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Old 22-08-2017, 05:13   #1
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USB Remote Fast Charger

Every one carries a phone or a tablet when they go cruising, so USB charging is a must.

With so many places to sit and relax on these catamarans you do not always have access to a USB charging port.

We happen to have a few Ryobi 18+ batteries aboard, so I figured we could make them into remote fast USB chargers.

It just slides on or off the battery whenever we need to use it.

To make one of these Ryobi USB Charger you will need:
1) Fast Charge Dual USB Car Charger $5
2) A few connectors and 2 short wires
3) Soldering iron
3) Hot melt glue gun

It takes about a 1/2 hour to make one.
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Old 22-08-2017, 11:41   #2
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Re: USB Remote Fast Charger

These usb chargers are built for automotive electrical systems. Typically your car's charging system won't see over 14.7Vdc and usually they're much closer to 13.5Vdc max.

Using these usb chargers at 18+ volts is probably way over their design limit. I checked but no one wanted to list their voltage input specifications.

Use at your own risk. Hopefully the units are fused.
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Old 22-08-2017, 15:04   #3
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Re: USB Remote Fast Charger

I just rotate 2 or 3 portable battery chargers through charging points in the saloon. Probably a lot more splash/weather proof than the Ryobi batteries. Similar to this one:

https://www.amazon.com/10050mAh-Port...f+battery+pack

The 10,000mAh is good for about 3 or 4 complete re-charges, but you can get them with 4 times as much storage.
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Old 23-08-2017, 05:15   #4
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USB Remote Fast Charger

Quote:
Originally Posted by kentobin View Post
These usb chargers are built for automotive electrical systems. Typically your car's charging system won't see over 14.7Vdc and usually they're much closer to 13.5Vdc max.

Using these usb chargers at 18+ volts is probably way over their design limit. I checked but no one wanted to list their voltage input specifications.

Use at your own risk. Hopefully the units are fused.
All the Dual USB chargers on the market are clearly marked.

Input DC Voltage 12 to 24 volts.

That is why this setup works so well.
.
.
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Old 23-08-2017, 08:23   #5
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Re: USB Remote Fast Charger

Unless you have plenty of AC power available, consider using a DC-DC converter. We use this for charging a computer at 16.5V, which in turn charges an iPad via USB, and it runs a Bullet WiFi radio. Some DC-DC converters are up to 95% efficient.
Going from DC battery, inverting to AC, and then returning to 5V DC is very inefficient. It would probably be better to use resistors in a voltage divider (with a 5V zener) to convert the DC battery to 5V DC, if you want to go cheap.
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Old 23-08-2017, 12:36   #6
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Re: USB Remote Fast Charger

What did you make the white casing out of?
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Old 23-08-2017, 13:49   #7
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Re: USB Remote Fast Charger

Quote:
Originally Posted by DennisRyan View Post
What did you make the white casing out of?
Plastic from a Hot melt glue gun.

I taped everything in place onto the battery (sticky side away from the battery)
Just use regular clear scotch tape.

Covered it with Hot melt glue gun.

Put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes just to cool down and then it slides right off.
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Old 23-08-2017, 14:07   #8
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Re: USB Remote Fast Charger

All glue!! Wouldn't have guessed that. Thanks.
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Old 23-08-2017, 14:11   #9
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Re: USB Remote Fast Charger

Alternately, you can use any broken ryobi tool to make the case. This is a neat idea, IMHO, because it reuses something I've always got aboard anyway (the ryobi battery).
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Old 23-08-2017, 14:16   #10
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Re: USB Remote Fast Charger

We have 4 USB jacks in our small boat, driven by one of those Chinese DC-DC step-down boards.

Besides charging, they are handy for things like IKEA USB gooseneck reading lights.
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