Cigarette Lighter Power Supply

[JOEX]

Just wondering.....

Can a 12v car cigarette lighter receptacle be used as a power source for batter chargers?

My Subaru has an outlet in the back and I have an extention for it. I was thinking of cutting off the end and adding some connectors that match up with my charger.

Your owners manual for the car should tell you what that plugin is rated for -
or you may have to explore your fuse box(es) a little to what what fuse they put on it. If its a rating you can use, say 10a, I'd try it out before making permanent mods just to be sure it'll work. The wires can get hot if they're overloaded, so be careful, but I'd expect a fuse would keep you from doing any real damage.

Part of this depends on what you are planning on charging too, if its a pr of 6S 5000 lipos, you're prob out if luck.

[JOEX]

It says 120w... haven't checked the fuse yet...

120W is suppose to be fuse with a 10 Amps, so you're OK if you don't want to charge over 10 Amps

Usually the car guys go with a safety factor of some kind, so I'd guess its really good for like 150watts and they've fused it at 10a to limit it to 120watts.

That would still power a lot of stuff, nice accessory!! Def run a charger.

Originally Posted by david lamontagn

120W is suppose to be fuse with a 10 Amps, so you're OK if you don't want to charge over 10 Amps

if the receptacle is rated for 10 amps you can probubly charge @ 8 amps at the charger

[Patrick]

What amps you can charge at will depend on the voltage of the battery your charging. Though 120w should be enough for most batteries, depending on how much power gets wasted by the charger.

[JOEX]

Thanks for the info!

I'm using a Hyperion Duo charger and the batteries i'm currently using are only3700 & 4000mah. Hoping to get some 8K's again Or A123's....

I have a dual charger that charges two batteries at 4 amps each, and I use the car receptacle all the time (in both cars). Nothing gets hot, never blown a fuse, etc. Works great! Not sure why Lipos would make a difference (I don't own any), but as long as you are charging at or below the rated capacity of the receptacle, I would think you should be fine.

If only I could run my xbox 360 from it...

[BrianG]

The problem I've seen with several cig lighters is that even though they are rated for 10A, they use fairly thin wires and you'll get some voltage drop which might be too low for the charger.

If a power jack in the rear of the vehicle is what you want, how about picking up a cheap amplifier install kit and running the wire? Something 10G or larger should be fine. It usually comes with everything you need depending on how you want.

[JOEX]

It's not so much about needing or wanting the extra power source as it is about making use of something already existing. I thought it would be a nice feature to be able to charge while in transit though. Except for the part about exploding batteries of course

Originally Posted by JOEX

It's not so much about needing or wanting the extra power source as it is about making use of something already existing. I thought it would be a nice feature to be able to charge while in transit though. Except for the part about exploding batteries of course

Exactly why I use them - they are already there, and I do in fact charge batteries while in transit. I don't use Lipos, so I am not all that concerned about explosions. If I were using Lipos, it would probably be an entirely different story.

[tc3_racer_001]

well, ill add my input into this thread.

why is that plug there in the first place???

because its designed for portable fridges which live in the back on camping trips.

now, while i dont own one, while i was camping the people next to us left theirs on overnight and it managed to drain their battery and they ended up with frozen food...which turned to slush!!


so in 10 hrs it drained a 70ah (or close to, it was a big one) battery... thats definately more than 10A spikes, or cont, until it cuts off..... so i would say your dright for 10-15A cont. and 20A spikes...

ryan

[kulangflow]

Regarding charging while in transit: One of my chargers specifically said that you shouldn't charge with the car on because the voltage gets too high for the charger.

Thoughts?

[BrianG]

Most cars are rated for 14.4v from the alternator when the engine is running. A few might be a little higher, but not much. Most chargers have a 15v limit. If it happens to be higher, turn on your headlights or blower fan to suck a little juice and bring the V back down a tad.