Slightly OT - Good connector for high load car accessories?

Honda Odyssey, Acura MDX, Toyota Sienna, Dodge Caliber, Dodge Ram P/U, Chrysler T&C, Jeep Patriot, VW Jetta Wagon, Ford Flex as a start. Most are nothing more than a 200 - 300 watt inverter stuck in there and the outlets remote connected. I used a 500 watt in the work van for years. Was handy to charge batteries and power the laptop.

My 02 Blazer has power ports up front plus one in the back, lighter & ashtray (now converted to a hidden switch panel). Plus a hardwired 1000 watt inverter/charger that I put in for emergency use.

If you want maximum performance you can specify military circular connectors. We did for the electric car's battery cables.

-jsw

Egad, a massive 100w? What -can't- we use there? I guess you could plug your electric shaver in that. Or your corded electric toothbrush, or a night light!

I don't know why this keeps coming up. Remember, folks:

Thou shalt not take your eyes off the road to plug accessories into plugs while driving, dark or not.

Nexxxxxxxxxxxxt!

A proper crimp shouldn't change the shape of the ring that much, so I doubt this to be the problem.

Newp, never made that dumb mistake. They were cold when assembled. But it does seem to be either that they don't want to stay in the shell or don't want to mate properly when the shells are combined. I'm just not too dippy on the design.

They may be shaped differently than the smaller guys.

The jumper box on the tow truck I used to run (which ended my automotive career) had a molded bakelite shell with welding style connectors inside. They always made a really solid connection.

Okay. Thanks, DoN. And Larry. And Lloyd. And anyone else i missed.

Using it to recharge the battery makes a lot more sense. I think I saw the two plugs and the cable, noticed that it was advertised for starting a car with a dead battery, and mentally filed it under "You've GOT to be kidding!" As you all point out, limited to 10A it (probably) won't smoke, and in 10-20 minutes would pump enough electrons into a discharged-but- still-good battery to let someone attempt to start a car with it.

Hm. Let's see... add overcurrent protection, voltage measurement, a Coulomb counter, and an LED/LCD display, and the gadget could tell you when the recipient battery was ready to "take its shot". Not a guarantee, of course, since I assume different vehicles require more or less amperage to get started, but a hint at least of when _not_ to try. And the package would still weigh a heck of a lot less than regular 12'

Interesting...

Toss in a pair of lighter-plug-to-pair-of-battery-clips adapters for those cases where one or the other party (or both) lacks a "cigarette lighter" socket and it's a really useful gadget. I think I owe some company an apology for my nasty thoughts.

Thanks again for the enlightenment.

Frank

At Segway I crimped a lot of 45A Andersons with the proper tool. Sometimes the pin curved enough to not go in easily or not snap onto the retention spring. The fix was to bend it straighter.

Quicksilver Radio usually has a table at the NEAR-Fest ham radio flea market.

-jsw

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

A lighter plug voltmeter will give you the battery voltage but NOT the starting capacity of an old, sulfated battery, the kind that needs a jump As the plates deteriorate or clog with sulfate they behave like smaller batteries which appear to charge more quickly.

-jsw

On Saturday, April 11, 2015 at 4:24:47 AM UTC-7, Jim Wilkins wrote: [about automobile/DC power connectors]

It's cheaper to select from consumer-goods parts. Maybe these:

Yeah. Those are actually called Speak-On. Invented by Neutrix and the indus try standard for PA speakers. Way better than the ciggie plug system. About the same size, though. I didn't know they were in use for other purposes, but it makes sense. They are cheap, reliable, and available in 2, 4, or 8 p ole.

As to cars without ciggie plugs. Maybe there isn't an actual lighter and as htray, but it's still the same socket, isn't it? My whole point is that may be it's time for a different 12v connector protocol in cars. Sometimes I ju st can't seem to adequately explain my ideas. I must be just dumb or gettin g Alzheimers...or?

Well, I KNOW the 2013 Durango had a 150 watt 120 volt AC outlet standard in all but the low end SXT, Ford Flex has it too (or did in

I'm sure they are in a lot of other vehicles as well. The GMC Hybrid pickup had I believe 1500 watts of AC available for the 2 years it was built. You could run a Skill Saw off of it.

My 1976 Ramcharger had welding cable connectors on the left front fender to plug the 25 foot booster cables into. The plow hydraulic pump was connected with Anderson PowerPoles.

If they're like the ones which I know -- there is another disadvantage in the dark, You've got two separate connectors, for ground and hot, and how do you see which color you're plugging into which socket? :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

There ARE polarized welding plugs. 2 different size barrels and sockets.

Those are good plugs, but if you add half a dozen to carry the current, that is a code violation in many places.

Mart>> Look at welding cable plug/sockets.

Those are -precisely- the persnickety connectors I was dissing.