USB Charging Port Question

[philcobill]

Has anyone had experience with the 6-volt USB charging port sold by at least one of the Model A parts suppliers? My son who is into such things tells me that the 1.25 A power rating will not charge up a cell phone fast if at all. According to him, the best it would do is to slow down the discharge rate. https://www.logolites.com/products/usb-charge-port/

[TomInCologne]

I have one of those, together with the fuse board. The USB-ports work fine, although the charge on my iphone 12 is going down connected to it whilst navigating, it still is discharging slower than without.


On the other side... Adrian in germany took an old light bulb, took it apart and soldered a usb-port into it. This then went into the light bulb socket above the dash. You can find the video somewhere on his youtube channel (Astra-Werke)

[Dino's A]

Paul Shinn addressed this issue with a great video. It's on
Youtube.

https://youtu.be/O2q2ndf7jmY

[Curtis in MA]

I bought a regular power port, attached it to the upper wooden floorboard, and use a 12v adapter. My car is still 6v positive ground so mount it on wood because the housing is live.

[shew01]

Originally Posted by philcobill

Has anyone had experience with the 6-volt USB charging port sold by at least one of the Model A parts suppliers? My son who is into such things tells me that the 1.25 A power rating will not charge up a cell phone fast if at all. According to him, the best it would do is to slow down the discharge rate. https://www.logolites.com/products/usb-charge-port/

I have one of these. It’s pricey, but it works reasonably well in our 6 volt car. If I recall correctly, it’s supposed to auto sense when the motor is running and turn itself on. We have to turn our device on and off manually with the button.

My wife and I were recently on an 11 hour drive with our Model A, and we did not run out of power for either of our phones. I ran GPS for the entire drive. Both phones are iPhone 10s and have about 4 years of use on them. So, our phone batteries are a bit tired, but, like I said, we didn’t run out of power.

This device is simple to hook up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[5lugnuts]

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Connect a cigarette lighter socket (female) direct to the battery as negative ground like a modern would be. This creates a separate circuit that is negative ground. The side of the socket (female) is negative ground.

Use the cigarette lighter plug and wire that came with the phone or GPS to charge or to use like in a modern.

The cigarette lighter plug (male) from the phone or GPS only lets five volts pass through. Phone and GPS are five volts devices as are others that are meant to plug into a cigarette lighter socket.

Check your work. Disconnect device when not in use.

[Merc Cruzer]

For you later car owners, with 6 volt pos ground systems, just another option:

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showt...ing+cell+phone

Great video for the Model A!

[JayJay]

I got a 6V to 12V adapter from Bert’s and wired a double cigarette lighter plug into the 12V side with the 12V negative to the side of the plug. I use one plug for my CB and the other to charge the phone through a USB adapter. Works great. I put a 5A fuses in the 6V negative side and 12V positive to protect the voltage adapter. You just have to be careful that you keep the 12V side isolated completely from the 6V side.

In hindsight, I spent so much time and energy screwing around with this that I should have probably converted the car to a 12V system and been done with it.

[Banditorama]

Originally Posted by JayJay

I got a 6V to 12V adapter from Bert’s and wired a double cigarette lighter plug into the 12V side with the 12V negative to the side of the plug. I use one plug for my CB and the other to charge the phone through a USB adapter. Works great. I put a 5A fuses in the 6V negative side and 12V positive to protect the voltage adapter. You just have to be careful that you keep the 12V side isolated completely from the 6V side.

In hindsight, I spent so much time and energy screwing around with this that I should have probably converted the car to a 12V system and been done with it.

I'm in the process of putting in 12v LED turn signals on mine using a converter to power them

Do you have a switch to cut the power to it when you aren't driving it?

12v really opens up a lot of options as far as accessories go

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by Banditorama

I'm in the process of putting in 12v LED turn signals on mine using a converter to power them

Do you have a switch to cut the power to it when you aren't driving it?

12v really opens up a lot of options as far as accessories go

No switch. If there’s no draw from the 12V side there’s no draw to the 6V side. I unplug both the CB and the USB adapter unless I’m driving.

Here’s the unit I installed - https://modelastore.com/index.php?ro...roduct_id=4031.

[5lugnuts]

An interesting site for 6v LED light bulbs recommended to replace
Model A bulbs specifically by cross reference. https://www.ledlight.com/

No need for converters and addons. If you want music, use your phone. If you want GPS use your phone. Playing recorded music on your phone will eliminate ignition interference. Your phone has no ignition noise already.

To improve the sound and volume of your phone, remote plug and play portable phone speakers are available inexpensively online if needed. Speakers can be hidden under a seat.

If you want to charge your phone while you listen, then plug your phone charger into a neg ground female socket hooked to your battery, see above post for instructions. Unplug from battery circuit when done.

There may be a specific radio station app you can download to your phone if you want.

[nkaminar]

"Connect a cigarette lighter socket (female) direct to the battery as negative ground like a modern would be. This creates a separate circuit that is negative ground. The side of the socket (female) is negative ground."

If you do this do not connect the grounded housing of the lighter socket to any grounded part of the car. You will be connecting the negative pole of the battery to the positive ground of the car resulting in a direct short and associated burned up wire. Using the wood portion of the seat as a mounting place for the lighter socket comes to mind.

[Ramman]

Originally Posted by Dino's A

Paul Shinn addressed this issue with a great video. It's on
Youtube.

https://youtu.be/O2q2ndf7jmY

I watched the video but couldn't see the link to the outlet he used.

[stickshift]

Originally Posted by Ramman

I watched the video but couldn't see the link to the outlet he used.

If you select "more" under the video and description, it will drop down more info and the link should be there.

[KenD]

Watched Paul Shinn and now I feel silly for installing the logolights product, although it does work fine for me and I like the clean A-Plate look. Now I'm thinking of running a extension cable from the battery (with a fuse installed) under the car and up to the back seat for my better half to have all the power she needs for that phone which "always" seems out of juice.

[Tom Endy]

Here is how I did it.

http://www.santaanitaas.org/wp-conte...n-Feb-2009.pdf

Tom Endy

[burner31]

I got a cheap double phone charging port that I mounted under the seat from Walmart, just hook it up backwards for a positive ground system...works great.
Total cost under $15 dollars, don't know why people pay big bucks for something that is cheap and easy to install.
6V or 12V makes no difference with phone charging port

[eagle]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/26583140094...3ABFBM9LWX78Vi
This one works, 3Amp output, dual ports, no case ground. It is for 12V but it works down to 6. Cheap too.

[Dirk Jansen]

I have a standard 12-24V, 2amp USB port installed in my 6 volt system. Installed the USB port directly to the 6 volt system. Works perfectly, phone charges well.

[philcobill]

We tried to use this one but got no voltage out with 6 V input.
So it was either defective or it was false advertising. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B4BXDLZZ...roduct_details