USB Ports

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Sandy
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Re: USB Ports

Post by Sandy »

I replaced the "cigarette lighter" jack with a dual USB made by Guardian. As it turns out, just above it the panel extends out, and there is an opening, along with another opening on the pilot's side. I removed the glare shield and ran a Lightning cable under the glare shield and out the pilot's side opening, and I tie-wrapped it before replacing the glare shield. My iPad (with ForeFlight) is suction mounted to the pilot's side of the canopy, just behind the window, so I can plug in when I'm flying, and the iPad is well located with its back facing the pilot's side vent for cooling.
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Re: USB Ports

Post by Rich »

Sandy, this looks like a good approach for me as well. One has to be comfortable ditching the existing 24V accessory port. (I used to fly with stuff that required its use.) The other obvious thing, though you didn't state it, will be to power it off the main avionics bus, rather than the existing connection off the hot bus.
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Rich
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Re: USB Ports

Post by Rich »

Incidentally, products like this can help a bit cleaning up wiring routing:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DG ... UTF8&psc=1
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Sandy
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Re: USB Ports

Post by Sandy »

The other obvious thing, though you didn't state it, will be to power it off the main avionics bus, rather than the existing connection off the hot bus.
Yes, as is, the existing circuit is always "hot", so I make certain that I unplug the end of the cable that goes to the USB port when I unplug the iPad. That way there won't be an inadvertent short circuit should the Lightning plug contact any conductive item.

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Re: USB Ports

Post by Sandy »

Incidentally, products like this can help a bit cleaning up wiring routing:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DG ... UTF8&psc=1
Thanks for the tip, Rich. I just ordered them.

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Re: USB Ports

Post by neema »

Put in a cigarette lighter style port to future proof yourself from evolving demands from mobile devices.

I'd feel for someone that put in two USB-A ports that share 2.4 amps. Can't charge more than one iPad at once. Cigarette lighter lets you buy the latest and greatest chargers on Amazon to keep up with the times.

Just make sure to get as much juice as possible to the cigarette lighter port.
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Rich
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Re: USB Ports

Post by Rich »

neema wrote:
I'd feel for someone that put in two USB-A ports that share 2.4 amps. Can't charge more than one iPad at once.
It's easy to avoid this. There are many choices to get 2.4A or greater per port. And the power converter and cable makers are collectively doing a good job at stepping up with choices. For example I just installed a 3rd-party USB-A/USB-C cable with right-angle connectors on both ends. Same with USB-A/lightning cables. Both have the capacity to handle the devices I have (Stratus 3/iPad mini). And the converter plugged into the accessory port can handle both simultaneously.

That said, I'll probably hold off on installing the changes I want to make because the instrument panel of the pre-G1000 40.2xx serial numbers presents a real challenge getting access to add breakers to the main aviation bus AND to the accessory port. For now, those right-angle cables have reduced the kludginess of using a plug-in converter.
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Re: USB Ports

Post by neema »

Rich, totally understand there are products that help you convert from USB-A ports, but the point I make with the cigarette lighter is that the USB-A port itself is dated (doesn't support as much power potential as USB-C). Example, an iPad pro will charge really, really slowly with only 2.4a out of a 5v USB-A port.

I think we paid $30 through our avionics shop for the extra cigarette lighter plug in the back. The idea of spending a couple hundred dollars for a USB port (plus install) gets under my skin--especially if it's old in a couple years.

We also added a circuit breaker for both charger ports.
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Re: USB Ports

Post by Rich »

Cable provided by Apple for the iPad mini 4 I use: USB-A/lightning
Cable provided by Appareo for the Stratus 3 I use: USB-A/USB-C

Both units exhibit positive charge rate when in use while charger is connected.
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Re: USB Ports

Post by neema »

Rich, good to hear. I think I'm doing a terrible job articulating my point.

Maybe phrased another way: it's nice that pax in the back seat can use the rear car charger port for something like a usb-C laptop charger. Car charger/cigarette lighter ports seem to open up more possibilities and cost less to install.
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