I pulled both seats (part of the interior cleaning process, and something to do on rainy days). Both were not working (both power).

Now, the car had had leaks (sunroof/hatch) during it's life.

I want to do a bit of testing on the seats in the house (pending recovering), and might need to do similar for other things (rear windshield wiper motor, etc).

What is the best/easiest way to get a good, reliable 12v power source in the house? I don't want to fry the stuff I'm testing--so a direct connection to a pulled battery is not likely a good way to do it.

Is there a way to use a 12v battery charger, or even a pulled car battery through a fuse to protect the equipment.

Something else?

Thanks!!

AFARR

 

For low current-draw stuff you can just wire 2 6V lantern batteries in series. But, I doubt those'll move a car seat. They will probably move the wiper motor.

 

I use a Radio Shack AC-DC converter which goes from 3 -12vdc. I don't think it will power the seat, but you can try

 

I paid about $30 at Radio Shack for a 110 to 12 volt convertor. It has output posts and a cigar lighter type output. Another option would be to use a 6 amp battery charger.

Dennis

 

why not just use a 12v battery and put fuse inline to match load ?

 

I actually have one of the portable jump start boxes (12 v with the jumper ends, and also it has a Cigar lighter plug in for accessories)--could just get a Cig. lighter adaptor at 12v output and put a proper fuse in place--maybe that would work.

Any other recommendations?

 

Get a cheap gel battery, hook it to your battery charger and connect it via a fuse to the device you are testing. That way you will have enough reserve power for stuff like seat motors, but can use a trickle charger at 1-2 amps to keep it topped up. This battery for example should run 25 amps(power seat fuse rating) for about 20 minutes. (No affiliation, that was just the first Google result) Remember, the fuse is rated such that you can operate both power seats at once, with people sitting in them -- which results in a much higher load than what you would expect to see with the seat sitting unoccupied. Get yourself an inline fuse holder and a collection of fuses so you can insert a fuse appropriate for whatever you are testing.

 

Dalezplace,

Batteries are heavy, require recharging and even the cleanest looking battery has been known to eat funny looking holes in tablecloths.

Dennis

 

If you have an old computer or computer power supply lying around - they all have a 12v output (and a 5v too, so check w/ a voltmeter to make sure you have the right wire).

 

Switching power supplies(as used in computers) will not give you 12V until there is a load. Also, amperage is limited; they were not designed for high inductive loads.

 

I pull the battery from my motorcycle when I'm working on things from the car.

N!

 

Well I'm assuming he's going to hook it up to a load. What else would you do with it?

I've used one to test the A/C blower fan as well as some lights and relays. But never a seat. Most are good for a couple hundred watts (which would be 20A at 12V), but not sure how the power is divided to the different circuits.

 

Do you know any Ham Radio Operators? They can loan you a desk top 13.8 volt fused and crowbar protected power supply. If you go to the Ham Radio Outlet (www.hamradio.com) you can put "power supply" in the search box.

Manufacturer: ASTRON
Item : RS-35A
Description : 35 AMP SUPPLY
YOUR HRO PRICE $149.95

I use an Astron RS-50 (50 amp) but all of their products are bulletproof. The RS-35 is about the size of a shoe box, plugs into the wall socket and provides front panel banana-jack and screw terminal connections for your 12v wires. You can get one with a meter which shows the current draw of a test unit when powered up.


HTH!

 

"I pull the battery from my motorcycle when I'm working on things from the car."--

You know, there is this Yamaha Maxim 400 that followed me home one day--I don't even have a Motorcycle license for it yet (have ridden it in the yard to get use to it), but the battery is a perfect size...

 

Thanks for the tips---

What I did:

12V battery (car battery I had loose).
Bare Copper wire wrapped around the terminals.
Small Alligator Clamps (at each end of a 1' wire). Used 4 of these.
Two Red--one to the bare wire around the + terminal, clip 2 aligator clips together (these are insulated clips) so I have a 2' long red wire.
Two Black--clip one to bare wire on - terminal, clip one to one side of a standard (Blade) fuse, clip the other to the fuse (another 2' long black wire with a fuse in the middle).

Used the Black and Red ends to test the seats--worked fine.

3 out of 4 motors worked. Last one clicked (will remove that motor and see if it spins free, and also possibly clean it) but didn't move the mechanism.

Appears to be a switch problem in the seats--I'll clean and troubleshoot them shortly.