Can I connect a Car Lighter Adapter directly to a car battery and use it to power electronics?

[Chris Shepard]

Hi. I don't know much about electronics, but I thought it would be ok to connect a 3-way car lighter adapter directly to my car battery and use it to power my electronics like a Garmin GPS and Stereo, but when I plug in the garmin, it does not charge, and my stereo will not turn on either, however, my 12v dc car fan will work when I plug it in. Each of these items has a male cigarette lighter plug that goes into the female 3-way cigarette lighter adapter I bought.
Do I need to place a resistor in series to lower the current going into my garmin and stereo?
I am clueless,
Please help me if you can.
Thank you

 

[poor mystic]

Hi Chris
No. a resistor won't help.
Does your GPSwork when you plug it in by itself without the 3-way adapter?
Mark

 

[Kiwi]

There is nothing to stop you connecting the adapter directly to the battery.
Make sure to fit a fuse as close to the battery as possible.
Use proper connections to the battery with terminals, not just twisted wires under a bolt.
Use correctly sized wire from the battery to the adapter.

Do the GPS and stereo go if connected to the car lighter plug without the adapter?

Have you got the positive and negative the correct way around? Positive is in the centre.

 

[Chris Shepard]

Hi Chris
No. a resistor won't help.
Does your GPSwork when you plug it in by itself without the 3-way adapter?
Mark

Thanks for answering!
Actually, no, I have no car lighter at the moment. It is missing from my vehicle.
That is why I hooked up the 3-way adapter I bought from ebay.
The only way I could think of connecting it, was by splicing the wires directly to the car battery.
For some reason, my 12v fan will work, but nothing that is electronic will work.
Any ideas?

 

[Chris Shepard]

There is nothing to stop you connecting the adapter directly to the battery.
Make sure to fit a fuse as close to the battery as possible.
Use proper connections to the battery with terminals, not just twisted wires under a bolt.
Use correctly sized wire from the battery to the adapter.

Do the GPS and stereo go if connected to the car lighter plug without the adapter?

Have you got the positive and negative the correct way around? Positive is in the centre.

My car is missing its original lighter, that is why I installed the 3-way. I used a "u" shaped terminal to connect to the battery like you said, but the wire I used is very heavy gauge, could that be the problem?

Also, I am pretty sure I have the polarity (+ & -) wired correctly.
Thanks for responding!
Sincerely
Chris Shepard

 

[poor mystic]

Mmm
you haven't by any chance reversed the wires? You'd think the equipment would go bang! - but it might have protection built in.

I'd check with a multimeter, or even a small 12V light bulb... see if the bulb lights when connected between the shell of the adapter socket and the body of the car. The lamp should not light. Check again, this time between the inner conductor in the adapter and the body of the car. This time the lamp should light.

Mark


sorry Kiwi, our replies "pranged"

 

[Chris Shepard]

Mmm
you haven't by any chance reversed the wires? You'd think the equipment would go bang! - but it might have protection built in.

I'd check with a multimeter, or even a small 12V light bulb... see if the bulb lights when connected between the shell of the adapter socket and the body of the car. The lamp should not light. Check again, this time between the inner conductor in the adapter and the body of the car. This time the lamp should light.

Mark

Ok. I will try that!

 

[hevans1944]

That adaptor is designed to plug into the cigarette lighter receptacle in place of your missing lighter. Make sure if you plug something electronic into that original lighter receptacle that it works. If not, there is probably a fuse blown. I am astonished that if you plug a fan into the cigarette lighter receptacle that the fan works but nothing else does.

OTOH, if you are ignoring the in-dash cigarette lighter receptacle (maybe because both it and the cigarette lighter aren't there!), and you have cut the plug off the power cord to the adapter to attach the wires directly to your car battery with ring terminals... you probably have the polarity reversed if the fan works and nothing electronic does. If the polarity IS reversed, the electronic things may now be permanently damaged.

 

[Rex]

Check the Connecttion and voltage of every part.I think it's OK.

 

[cowdough]

i know that this works. lol

it wont let me post pic.

 

[davenn]

i know that this works. lol

it wont let me post pic.

what type of image file ? bmp ? jpg ? something else ? ----- use jpg
how big is the file ? that is how many kb ? ---- compress it to 100kb or less
how big is the pic file? that is it's dimensions in pixels, ------ resize it to 1024 x 768 or preferably smaller


and finally, what pic are you posting in some one else's old thread instead of starting a new one ?


Dave