USB port in my truck

parts-man73

I had been thinking. Many modern Electronics, Cell Phones, I-pods, MP3 players, etc have mostly migrated to some form of mini-usb connector for the charging port, and they are mostly using a small plug in wall wart that has a USB connector, that you plug your cable into. Of course plugging the Cable into a computer will also provide a charge.

I have owned a Car version of this as well, it's just a small plug that goes into your lighter socket and provides a USB port for charging.

Well, I went 1 step furthur, and mounted a USB port right to my dash.

here's the USB connector that I used - http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=NAUSB-W-Bvirtualkey56810000virtualkey568-NAUSB-W-B

I drilled a hole in the blank panel, opposite of the regular power outlet, mounted the connector, drilled 2 smaller holes for a indicator LED and a toggle switch.

The center 2 pins of the USB port have to be shorted together to allow devices to charge.

I used one of my breadboard power supplies to give it 5V. and tapped into the Power Outlet to power it all, The power outlet is already fused, so no need for a separate fuse. But I did add a few extra Capacitors(both high and low value) to filter the electricity.

IMHO - it looks almost factory.

RDL2004

Looks good. I was going to do something similar last year, but the only suitable socket I could find at Mouser was one from Bulgin that was around $12 and I decided that was too much to pay. The one you used is a lot cheaper, I may have to revisit the idea.

WBA Consulting

Nice work! I have also noticed that the rumor of micro-USB becoming the new charging standard is beginning to come to reality. We now have 2 phones, a camera, an e-reader, and an MP3 player that are all charged by a standard micro USB connector using a tiny 5V wall wart (they are smaller, so more like a wall-zit!). Because of that, I am replacing two of outlets with the new AC/USB style outlets like the TruePower FastMac ACE-7702.