The Zeiger Family Homestead Blog

After a faithful reader commented on how easy I’d made my 12 volt outlet installation sound, I joked that that was because I’m the one who writes the blog.

Having said that, I realized that she is one of many who rely on me to share my experience, good and bad, concerning projects that she is pursuing.

I admit to purposely glossing over the mistakes I made in the installation, some of which might be understandable, a few that were just plain stupid. If I hope to provide value through this blog beyond sheer, self indulgent entertainment, I need to be more forthcoming. I need to elaborate on this story paricularly, because it led me to take steps that others might also find useful. Continue reading →

We have found a set of 12 volt outlets to be very useful in our off-the-grid cabin. While we have an inverter to provide our AC power needs, there’s little sense in stepping our DC power up to AC, then stepping it back down to DC to charge our computers, cell phones and other electronics. Most of these can be powered with 12 volt “cigarette lighter” chargers plugged into a 12 volt socket.

We’ve gotten by for a while with a 3-outlet bank that I picked up at a garage sale sometime in the past. However, it has proven unreliable. One of the cylinders cracked. Even with a binding of electrical tape, it held the plugs poorly. One of them shorted out and melted the housing. I fixed it, but never fully trusted it again. For all practical purposes, the bank has been reduced to one reliable outlet for a few months now.

Continue reading →