Charging phones in fore cabin
Printed From: myHanse.com
Category: Hints & Tips
Forum Name: 341 / 342
Forum Description: 341 / 342 Hints and Tims
URL: https://www.myhanse.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9996
Printed Date: 27 March 2026 at 01:44
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.06 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Charging phones in fore cabin
Posted By: Johan Hackman
Subject: Charging phones in fore cabin
Date Posted: 03 December 2016 at 10:37
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With today's need to charge your mobile phone overnight I have been thinking of fitting sockets in the fore cabin for some time. My daughter often plays on her iPad when we are sailing and I use my mobile phone as an alarm clock and I need it to be fully charged in the morning before going to work. After having contemplated whether to use a cigarette socket or USB I decided to go for the latter and would like to share my experience with you. I have one USB socket on each side and I take the electricity from the two reading lamps. The cabinets are built in such a way that there is 50 mm space between the outer wall and the inner one. This can be seen in the below picture where I have drilled the hole, so there is room for the cable and the socket itself. There was no need to drill a hole all the way through into the cabinet. I plan to add switches to the sockets as I don't want and idle current. Johan  -------------  http://www.johanhackman.se" rel="nofollow - http://www.johanhackman.se |
Replies:
Posted By: Johan Hackman
Date Posted: 03 December 2016 at 10:42
This is the result: Johan ------------- http://www.johanhackman.se" rel="nofollow - http://www.johanhackman.se |
Posted By: r schupak
Date Posted: 03 December 2016 at 12:29
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Hi Johan--Interesting idea & one that I was also thinking of (& adding an additional 12 v outlet in the cockpit). More & more I am using Wifi with my Raymarine a7 GPS / chartplotter which can transmit anywhere to my ipad. I use it on my pedestal but have been limited by the ipads battery. I can control the GPS with the ipad & have also done so while in the cabin (waiting to try it from the head LOL). If any one has installed an outlet in the cockpit (especially of a type 341) or has any ideas please let me know. Robert ------------- Robert Schupak Mamaroneck,NY 2004 341 Getting old is inevitable;growing up is optional !! |
Posted By: skipper
Date Posted: 03 December 2016 at 16:45
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Hi Johan, thanks for sharing this idea, like the simple solution and agree on that we don't want to waste el. energy so a switch is needed. Searched and to my big surprise does Hjertmans in Sweden have one USB outlet with a switch from Båtsystem (model called Frilight). Cost around 58 Euro  ------------- Cheers, Skipper Former owner of Hanse 342 2005 (Sparcraft mast, white hull, wheel steering, deep draft keel, short rudder) |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 03 December 2016 at 20:00
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Great idea Johan, I have a mains socket in the forward cabin for fast charging my Samsung android phone and tablet. I also have a 12volt socket for using a car type charger with a USB lead and have been thinking for a while of installing a mains socket with a USB socket. This option gives me the USB outlet that I can then use when not connected to the mains, however, I need to find a surface mount USB like you have fitted that has the adaptive fast charging facility. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 03 December 2016 at 20:36
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Robert, I have a car cigar lighter socket and LED lamp installed on the back of the instrument pod on my wheel pedestal that work fine. I like the cigar socket better in the cockpit as it is useful for a variety of things giving 12volts where the USB only provides 5volts. I suppose you could have both once you have run in the cables, if that suited your needs. I run the 12 volt feed from the saloon power board (12volt power plug fused switch position on bottom right) using a mousing wire in the ducting that runs from the saloon to the port rear cockpit locker at the same time as I run the control wire for the bow thruster. Once in this locker its fairly easy to run these wires under the cockpit floor to the pedestal pod. However, you will have to push a mousing wire from the hole in the port side tube of the pedestal, which is inside the pod down and under the floor into the rear cockpit locker. Once you have done this you can tape the feed wires to the mousing wire and pull them the rest of the way into the pod. There is only one little issue you may come across and that is you will most likely need to loosen the wires in the pedestal tube as in my pedestal the factory had injected a quantity of sealant into this tube around the wires. This took a while to dig out but dependent on the size of the wire you want to install you may be able to get through without a fight. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: Johan Hackman
Date Posted: 04 December 2016 at 16:47
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I just measured the idle current of my USB-sockets and it is just 0.01 Amps. I don't think this small current requires separate switches, or do they? If you want to turn them off you turn them off with the same two buttons for the cabin lights (starboard and port) on the switchboard at the chart table. What would you guys do? Johan ------------- http://www.johanhackman.se" rel="nofollow - http://www.johanhackman.se |
Posted By: Konstantin
Date Posted: 04 December 2016 at 19:41
| I wouldn't bother with switches. I've got 2 USB chargers on Wurst panel and they are always on. But thank you for sharing! I will certainly do this next time I'm on the boat. |
Posted By: Fendant
Date Posted: 05 December 2016 at 00:10
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Same here, I have installed two additional double USB sockets without switches. ------------- Frank |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 05 December 2016 at 00:38
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The USB sockets you've installed in the Cabin light feed are fuse protected from the cabin light switch/fuse on the main panel but the one I have installed in my cabin is run directly back to the 12 volt switch/supply as is the one I have installed in the cockpit. These separate supplies require protection so connecting to the dedicated switch/fuse on the panel that Hanse installed when your boat was built provides that protection and keeps all your supplies in one place and on a fuse you can reset. I certainly would not run in an additional separate electrical feed without installing circuit some form of protection, either a panel fuse or a separate inline one. This is more important with the 12volt connection in the cockpit as you never know what you or one of your crew may connect to this that may overload the circuit. This is the safest option ensuring that should you get a fault the fuse will blow rather than overheat the wiring with the possibility of setting your boat on fire. As I have said by installing the low voltage/current USB sockets in the cabin light feed that was already installed by Hanse at the factory you have effected a fused USB connection at whatever rate the lights are fused, so these are protected. Fusing other circuits is obviously your choice but don't you think your boat and your life is worth a little extra effort? Stay safe. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: Johan Hackman
Date Posted: 05 December 2016 at 20:06
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Rob, I am not sure I fully understand what you are trying to say but, 1. I don't want to die (at least not in a boat on fire), 2. I don't want my boat to be on fire.  So I need to know what you are trying to say. You will have to bear with me as I am not an electrician. Are you saying that fusing the USB sockets via the same fuse at the main panel as the cabin lights is different from fusing them via the cigarette sockets fuse? They are essentially the same Amps. If one is 10A, the other is 15A, or the same, I don't know. Would you advise me to put a 4A inline fuse on each of the USB sockets? Johan ------------- http://www.johanhackman.se" rel="nofollow - http://www.johanhackman.se |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 07 December 2016 at 05:07
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Johan, Your installation using the connection on the wires providing the current & volts to the cabin lamp is already protected by the fuse/breaker switch on the main panel. if you had a fault on the lamp or the USB socket this would be protected by the same fuse/breaker. If you are not sure about this you just need to switch off the fuse/breaker that provides the power to the lights. from memory this will be either the second or third switch up on the left side of the power board in the saloon. (I believe the power board on your 342 is identical to the one on my 341) One of these switched is connected to the lights on the port side of the boat and the other is connected to the starboard side lights. If you switch both of these off you will find power is not provided to the USB or the lights but when you switch back on you will get power back to both. I don't believe you need to worry about the slight difference in the current rating. The reply about connecting a 12 volt supply to the cockpit via a fuse/switch was for the installation Robert was talking about as that would be a totally separate and new set of wires to provide power. Hope this allays your worries, as your installation should be fine but if you have any further questions let me know. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: Johan Hackman
Date Posted: 07 December 2016 at 10:49
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Rob, I just re-read your previous post and realize where I misunderstood you. Thanks for clarifying. Johan ------------- http://www.johanhackman.se" rel="nofollow - http://www.johanhackman.se |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 07 December 2016 at 11:21
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Not a problem, always happy to help ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: Martin&Rene
Date Posted: 08 December 2016 at 18:05
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One of the first jobs done on my yacht when I bought it was to have a cigarette lighter type socket installed on the back of the cockpit steering panel pod. It is connected to the same breaker as the socket internal instrument panel. As said above. there is a ducting down the port side of the boat and you can actually see this if you look up under the lockers in the toilet. The engineers actually removed the moulding that is in the back port cabin, so they could access the base of the wheel steering supports. I have a 12v light mounted on a board which I can fasten above the instruments on the pedestal with some shockcord and this is really useful. Re Johan's original post, in the past I have seen warnings about making certain that you co not have a phone on charge that has been accidentally covered by bedding. ------------- Martin&Rene Hanse 341 Dipper Wheel steering, 3 cabin layout, normally based in Scotland |
Posted By: cptgood
Date Posted: 12 February 2017 at 19:35
I took power directly from the light in both cabins ------------- Hanse320 - Hull#127/08 - Wheel - ST headsail - Yanmar 3YM30 - SD20 |
Posted By: invader26
Date Posted: 12 February 2017 at 21:08
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I recently noticed this solution in a Hanse 588 presentation video. Perhaps this combined light/USB charger is available via some dealer? Cheers Tom C 
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Posted By: Fendant
Date Posted: 13 February 2017 at 00:15
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Tom, this seems to be the best idea avoiding to drill holes into the nice interior. Does anybody know the source for this lamp ? ------------- Frank |
Posted By: Brufan
Date Posted: 13 February 2017 at 08:14
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I saw one like this at Dusseldorf Boat show. The brand was Prebit (a luxurious et very exepansive one) The price was about 450 EUR each (!!!) as far as I remember. I doubt Hanse purchase one of these high end product... a bit too expensive for the range. ------------- Bruno hanse 355 - 57 S/Y Spicy Ginger White hull, 2 cabins, Volvo D1-30, Selden rig, removable mainsheet track system, Simrad (now B&G)-Jefa autopilot. |
Posted By: Ida
Date Posted: 13 February 2017 at 11:59
Thats what I think to do next. But my plan was to install a cigarette-plug where I can put an adapter for USB in. With that plug I can use a ventilator in hot nights. |
Posted By: invader26
Date Posted: 13 February 2017 at 16:57
You might just go for a USB powered fan...  |
Ida wrote:Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 26 February 2017 at 22:55
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I understand that Aquasignal the manufacturer of navigation lights also manufacture an internal lamp unit with a USB connection. Which ever option you chose it is worth ensuring the USB socket is capable of the higher current output for fast charging of the latest mobile devices. In respect of fitting a fan for flow of air in hot conditions, it is worth noting that if you have Webasto heating fitted this can be switched to just blow fresh air, which could give the cooling required without additional kit. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |