This is a compact unit that I use to charge my cell phone and Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS using the two DC outlets, and to charge my Ipod Nano and Palm TX using the two USB outlets. I purchased a DC outlet extension cord at Radio Shack, and plug the charger into this so that I can position the charger right next to my seat.I have tried various other chargers, and this is the most convenient one that I have found. In addition, the charger's capacity is sufficient to handle all of my gadgets being charged simultaneously.
Update July 22, 2009: Some months ago I replaced my Palm TX with an iPod Touch 2G. This unit charges it just fine using the same USB cable that I use to charge the Touch on my laptop.
Update August 23, 2009: I now charge my new BlackBerry Tour on this unit.
Update October 10, 2010: I just ordered my third unit--not because I had a problem with the other two, but because I wanted one for each car. Three years later my original unit is working just fine, as is the secind unit that I purchased a year after that. This is definitely a quality product that has performed well and held up well.
Update December 3, 2010: I just received my fourth unit that I am giving to one of my children to use in their car. This is a quality unit, and I have not had any problems with any of the units that I have bought.
Update August 1, 2012: Still using all four units without any problems. I have inserted a Powergen USB car charger into one of the 12V sockets, so now I have 4 USB ports--which I need for an iPad 3, two iPhones 4S, and a Kindle 3.
I have two. On is 8 months old, the other about four months. You do not need to direct wire, but it is easy and in both my vehicles they are directly wired. One went to the front cigarette lighter wiring (about a 10 minute install) meaning I have a net of three cigarette lighter 12v outlets, plus two USB limited to 15 amps of the supporting OEM cigarette lighter fuse. In my second vehicle I have it direct wired to the battery main bus with an inline fuse (from an inexpensive $20 car amplifier power supply wiring kit). That was about 40 minute install. They can support a high powered laptop, treo, navigation unit, dvd player for the kids in back, and also charge an ipod or bluetooth set -all concurrently. It is also not difficult to open up the device and and use the 5v leg to run a direct 5v usb for hardwiring nav units.
The USB 5 volts is pretty clean and accurate checking with load on car start I am getting 5.1v and it settles at 4.95v, all well within tolerances for any usb device.
Buy Multi-Use Vehicle Charger with Dual USB Ports and Dual 12 Volt Sockets - Magnadyne Now
this is exactly what any blackberry, ipodding tuning road-warrior needs. dual 12v and 5v usb...genius.my only hitch is that it takes a few seconds to buffer the power to the USB ports. My blackberry 7130e didnt start charging until a few seconds after the charger was plugged in. It works so im not concerned.
the usb ports have enough power to charge any USB device you can throw at it. I used this to supplement a high-speed portable hard drive that needed more power than my ultra portable laptop could supply it. so one plug went to PC usb for data and the other went to this baby and i was mint.
Love the mounting equipment. velcro or screw mount..your choice!
Cables and construction are solid and wire is heavy guage so it wont over heat under high load.
BUY IT NOWThis unit would not charge my Nokia n900 using its USB outputs, until I modified it. But then, neither would at least three other dumb USB chargers I had on hand. Finally, I searched the net for n900 charging issues, and found that the n900 expects the charger to behave as the USB specification for dumb chargers reads, and many don't. Specifically, it expects to see 200 ohms resistance between the D+ and Dpins (the two center pins) and this unit appears to have an open circuit there. It seems that many phones, specifically some iPhone and Blackberry units, do not conform to the USB spec either, and expect to see around 2 volts on D+ which this unit provides.
So, if your phone will charge when connected to a computer, but not when connected to a dumb charger, this is why.
Using a magnifier to see the pins adequately, I connected D+ and Dtogether with a little solder bridge on the printed circuit board. Although this isn't a 200 ohm resistor, it's sufficient to inform the n900 that it's connected to a dumb charger, and it starts to charge.
The power is nicely filtered and regulated, no noise on the audio output while charging, so this plays fine in the car while charging while some other dumb chargers contributed so much buzzing from their switching regulators that it wasn't possible to listen to music.
I guess manufacturers of dumb chargers are between a rock and a hard place, as not every phone expects the same thing. The ultimate unit would offer a switch on each USB port to fix this. Those who don't want to open their charger can also make a USB cable with a short or 200 ohm resistor between D+ and Dto solve this problem.
Want Multi-Use Vehicle Charger with Dual USB Ports and Dual 12 Volt Sockets - Magnadyne Discount?
This works and it comes with the hardware to mount it somewhere so it won't slide around. As an extension and socket splitter it is OK.However they missed an essential trick on the USB power supply. If a device wants a smart USB powered device like an iPhone or iPod to see it as a high power source, and not as a data connection, it needs to short the data interface pins with a resistor not more than 200k ohms. That is in the USB spec. You can tell this hasn't been done because when you plug in an Android phone it asks if you want to mount as a media device or a hard drive.
So if you are looking for a neat way to power and charge a modern smart device then this isn't it. For the 2c it would cost them for the resistors the manufacturers really should have done this. I may even try it myself since it looks like there is room to work in there and I have an electronics lab to play in.
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