cables terminate with a 1.7mm plug (I discovered) that plugs into one of two multipin adaptors that also came with the N500.

One adaptor is meant for car use and has no other connections. The other one is on a USB cable which has a sort of piggy-back socket, so that the charging current can be taken from the charger.

(Could be either charger, instead of the USB 5V supply. But I never use any USB devices such as a laptop in the car. USB current is rather limited, especially if you already have a hub dividing it up.)

I thought one advantage of my replacement plug would be that it has a 90-degree elbow, so does not stick out so far below the N500 across the car dash.

Cheers, Mike.

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

Postby sjdigital » Mon Feb 19, 2007 19:45

Thanks, Mike. So you use the regular car charger and then replaced the tip on it with the Maplin's one to give a 90 degree angle? What I'm trying to do is to hardwire in a small charger under the dash where there is an accessory socket and simply have the lead to the N520 appearing from the side of the dash. I mount my sat nav on the right hand side just above the top of the dash so a lead coming up from the right hand side of the dash would be the least obtrusive. The Creative charger referred to above seems to be the best as it's small and doesn't have a cigarette lighter fitment which is too bulky when compared to hardwiring the charger into the accessory socket.

SJ

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

Postby mjcoon » Mon Feb 19, 2007 23:46

Hi again SJ, no I either use the regular charger or a cheapo multi-voltage one with the "power tip". I might have wired it in but my car is a leased one that goes back within a year. I thought I might be able to arrange something neater than the car charger that came with the unit but probably won't bother in pracitce.

Cheers, Mike.

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

Postby sjdigital » Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:30

Looks like the Creative charger is the one for me, then, Mike. I dislike having trailing wires running from the lighter socket and in fact spent a lot of time last year tracking down an iPod connector from the US that could be hard wired to my head unit so this Creative charger at around a fiver is pretty good!

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

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

Postby mjcoon » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:05

A follow-up warning (if anyone, sjdigital especially) is still there...

My switchable power supply has a simple slider switch and I accidentally switched it to 12V without noticing. My N500 kept working for a while but then I left it alone. When I came back it was irrevocably destroyed. I sent it off for repair but that would have cost more than a new one!

In fact I bought a replacement N520 which cost more than the N500 had, complete with Navigon-5. But I still had the SD card with Navigon-5, not to mention two desk cradles and other goodies which I'd have had to discard if I went for another device.

So warning is: Loox are not defensive to excess voltage!

Mike.

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

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

Postby sjdigital » Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:47

Mike,

Yes, I'm still here! But having had two N5xx stolen (one when my apartment was burgled and then the replacement was nicked from my suitcase at Sofia airport!, I've given up on them for sat nav. But the Creative charger I was using didn't have the 12V option anyway. I'm now minded to get a Garmin sat nav and I find that I don't miss my N5xx at all as my latest Nokia can do pretty much everything that I needed the Loox to do so it's one less bit of kit to carry around. I think that PDAs may have had their day.
Cheers,

SJ


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