12 volt plug in Dock

[Bob Vaughn]

I would like a 12 volt plug in my dock to plug in my Carry Out satellite dish....I am at a loss as to how to do this without having to dismantle the whole basement. I have a 3250TS.

 

[Lou_and_Bette]

Bob, my satellite power cord has a cigarette type connector on the end and I simply bought a 5.8 Amp AC/DC power converter that as the female end on the 12 volt system. Plugged into the 120v receptacle in the dock and away we went. I think I got it at Wally world but I'm sure they carry them at any sporting/auto/electronics store

Lou

 

[dave10a]

I installed a marine grade 12 vdc receptacle in my MDC for my Carryout. I also wired it to a spare circuit breaker in my 12VDC panel. Easy to do and is very convenient. This make 12vcd available for other gizmos like a portable maserator for the sewer. I noticed Heartland installed a 120vac receptacle but no 12VDC which is more relevant IMHO-- why not both Heartland

 

[danemayer]

Bob, if you really want a permanent 12V socket rather than the converter Lou described, you'd have to run wires from the fuse box to the UDC and install the socket there. You wouldn't have to disassemble the entire basement, but the rear wall would have to come out to give you access and you'd have to unscrew the fuse box and pull it into the kitchen (or wherever) to work on the backside. I'd take the fusebox out and push a fish line toward the UDC and pull wire back from there.

 

[porthole]

Don't see how you can get around it Bob. You have to go behind that wall.

My first foray into SAT TV was with a dish carry out. I added a 12 volt receptacle in the UDC just for that purpose.
I don't have a picture of the finished job handy. I used one of the flip up covers in the UDC. I have four, two for SAT input, one phone and one cable. I removed the phone connector and made a one inch hole for a cigarette lighter type receptacle.

That was my portable dish feed.

Just to minimize the pain of installing that one 12 volt socket, I added a couple others at the same time. One on the right, just inside the basement door.
And for portable 12 volt Fantastic Fans, one on the side of the bedroom dresser, one under the fold up steps (fan hangs on dog pen) and one in the garage.

 

[JohnDar]

If you have the GM1518 portable antenna, you only need power to it when setting it up. Once it locks the position, you don't need the 12V power. I use the 120V/12V transformer I bought with the antenna. I unplug it when the antenna has locked in.

 

[mobilcastle]

I added one in the UDC and two other places. I tied into other 12v lines. For my macerator I ran a heavy line to the battery I can easily hookup if I need it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[iaflatlander]

Bob, if you really want a permanent 12V socket rather than the converter Lou described, you'd have to run wires from the fuse box to the UDC and install the socket there. You wouldn't have to disassemble the entire basement, but the rear wall would have to come out to give you access and you'd have to unscrew the fuse box and pull it into the kitchen (or wherever) to work on the backside. I'd take the fusebox out and push a fish line toward the UDC and pull wire back from there.

Is there anywhere that you know of that describes how to do whatever needs to be done on the backside of the fuse box? I'd love to have a 12V socket, but have always "scabbed" a wire onto another line. I'd like to do have a dedicated line right from the box as you suggest, but don't know how big a deal it is to do it that way (the right way).

 

[danemayer]

Hi laflatlander,

I've not seen a tutorial, but it's not hard. Assuming you have an empty fuse location, the red (hot) wire gets screwed into that location. The ground wire gets screwed to an empty position on the ground buss on the backside of the panel. You need to match wire size and fuse size to the amps required by the device you're running. Keep the wire runs as short as possible to avoid voltage loss. If I'm reading the table correctly, for 20' or less (round trip), #10 wire will handle 15amps at 12V DC.

 

[iaflatlander]

Wow! That is exactly what I needed. Now to wait for a day above 10°

 

[Garypowell]

I added some extra basement and interior lights and a 12 volt outlet in UDC and on other side. I brought hot and ground from spare terminals on the converter which is easier to get to. Brought them to a plastic box where I put in a ground strip and aux fuse panel from auto store.

Probably overkill....but I now have about four fused circuits running out of that box.

And while it could be true that once you set up your satellite you might not need the power but that is not always true. Before I set up my Directv in SWM mode using DNS it would switch back and forth between satellites.

 

[RAHanock]

I have added four 12 Volt outlets to our Sundance. If running the Carryout only, you can just tap into a local 12 V. line, such as the light in the UDC, which is what I did. It powers the Carryout just fine. For other outlets/uses, such as a 12 V. adapter for a laptop, you will need to run a heavier wire. I ran an 8 gauge line to the back of the trailer by stuffing it into the Chloroplast underneath the trailer. I used an inline fuse near the power distribution lines in the front compartment. This made it easier than connecting into the fuse panel.