T&T: 12 volt receptacles

[Bob Peterson]

Tim, I doubt that you'll find any "converter" configured as you need, for
the same reason your surveyor noted the problem, what appears to be an old
110 VAC outlet "converting" to a 12 volt DC cigarette lighter outlet.  For
many years many of us somewhat standardized on the small 2-prong Jones plug
and outlets for DC use.  They were carried by Radio Shack and thus readily
available.  However they are among the items Radio Shack has elected to
discontinue and are no longer carried by them.  {Radio Shack has elected to
discontinue catering to amateur radio operators and electronics fans,
choosing instead to be just another cell-phone seller; a sad decision}.

I'd recommend you visit a local electronics shop and see what they carry
that would fit your needs (requiring shallow depth, evident that it's not
for 110 VAC, etc.)  If you find something, I'd buy a dozen or so units, so
you can meet your current needs and have your own supply to meet future
needs. As you found, the absence of a clear "default standard" for 12 Volt
DC plugs and receptacles has left the matter open to personal interpretation
and you'll find all kinds of plugs and receptacles used to meet this need.
I doubt that you'll ever find a "standard".  So just pick a plug and
receptacle type that are readily available to you and meet your needs, and
use them now and in the future.

Bob Peterson
"Lopaka Nane"
47' Lien Hwa CPMY
San Francisco 

-----Original Message-----
From: trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces at lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces at lists.samurai.com] On Behalf Of
tbehan6468 at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 9:16 PM
To: trawlers-and-trawlering at lists.samurai.com
Subject: T&T: 12 volt receptacles

My new (to me) 1983 trawler has many 110 volt outlets in nice teak
receptacle boxes. Next to several of them there?are?12 volt receptacles,
also in their own teak boxes -?but these?are not the cigarette lighter type
of outlets. They look just like the old 2-prong 110 volt receptacles?from
olden days (the face plates say 'National'). My surveyor said they gotta go
- too confusing?because they're right next to the 110 outlets.

The teak box does not look deep enough for a replacement cigarette lighter
style outlet (less then 2 inches deep), so I was hoping to find some kind of
converter that I could just plug into the existing outlet. The converter
would need to have?2 prongs on one end and the 'normal' cigarette lighter
outlet on the other end. 

I sure would appreciate any ideas on how to solve this problem, or maybe a
good source for some shorter 12 volt outlets. The teak boxes are really nice
so I'd like to keep them - and they're right where I could use some 12 volt
power.

Thanks folks,

Tim Behan