Lazy Daze Owners' Group

When I first took possession of my LD I noticed right away the lack of USB charger ports in the coach area.  I could plug in a cigarette-lighter type adapter into the 12v receptacle over the dinette or plug a power brick into one of the AC outlets when I was on shore power, but otherwise I was limited to just the cab USB ports.  So… I looked on Amazon and found these Dual Port, Surface Mounted USB Charger Outlets.  They take in 12v coach power and output the 5v needed to charge any USB device.  These are not quick-charge converters that will fast charge certain USB devices, but at 2.4 amps per port, they will charge any USB device I have… iPhone, iPad, Android Tablet, e-reader, Garmin inReach and electric shaver.  They use hardly any battery current when not actually charging, but they do have a small blue light that is always on.  The blue light doesn’t bother me but if it did, then a black Sharpie or some black model airplane paint could cover it up.

I originally installed 2 chargers, one above the dinette and one above the rear passenger side couch.  I was so impressed with them that I installed 2 more.  One on the rear driver’s side and one in the bathroom for my electric shaver.  In each case I tapped into the LED light fixture mounted under the cabinet and routed the wires in the dead space between the cabinet floor and the cabinet bottom.  By mounting the chargers near the LED lights, I was able to run the wires without lifting any of the cabinet floors.

Parts needed: USB Charger, 16 gauge twin lead, 22-16 gauge butt-splice connectors, 16-14 gauge quick-splice connectors and a wire stripper/crimper tool.

Lessons learned: On the longer cabinets there’s a wooden brace midway to the length and under the cabinet floor.  This brace is to secure the cabinet floor in place but it will also block any wires running between the USB charger and the LED light fixture.  So, on the longer cabinets, you’ll have to mount the USB charger on the same cabinet half that the LED light fixture is mounted.

Before drilling into the cabinet, figure out where you want to mount the USB charger and remove the 8 screws holding the LED fixture in place.  The fixture’s 2 clear covers push outwards about 3/8 inch, then down and off exposing the 8 mounting screws.  Push a stiff piece of wire up through the LED fixture cabinet hole and over to where you want to mount the USB charger.  See if there is any blockage first before drilling a 1/2 inch hole for the USB charger wires.

Make sure you use a good crimping tool.  The cheap ones make poor crimp connections and they’ll eventually come apart.  The tool I use is a  Cambridge (model 86260) 9 inch stripper/crimper that I got sometime ago at Tractor Supply.  It looks exactly like the Dorman 9 inch stripper/crimper I linked to earlier.  I think I paid around $15 for it.

Cut off the tinned portion of the charger wires and strip off 3/16 inch of new un-tinned wire.  Crimping on tinned wire makes for a lousy connection.  Now crimp on some 16 gauge twin lead to the charger wires using the butt-splice connectors and wrap the splice connectors and wires with some electrical tape.  The tape makes for a good strain relief and the connections are less likely to come apart.  Use the stiff wire to fish from the charger hole to the light fixture hole.  Tie or tape on some string or cord and pull it back through the charger hole.  Tie or tape on the twin lead and pull it through the light fixture hole.  Now you can use pliers to crimp on the quick-splice connectors.  Follow the wire color coding mentioned next.

Be aware of the color coding of the wires.  The LED light fixture uses Black for positive (+) and White for negative (-).  The USB charger uses Red for positive (+) and Black for negative (-).  The wiring goes positive-to-positive and negative-to-negative. So Black LED to Red USB and White LED to Black USB.

That’s it… I think it turned out great and I’m really happy with the results.  Let me know what you think.

- John

Nice, Mike, you even have picnic tables at your RV site!

The Wago kit I just purchased is supposedly ok for a variety of wire types.  I think these are their newest style:

WAGO 221 Lever-Nuts 28pc Wire Connector Assortment Pocket Pack - - Amazon.com

Good tip, Glen. Especially with Lazy Daze, because they don't ever seem to have heard of "service loops," so there's rarely much slack in their wiring. A good set of locking forceps/hemostats can save you from a lot of cursing. And if you do lose something in a crevice, a grabber tool is indispensable.