Blue Sea 1045 USB Quick Charger

Written on 03/01/2021
Abel Longoria

I've been a huge fan of Blue Sea marine grade products for quite some time as I have a bunch of their products strung out all over my Vanagon. I was a bit surprised when I came across a new product of theirs, its the Blue Sea 1045 USB Quick Charger. I decided to pick one up and give it a try.

What I Used

  1. Blue Sea 1045 4.8A Dual USB Charger Socket (NEW)
  2. Blue Sea 1016 2.1A Dual USB Charger Socket (OLD)
  3. CMT 537.285.31 Forstner Bit, 1-1/8-Inch Diameter, 3/8-Inch Shank

I currently have about 6 of the older Blue Sea 1016 2.1A Dual USB Charger Sockets installed in various locations in my van and one of the things that attracted me to the new Blue Sea 1045 4.8A Dual USB Charger Socket is that the output is more that double that of the old 1016 model. 4.8a with the 1045 versus 2.1a with the 1016 model.

One thing that I really hated about the older Blue Sea 1016 2.1A Dual USB Charger Sockets was the fact that they included a small LED that stayed lit all of the time. The light was annoying when trying to sleep so I placed a small piece of black electrical tape over the LED in order to "black it out". The other downside to the LED constantly glowing was the parasitic draw it had on the battery system. Each of the older 1016 sockets with the LED has a 15mA parasitic draw. Ouch. The new 1045 sockets have NO LEDS! Yay! This drops their parasitic draw way down to 1mA. Way better.

The Intelligent Device Recognition technology built into the new Blue Sea 1045 4.8A Dual USB Charger Sockets is supposed to determine what the optimal maximum charge amperage is for each device you plug into the socket. Whether it be an iPad or a cell phone it'll determine which is the best charge amperage to send to the device which is up to 2.4a per USB slot in the socket.

The mounting holes are called out at a 1-1/8" diameter hole. I currently use a CMT 537.285.31 Forstner Bit, 1-1/8-Inch Diameter, 3/8-Inch Shank which works great! These Forstner Bits make cutting through various thicknesses of wood an easy task. They're relatively inexpensive as well clocking in at about $11 each. If you already have the older 1016's installed, they share the same hole diameter so you just need to unplug, remove the 1016 and install and plug up the newer 1045. They're interchangeable.

Looks like it's time I swap out my older 1016 Sockets with the new and improved 1045 Sockets!