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How much power can car cigarette lighters deliver? These are usually 12V, and what 5A or so? So 60W of power?
by diebeforei485 5y ago
How much power can car cigarette lighters deliver? These are usually 12V, and what 5A or so? So 60W of power?
- Nextgrid 5y agoOn an older car I remember the cigarette lighter fuse being 30A.
- paulfurtado 5y agoThe fuses are typically 10A and there are products that go right up to that. You can probably safely use 8A in most cars. So about 100 watts.
- cwillu 5y agoThe three car manuals I just looked at were 10A, 10A and 15A.
- pengaru 5y ago15A on my mx5, cigarette lighters are short circuits that incandesce in open air without disintegrating.
- Johnythree 5y agoObviously not a short circuit. The element has a carefully chosen value of resistance.
- pengaru 5y agoI was being hyperbolic. It's obviously a substantial power draw, like the window defroster.
- hulitu 5y agoI saw in German magazine that you can charge your car from the cigarette lighter, so i presume that it gives you a lot of power.
- Johnythree 5y agoOr more likely a relatively small amount of power which would take many days to have any useful effect.
- iam-TJ 5y agoQuite feasible - typical car chargers have two rates, what we used to call 'trickle' charge up to about 4 amps, and 'fast' charge that will push 8 amps or more. The latter isn't so great for battery long-term health but is useful for 'got to start the engine now' situations whereas trickle is more for 'top the battery up overnight' situations. Most accessory sockets are rated 10 or 15 amps.