Slightly OT - Good connector for high load car accessories?

Some mid-sized inverters come with decent high-current lighter plugs that can be adapted for general use with Andersons.

-jsw

Has anyone here used -- or even seen -- a pair of "cigarette lighter" plugs wired together and sold as a "jumper cable"? The concept certainly has appeal -- battery-to-battery jumper cables are heavy, bulky, and stiff -- but how would it handle the (say) 100A "cranking current" needed to get an automobile with a dead battery started? Ian's "8-10A", which is an order of magnitude lower, seems like a good working figure for that kind of connection, and with that limitation even a superconducting cable wouldn't be enough.

Or have I missed something?

Frank McKenney

Frnak McKenney fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

You've missed that they usually recommend plugging the two vehicles together for long enough to put a good surface charge on the weaker battery, then to disconnect them during cranking.

Lloyd

And that the circuit is fused, anyway, at (probably) 20A...

"Frnak McKenney" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com...

I have one to connect the lighter sockets I added to my tractor and battery charger. I have to be careful with it to avoid blowing the outlet fuse by shorting the battery to the exposed sheet metal. Once it blew from the current surge into the unpowered charger's output capacitor.

I doubt the fuses in a car would survive the current from a good battery to one too dead to start the engine.

The plug-to-plug jumpers could be cut and rejoined with Andersons to get two good plugs to borrow for other uses, such as if the plug a device comes with is bad.

-jsw

"Jim Wilkins" fired this volley in news:mg8oh3$2aj$1 @dont-email.me:

All the time, Jim... they're usually current-limited by a PTC thermistor in series.

Lloyd

In my car they are on 10A fuses, #27 for the dash and #6 for the cargo compartment. Those tap off 40A fuses #42 and #54 in the under-hood fusebox, per the shop manual circuit diagram here.

I know very well what PTC thermistors are, as I was threatened with a lawsuit for using them to sense liquid levels until I showed the lawyer that one triggered the Low Fuel light in my Accord.

-jsw

"Jim Wilkins" fired this volley in news:mg8qm1$aoi$1 @dont-email.me:

I wasn't 'lecturing' you, Jim, just calling your attention to the fact that they use them in those harnesses (usually a 'pellet' style, leadless version)

Good on ya for putting a shyster in his place!

Lloyd

I've seen one. It had 18ga wiring. That's OK for a handful of amps, but no more. They only work on low batteries, not dead ones.

Ayup. They're meant to charge the battery, -not- start the car. Trying to crank over a vehicle with one would likely blow one or both fuses for the lighters.

The one I have, likely from Radio Shack, is 16 AWG and 4' long, so it's more of a lab bench jumper. They sold a series of power supplies with lighter sockets for outlets. I don't know what they meant it to deliver power to, but it works well to charge my tractor battery through the dash outlet I added for the flasher. Cats prowl the place I store it so I don't like to leave the hood raised and charger wires clamped on the battery.

-jsw

Hmm ... no such experience with mine -- but perhaps that it because I crimped the terminals instead of soldering.

If the terminals went into the shell while still hot, they may have melted and shifted the position of the mating surfaces. I don't know for sure.

Hmm ... 4 ga is a bit bigger than I was using, so perhaps my experience may not signify here.

Enjoy, DoN.

OK so what do you do with the gun to turn it into an induction heater? Make a coil of copper the size to fit the connector?

I think that the intended application is to plug it into both car's outlets and leave the supply car idling for some time. This can get sufficient charge into the "dead" battery -- and likely current limited by the fairly small gauge wire used. (I'll bet the wires get noticeably warm in use. :-)

If the dead battery is sufficiently dead, this won't work, of course.

Enjoy, DoN.

Look at welding cable plug/sockets.

Lots of power - easy to attach and mount. Just a smaller hole and plug and harder to find in the dark.

It was also invented before welding machines.

Auto stuff was designed to last >> >>> "Ignoramus1742" wrote in

What would you have cars have ? 120V AC running around the young kids in the back ?

Actually the voltage is going up and up soon. Local areas will have power supplies for local needs. Small high voltage wire will carry the power needed. Getting rid of heavy lots of copper wire.

Get ready. Times are a changing.

Mart>

will want to plug in many things. Navigator, portable DVD, phone charger... You start accumulating ciggie plug extensions and end up with wires and oversized connectors all over the place.

Take one adaptor to an Anderson PowerPole, and then use one of the distribution blocks, which puts a number of outlets close together for distributing the power. Then just plan to convert the appliances to Anderson PowerPoles and the size shrinks significantly. :-)

Yes! My Nissan Cube (2013) came with a socket down low on the console to plug in appliances (along with a USB charging and playing socket), but no cigarette lighter nor ashtrays -- which is just fine in my book.

Enjoy, DoN.

Well, there are cars without lighters - and even cars without "auxilliary power outlets". There are also cars with 120VAC outlets in the dash and/or rear cargo area.

I used Anderson in my RC 2Meter sail plane - taking my 8 cell C size Ni-cads to my special built Cobalt etc motor. Motor sucked electrons like college kids and booze on the beach.

I could drive it to 2000 feet three times using my 12" floppy propeller.

I'm retired from all of that now. But I used high tech silver plated connectors for my 1000 strand copper wire. Wire was like a noodle. I never had an RF sniffer around it but I suspect it was Noisy...

Mart> >

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca formulated the question :

Name them please.