Car Battery wiring & setup. Mobile/Setup/Coolbox

[john]

I have recently aquired multiple items to plug into my car socket. i.e mobile charger, gps, coolbox

At the moment I swap leads as required, but want to tidy up the setup. Can anyone suggest the best way to go about this?

The socket is only live with ignition on which isnt a problem, however the alternative would be to connect the coolbox to permanent live via a car battery protector (i.e cut power when battery drops to 11.5v).

I have no idea of the power consumption of the gps and mobile charger, however the coolbox consumes 48w. This could be moved to the rear of the car, with a suitable extension (if so which guage cable would be required for the current use)

Any suggestions on the tidiest setup?

[news]

125Ah leisure battery (£39) 4 way cigar socket from maplin (£3.99) plug everything in, bob's yer uncle. I've even converted my boogie box to run off 12V by soldering a butchered 12V cord similar to this but coiled to the 12V input.

charges phones, GPS kit, runs LED lighting, etc, etc....

eventually, when I get round to actually building / converting a cvampervan I'll get a split charge unit and another couple of leisure batteries.

HtH

[Harry Bloomfield]

on 07/08/2005, john supposed :

You can buy adaptors with four outlets, which would solve your problems whist on the move.

I would not recommend relying on the 11.5v cut-out to leave your battery with enough power to start the engine if it were connected straight across the battery. This is mainly to prevent damage to the battery.

If you really must run this item without the engine running, then consider installing a separate leisure battery as a secondary battery, with a secondary battery charging system such as is used for towing a caravan. This is just a relay which connects the secondary battery across your main battery to charge it once the engine is running. These are either of the voltage operated type(easiest to install), or a type operated by the ignition warning light circuit.

[Set Square]

You can get adapter leads - with one plug and 3 or 4 sockets - which enable you to power several things from a single cigar lighter socket at the same time - but they will, of course, all go off when you turn the ignition off.

The GPS and phone charger consume very little current - and could probably be left on permanently if you wired an additional socket - through a fuse - to a permanently-live source. Having said that, there seems little point in powering a GPS when you're not going anywhere - particularly if it is able to get a fix within a few seconds of being turned on.

The coolbox is a bit worrying. According to its rating, it will take 4 amps - but it may take a bit more in practice. This would be bad news for the battery if left on without the engine running for more than an hour or three - so you'll definitely need some sort of battery protection if you want to go down this route - unless you install an additional (leisure) battery just for the coolbox, and charge it through a split charge system. I think that's what I would do.

It's worth having a close look at your vehicle wiring. You may well find that you already have a heavy duty permanent live feed hidden behind the boot trim somewhere. I have owned several cars which have done this - and then used the feeds for things like the heated back window, switched by means of relays - also at the back.