Built myself a DIY charging station from the batteries in my kids old electric big-wheel trike. The big wheel ran on two batteries w 24v 7AH (series) so I rewired to 12v 14AH (parallel). Then I added in a power switch, 4 USB outlets (one w a volt meter built in to let me know remaining capacity) and a cigarette/car outlet plug so I can recharge the entire pack from my vehicle. I may get another battery (12v 7AH) off Amazon for $20 to bump up to 21AH since there’s more than enough room in the case for it.
COST:
$27 -case from harbor freight
$30 -USB outlets Amazon
$6 -car charger plug.
Oh, and as I was wiring I managed to touch the positive and negative for a nice little spark/short. Luckily the batteries had a fuse slot built in... so now I know that the fuse works as well!!!
I charged up an iPad, mini Bluetooth speaker and my phone last night and only dropped from 12.5V to 12.3. Not bad!!
My hope is that I can charge up all the family electronics (at least 5 devices) for at least 2-3 days wo needing to charge back up. But I do have the ability to charge on the road if needed. (I hope... haven’t tested that part out yet)
COST:
$27 -case from harbor freight
$30 -USB outlets Amazon
$6 -car charger plug.
Oh, and as I was wiring I managed to touch the positive and negative for a nice little spark/short. Luckily the batteries had a fuse slot built in... so now I know that the fuse works as well!!!
I charged up an iPad, mini Bluetooth speaker and my phone last night and only dropped from 12.5V to 12.3. Not bad!!
My hope is that I can charge up all the family electronics (at least 5 devices) for at least 2-3 days wo needing to charge back up. But I do have the ability to charge on the road if needed. (I hope... haven’t tested that part out yet)
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