Run Router from 12v Direct

[JGL]

Hia,

 

I've just got a router for the boat. The 230 power adapter supplies 12v 1a to the router. My question is, can I just cut off the end of the adapter, and rewire the cable with a 12v plug - sorry for my lack of knowledge on electrics... but would that seem to be a sensible approach?

 

(obviously this is to avoid needing the inverter switched on)

 

Thanks!

 

Joe

 

 

[WotEver]

Yes, but it might get most upset with the higher voltage when you’re charging the batteries. Safer to get a 12V cigarette lighter style psu adaptor from Amazon etc. 

[WotEver]

something like this would work:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Voltage-Stabilizer-Protector-Regulator-DC10-36V/dp/B06Y5JHZG2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Wot @WotEver said. You might get away with it, or the routers life might be a bit short. Depends on how well the input electronics on the router are designed if it can cope with being powered direct from the boat, or not. Since these things are designed down to a price my guess is not very. As well as the higher than 12V voltage from the alternator, or charger, you also have various high voltage spikes coming down the wires from things like water pumps. A voltage stabiliser, like that linked to above is what you need.

 

Jen

[Boater Sam]

I would not expect a router that was only 12V and 1A to do much work, they need to spin at high speed to cut through even thin ply. What did you buy it for?

[rusty69]

Please forgive @Boater Sam OP. He is always messing around, coming out with jokes and stuff.

Edited January 10, 2020 by rusty69

[Alan de Enfield]

39 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

I would not expect a router that was only 12V and 1A to do much work, they need to spin at high speed to cut through even thin ply. What did you buy it for?

Lack of detailed information, but, the 1 amp could be the input current at 240v (so about 240 watts) and therefore the 'output current' could be as high as 20 amps at 12v with an even higher start up current.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Alan de Enfield

[David Mack]

42 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

... with an even higher start up current.

Is that because of all the flashing lights when I first turn it on?

[Tom and Bex]

We've got a Huawei router which we've done just that on. Usually takes a fairly standard size 12v plug on the power lead anyway, most of our 12v stuff uses the same size so no problem finding a lead to charge stuff, plug router in etc. All our 12v stuff runs direct from the batteries (via appropriate fuse) including router, blue ray DVD player etc. No problems so far in 10+ years, 2 boats and an array of different charging solutions and voltages. Have been known to look at back of stuff in currys etc to see what input voltage is, as usually only info available from manufacturer website is 230v adaptor.  

 

We' even tend to try any appliance with a fixed input voltage in the 9-15v irange direct fron the boats 12v supply. So far only issue was our tv (15v input) switching off when (old lead acid) batteries were getting low, and high power use such as macerater toilet was used. Probably could afford to replace the odd item with amount saved not buying 12v to 12v adaptors!

 

As to cheap 12v led lbulbs though.....

[RichM]

Not sure why anyone would need anything fancy for a router on a boat, even your typical household router is an overkill for most boaters and in my view, totally impractical*.

 

Personally I just use a LTE/4G Huawei "MiFI" router. It's small enough to go near a porthole and is powered by a USB connection. It has the capability to connect external antennas, but I don't need it. It works fine in my case and the less wires the better. Right now I'm getting 45Mbps on the downstream via EE. *It has its own built in battery etc, so any power blips on the boat will not take my internet connection offline. (something you probably don't want to overlook if you're off-grid) It's nearly 5 years old now and still going strong. I help run and maintain this site using that very router, so performance and reliability is key. Can't ask much more than that!

[Tom and Bex]

1 hour ago, RichM said:

Not sure why anyone would need anything fancy for a router on a boat, even your typical household router is an overkill for most boaters and in my view, totally impractical*.

 

Personally I just use a LTE/4G Huawei "MiFI" router. It's small enough to go near a porthole and is powered by a USB connection. It has the capability to connect external antennas, but I don't need it. It works fine in my case and the less wires the better. Right now I'm getting 45Mbps on the downstream via EE. *It has its own built in battery etc, so any power blips on the boat will not take my internet connection offline. (something you probably don't want to overlook if you're off-grid) It's nearly 5 years old now and still going strong. I help run and maintain this site using that very router, so performance and reliability is key. Can't ask much more than that!

We needed something that could take external antennas and was good at picking up weak 4g! We have an expensive external aerial 10ft up in the air and just about struggle to pick up 0-1 bar of 4g signal on ee. On a (very!) good day we get up to 1.2mbps download, and 0.3mbps upload?

 

Our previous mifi work worked well at our last mooring, but got nothing here, even with the external aerial. Our current router also has the option to plug handset in and make voice calls over standard mobile network which we make good use of considering the complete lack of mobile coverage here!

[Boater Sam]

So not for woodwork then?

[LadyG]

16 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

So not for woodwork then?

Keep up at the back ...........

[JGL]

On 10/01/2020 at 15:11, Boater Sam said:

I would not expect a router that was only 12V and 1A to do much work, they need to spin at high speed to cut through even thin ply. What did you buy it for?

Hehhe. I'll let you know when it spins up.

 

18 hours ago, Tom and Bex said:

We've got a Huawei router which we've done just that on. Usually takes a fairly standard size 12v plug on the power lead anyway, most of our 12v stuff uses the same size so no problem finding a lead to charge stuff, plug router in etc. All our 12v stuff runs direct from the batteries (via appropriate fuse) including router, blue ray DVD player etc. No problems so far in 10+ years, 2 boats and an array of different charging solutions and voltages. Have been known to look at back of stuff in currys etc to see what input voltage is, as usually only info available from manufacturer website is 230v adaptor.  

 

We' even tend to try any appliance with a fixed input voltage in the 9-15v irange direct fron the boats 12v supply. So far only issue was our tv (15v input) switching off when (old lead acid) batteries were getting low, and high power use such as macerater toilet was used. Probably could afford to replace the odd item with amount saved not buying 12v to 12v adaptors!

 

As to cheap 12v led lbulbs though.....

Yeah in my exp most DC things fare fine for a few years, just checking. For this I'll try a 12v-12v and see how we go.

Thanks for all the input peeps.

[colinnorth]

I have taken many routers apart for scrapping & recycling. All the ones I have looked at have a voltage regulator chip in them capable of =/<15v* and the input capacitors have been 16V jobbies. The internals of a router all run at 5V

The normal charge voltage when the engine is running would be 14.4v (mine is). This represents a 20% over voltage. I would be quite happy to run my router off my 12v whether the engine is running or not.

* I don't know how to make the equal to or greater symbol from the keyboard!

[LadyG]

https://tools.oratory.com/altcodes.html

I cant see it on the Alt,

must be on maths 

≤ 

The online mathematical keyboard is limited to what can be achieved with Unicode characters. This means, for example, that you cannot put one symbol over another. While this is a serious limitation, multi-level formulas are not always needed and even when they are needed, proper math symbols still look better than improvised ASCII approximations.

Compare:

∀(x, y ∈ A ∪ B; x ≠ y) x² − y² ≥ 0

For all (x, y :- A u B; x != y) x^2 - y^2 >= 0

The advantage of using plain Unicode is that you can copy & paste your text into any text file, e-mail message or HTML document and it will (usually) be displayed correctly without any special plugins. If you need to type more complex mathematical formulas (e.g. fractions), you should use LaTeX or MathJax.

Edited January 12, 2020 by LadyG

[WotEver]

2 hours ago, colinnorth said:

I have taken many routers apart for scrapping & recycling. All the ones I have looked at have a voltage regulator chip in them capable of =/<15v* and the input capacitors have been 16V jobbies.

Yup, as I said in post 2, it might be okay or it might get upset. If it’s cheap then just give it a go. If it’s expensive then why not spend £20 on a regulator.