# Charging my DROID with a 12 volt trolling motor battery.



## fish on! (Oct 15, 2009)

I have GPS on my DROID, and have the ability to save way points. The problem is, with GPS enabled, it becomes a battery hog.
I was wondering if it would be possible to wire a cigarette lighter to one 12volt trolling motor battery, and use my car charger.
Thanks for any help. 

Sent from my DROIDX


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## Sharp Charge (Jun 24, 2009)

Should work just fine. Make sure you have an inline fuse and you'll be set.


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## DontForgetTheDrainPlug (Mar 3, 2010)

I have a cig. lighter outlet that came wired with alligator clips on the ends...makes it simple to hook up to a battery for a temporary hookup. Or hard wire one and mount it somewhere and use it for your charger, spotlight, etc....

Can't remember where I got the one with the alligator clips but I don't think it would be too hard to find one.

As Sharp said, it would be best to fuse it.


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## fish on! (Oct 15, 2009)

Thanks for the information, I appreciate it.
One more thing though, what size fuse do you recommend?

Sent from my DROIDX


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## DontForgetTheDrainPlug (Mar 3, 2010)

See if you can find out how much current your charger draws (amps). Probably will be very small amps.

Then use a fuse that is rated slightly higher than the charger draws.

That is if you are wiring it too only supply the charger. A spotlight or anything else would probably draw more amps and would need a larger fuse, but with a larger fuse you wouldn't be protecting your phone or charger the way it should be.

Although if you charge it in your car you are probably plugging it into a 20 or 25 amp fused circuit....not really much protection for the phone there either.

They must not have much trouble with car phone chargers going bad or I think it would be more heard of.


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## fish on! (Oct 15, 2009)

Thanks again, this should make my time on the water more productive. It's great that the people on this site are knowledgeable, and willing to share!


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## DontForgetTheDrainPlug (Mar 3, 2010)

If you can't find the amp draw on the charger itself somewhere, after a quick google search I found that the average cell phone charger draws 0.35 amps. I would probably go with a 1 amp fuse if you can't find the actual draw of your charger.

To really protect your phone (and I'm guessing it was probably pretty expensive) the charger should be on its own individually fused circuit. With a 1 amp fuse there's not going to be much else you could plug into the outlet without blowing a fuse. 

Since most car cigarette lighters are fused at 20 or 25 amps, I guess the chargers don't malfunction too often since I've never heard of a phone frying while plugged into a car cigarette lighter.


Or maybe the chargers are internally fused or short circuit protected themselves.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

I wouldn't think you need a fuse. 
I'm not an electronics guy but isn't the charger a step down transformer? (I don't know if that the technical term) Like someone mention power points and cigarette lighters in cars are 15-20 amp outlets.


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## Skarfer (Jan 27, 2006)

I wouldn't wire a cig lighter to my trolling motor battery - I'd wire it to the cranking battery. That way it's always 12v and charges when you run the big motor. Then you'll have no problems at all if you do get 2 batteries to run a 24v trolling motor........

On a side note - I've got a cig or accessory plug factory installed in my boat, and it's wired to the cranking battery.........

ALSO - your fish finders should not be wired to your trolling motor batteries - it should be wired to your cranking battery.......for the same reasons listed above.


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