I'm not good with this electrical stuff but maybe you could just plug one of these into one of the cigarette lighter ports.

 

I have a couple of those, but they have to be charged as well. When you stop for the night, you now have a bunch of stuff that you need to be charging.
When I travel, I will have the battery packs as well.

 

Sounds like you are ready to drive to the Central PA Mountain Truckstock 2019!

 

I'm leaning for the Tennessee Truckstock for 2019. Mainly because it is 200+ miles closer one way. Gotta make some long drives to prepare for my travels.
My dream trip would be to go to TN, then head up to PA. I'm not sure I can justify a 2+ week trip at the moment.

 

I followed Bob's instructions soon after he originally posted this thread. Since Betsy is still 6V positive ground, I tried it and it works great.

I ordered the nylon screws and nuts from McMaster-Carr. So I have nearly 100 (I think) of each left over if anybody wants some. Just let me know in a PM.

 

I bookmarked this page years ago. I finally got around to installing the usb charger.
My charger was plastic, so I didn't need to do any separation. Just hook up the negative to the switch and positive to ground.
I used the 3M adhesive for auto trim to attach it to the underside of the dash. We will see if that holds.
Here is the charger I purchased.

 

12 volt????

 

The usb chargers only need like 5 volts. So the 12 volt ports will still work with a 6V system. I just had to wire the positive to ground.

 

Hi Joe. Like you, I followed Bob's plans for an under dash charging station. It's been working great for my phone and GPS. Every once in awhile, though, the GPS says it isn't getting enough voltage and goes dim. The situation is easily remedied, however, by unplugging the unit and plugging it back in. Like yours, my system is 6V.

I also have a rear view camera. The transmitter for this device is 12V. I power it with a transformer to step-up my 6V to 12V. The transmitter may run on 6V like the phone charger and the GPS, but I never tried to do it.

I really appreciate my GPS for making long trips. I plan my route through rural areas and then make a little cheat sheet of all the little towns along the way. Using my list of towns, my voice activated GPS is able to take me from town to town and keep me off interstate highways for the most part. My GPS might be able to spit out a route that avoids big highways and cities, but I'm not familiar enough with it to make it do that. I just go little town to little town.

Good luck getting your truck ready and hope to see you in PA!

Jim

 

I've always used my phone gps. Now with the charger I can do that without worrying about the battery.
I have been pondering the route to PA. Avoiding highways is 100 miles further. The shortest route possible is 886 miles. I'm also pondering using campgrounds for the nights on the road vs hotel. I like the idea of roughing it to an extent, but I'm a little odd.
I wish I could find some internet route site that would allow you to specify a distance to travel each day. It's been a pain trying to figure out potential locations to stop for the night. I figure I can comfortably do about 300 miles a day. Although making it halfway in one day would be nice.

 

Going on the back roads certainly adds to the time and distance of your trip. My trip was about 1000 miles last year, and I spent 3 nights on the road--first night Luddington, MI--second night Sandusky, OH--third night Kane, PA. I wasn't in a hurry, and taking the ferry limited my first day's driving time. I came into PA from the north near Erie and took RT 6 and eventually RT 144. This route was certainly not very direct but very scenic, and it was great going though all the little towns. I made up for this slight extravagance by taking Interstate 90 through much of Ohio. It was fast but not fun--especially through Cleveland.

Jim

 

Jim, did you stop at the Kinzua bridge state park. This is where the highest RR trestle collapsed. Very scenic. It's just off route 6.

 

...forgot to mention. I was planning to spend nights on the road in my truck to cut expenses. I did spend the first night in a Walmart parking lot. It was fine, but not having any water or "facilities" was a little awkward. I had a Walmart all picked out in Sandusky, but when I got to it I opted for a cheap motel instead. In Kane, I found an old fashioned downtown motel. My wife would never dream of staying in a place like that, but I enjoyed it, and I believe my bill was about $40.

Jim

 

Yes, I did stop to see the Kinzua Bridge State Park. It was one of the few stops that I make. There were other places that would have been nice to spend time at but I had to keep going.




Downtown Kane, PA. My motel is close by. A "stalker" followed me to a bar here to talk about my truck.

Jim

 

Mr. Kane was the entrepreneur that built the first bridge over the Kinzua gorge.