12v USB power question?

[Tramp]

Okay my ciggy lighter socket has failed so thinking of one of these..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224065835573


Question is as it'll be wired direct to battery via a fuse, when there is nothing inserted ie charging and the switch is off will the USB side still draw power.. So flattening the battery... I've not got the option for a switched feed..

Cheers...

[Barftone]

As long as it has not got a little light on it Russ

[Sanqhar]

Wire it via a relay so it is only powered when the ignition is on.

tom

[paul_tim2000]

It will draw a little power whenever connected to the battery.
Quick play with one here gave me a current drain of about 15mA for a USB charger (12V to USB), with integral LED, when nothing is plugged in.

Assuming a fully charged 20Ah battery then it could supply this for 1333 hours (8 weeks) but at this time the battery would be fully discharged.

So the port will use 12% of your battery charge every week if left powered permanently.

If you use the bike regularly no problem. If you take the bike off the road for the winter then a problem.

If you've access to a switched feed I'd use it otherwise I'd be tempted to fit an isolating switch.

[chunky butt]

If you can't put an isolator switch in, pull the fuse out. Sorted Russ.

[Dark Knight]

Obviously made in the far East, so you need to find some reviews to check quality and indentify any weak points.
Usually in this sort of device it is the voltage regulator that drops the voltage to 5 volts which gives you problems, because of the manufacturer using cheap components, so the first rule is, never leave it switched on all the time, only when the engine isrunning.

[sledgegreen]

How old is your bike? If it has a CANBUS system, I don't know anything about them so this might not work.

Pre-CANBUS, you could supply your socket assembly through a relay, and then use some thing like the rear light circuit to trigger the relay. This would mean that the sockets are only powered whilst the rear light is switched on.

Having watched number of BigClive's videos on YouTube, I would be very cautious about relying on any advice you get from anyone who has not actually seen the item you have bought. I get the impression that there are a lot of Chinese companies which simply assemble products from bought in components, and this means that products which look identical (because they use the same case) can have wildly different circuitry inside.

For anyone not familiar with BigClive, he has a YouTube channel on which (among other things) he buys electrical products off the internet and then dismantles them them to assess their design and construction. He regularly finds faults including earth wires which are connected to the earth pin in the plug, but not connected to anything in the product, and USB sockets on power banks which are connected directly to the mains whilst charging. If you are curious, I suggest one of his "Death Dalek" videos as a starter.

[Asgard]

If you are going to unplug the usb device after use anyway, why not just fit a new ciggy lighter socket and plug in a usb adaptor when you need it
then unplug it after and bung it in jacket pocket or summat, they take up no space and guaranteed no current drain cos its not plugged in.

[dodursley]

I have an accessible tamiya plug for an Optimate charger that I plug my USB converter in when required. It connects to the battery via a fuse and supplies a live supply when the motor is off (my GPS internal battery is rubbish so needs to be plugged in most of the time). Used it for many years on many bikes.

[Tramp]

cheers...ill try the ciggy to usb but they normally jump out at me when trail riding .....I suppose i could just jump a power from the side light lol....im always concerned of setting the loom on fire after the ccm644 electrics ...its just to power the air compressor when needed and charge phone and power a rugged phone...

suppose its really trial and error...simple works best with me and less to go wrong....