No one makes a 12V light receptacle with a charging port?

[jodpel]

We all have lights conveniently located by the bed for reading. I have a class C with an overhead bunk that has a light fixture but there is no power anywhere around it (other than the light). If someone made light fixtures that either had a 12VDC receptacle or a couple of USB charging ports, don't you think they would sell the heck out of it?

Everyone in every bed in the coach has a cell phone that needs charging at night. Most people have a habit of checking Facebook, Twitter, RV Forums, or whatever before going to sleep. The last thing you do is reach over and plug in your phone.

As it stands, they do sell wall plate that have charging ports and/or USB charge outlets on them. The ones I see are about two inches deep. I need to mount one on the ceiling for the overhead bunk so I guess I'll have to come up with a two inch deep box to mount it in on the surface of the ceiling next to the light that is up there.

[dewey02]

mobeewan wrote:
Do either of you have a link or manufacturer/item info for these.

mgirardo wrote:

on/off switch
Triple Depot outlet link

[mobeewan]

dewey02 wrote:

mgirardo wrote:
We bought one of these:And mounted it in the Motorhome. I replaced the 12v socket on the right with another dual port USB. Works great for charging phones, Kindles and anything else that charges with USB. It also comes with a basic DC volt meter which is nice to get a general idea of what the batteries are doing. -Michael

X2. I installed it adjacent to the bed. I also installed an on/off switch so I can shut off the volt meter light and also the USB port (which has a minimal draw when on). I kept the 12volt socket so I can run my O2 Cool fan from it. I wired it all to a light fixture in my crawl through that I never use, and put fuses on the line. All the wiring is hidden beneath the bedside stand.

Do either of you have a link or manufacturer/item info for these.

[DrewE]

thestoloffs wrote:
Jim, you keep going back to your same idea -- which 2 pages of responses have told you that it's unrealistic for several reasons (which I'll summarize):

1. RV lights run off the 12VDC side of the house, but aren't usually stable enough to be reduced down to 5VDC to meet USB specs.

2. Most lights are mounted overhead, which isn't a safe place to have charging cords hanging from (snagging while sleeping, accidental choking, etc.).

Go with Dutch's or Roy's suggestions; they're workable without the safety hazards. But, don't hold your breath for the lights! Wanting won't make it so.

Reason #1 is hardly valid. You would need to have an appropriate 5V voltage regulator (usually a buck regulator these days, though a linear one would also work albeit considerably less efficiently). So long as the house 12V supply is somewhere between, say, 6.5V and whatever the regulator's maximum input voltage is, you can get plenty clean enough 5V power out. That's exactly what the little lighter plug chargers or the various other USB port chargers for car use that have been posted work.

If the hypothetical light were to have a wall switch controlling it, you naturally could not charge when that switch was off as there would be no power available.

[thestoloffs]

Jim, you keep going back to your same idea -- which 2 pages of responses have told you that it's unrealistic for several reasons (which I'll summarize):

1. RV lights run off the 12VDC side of the house, but aren't usually stable enough to be reduced down to 5VDC to meet USB specs.

2. Most lights are mounted overhead, which isn't a safe place to have charging cords hanging from (snagging while sleeping, accidental choking, etc.).

Go with Dutch's or Roy's suggestions; they're workable without the safety hazards. But, don't hold your breath for the lights! Wanting won't make it so.

[Jimf1234]

Thanks Dutch that looks like a good option. It's crazy no one makes a light with built in usb plug though. We have 4 bunks in our camper and they each have there own light fixture. It would make charging of devices much easier.

[dewey02]

mgirardo wrote:
We bought one of these:And mounted it in the Motorhome. I replaced the 12v socket on the right with another dual port USB. Works great for charging phones, Kindles and anything else that charges with USB. It also comes with a basic DC volt meter which is nice to get a general idea of what the batteries are doing. -Michael

X2. I installed it adjacent to the bed. I also installed an on/off switch so I can shut off the volt meter light and also the USB port (which has a minimal draw when on). I kept the 12volt socket so I can run my O2 Cool fan from it. I wired it all to a light fixture in my crawl through that I never use, and put fuses on the line. All the wiring is hidden beneath the bedside stand.

[jodpel]

Man this is a really old post but the item posted by Dutch is pretty much what I installed last year. I put 12 volt DC ports at the sofa, dining table, each side of the bed, and a surface mount one on the ceiling in the cabover bunk.

Then I took the coach camping in the mountains in Southern Colorado for two weeks. With two large 6 volt batteries and the ability to charge all our electronic goodies directly from DC power, we hardly ever had to crank the generator.

[Dutch_12078]

Here's a surface mount dual USB port that could easily be installed next to a light fixture.



Single Surface Mounted Dual USB Port

[mgirardo]

We bought one of these:



And mounted it in the Motorhome. I replaced the 12v socket on the right with another dual port USB. Works great for charging phones, Kindles and anything else that charges with USB. It also comes with a basic DC volt meter which is nice to get a general idea of what the batteries are doing.

-Michael

[troubledwaters]

I don't find it to be a problem. My phone came with a 120VAC charger. I have plenty of 120VAC receptacles in my camper.

[Jimf1234]

Post from the past. Has anyone found a good solution for a replacement wall fixture with built in usb?

[jodpel]

Thank you for the replies. I was actually out "camping" for the last two days and didn't get online. Actually my son and I went deep sea fishing and used the RV as a home base when we weren't out on the boat.

Anyway, what I wanted to purchase is a standard 12Vdc dome light fixture... maybe a double where one side is a light and the other side has a panel with USB and/or a charging port that accepts 12 volt chargers. I thought surely there would be such a thing. It would be great for any Class C since they have that overhead bunk. They would work for most RVs in the master bedroom because they come with an overhead light fixture or night light above the night stands in a lot of configurations.

I will probably buy one, two, or three of these power port panels we are talking about and make them work. If I can get access to a 3D printer, I can have some boxes made that have curved corners and maybe even flanged so they sort of blend to the white ceiling and mount the charging panels on them. Sort of a blank light fixture sized to accept the charging panel. It might even be a good enough excuse to get the DW to approve the purchase of a 3D Printer!

We will be tailgating a lot with our friends. Our son plays college football. It's not really a camping thing. Lots of adults showing up to cheer for the home town kid and have a place to crash after the game while we revel in the victory. Everyone is going to want to charge their phones. All the sleeping places have a light overhead. Not many have a convenient AC outlet.

[ol__grouch]

RoyB wrote:
I have installed a couple of these BLUE SEA USB ports in my trailer. One in the bed area and another one in Home Entertainment area. These are wired into the 12VDC lines. I am a big fan of the quality of BLUE SEA Marine 12VDC products... Available from AMAZON. WALMART has USB ports that you can plug into a cig lighter socket.



I noticed one on EBAY the other day that a small digital 12VDC LED readout on it which would be handy for you to get a glimpse of the DC VOLTAGE READING when camping off the power grid.. Don't remember who made it...

I don't think I have ever seen one mounted in the ceiling light fixture or bedroom wall light fixtures. My POPUP trailer has a PHONO PLUG in the ceiling fixtures for plugging in a 12VDC fan. I don't think I would like a cable hanging down from one of those anyway.. A permanent mount in the back of a shelf or table top would be more convenient for me to use.

Roy Ken

I wouldn't want to mount it on the ceiling. Walls are easier to work on and less likely to have short people just grab the cord and not the plug. Boats and motorcycles have different things available thta might work. I've seen reference to this a combination voltmeter/usb charger as well as handlebar mount usb chargers that you can remove from the mounting bracket and mount in a hole. They wire to the 12 volt battery system. I was going to post links but couldn't get them to copy.

[APT]

Oh, I thought of another idea. External backup battery. Lots to choose from. Here is one example.