Airstream Essentials – USB and 12V

As a family of four and my day job in cybersecurity, to say that we have many devices is an understatement. With so much time last year off-grid in Alaska, it quickly became apparent that running the inverter to charge our devices was not sustainable and highly inefficient.

Recently at the Mothership, we took the opportunity to build ourselves a power wall. We installed three dual-port USB sockets and a 12V socket on our TV/fridge wall. As the power center is below the fridge, it was a pretty quick process to drill the holes with a hole saw, crimp the spade connectors and run the wires for a new circuit.

Last year in Alaska we first swapped a factory USB socket for a 12V socket and found a suitable HP laptop charger. Once we had proven that the setup worked, we put the factory USB plug back in its place and spliced the 12V socket into the same circuit but on the other side of the radio. A simple 12V to USB adapter provides additional USB charging capacity in a convenient location.