Re: Cigarette Lighter Extension Cord

Hi guys,

I'm looking for one of these for me to charge my car through the cigarette socket. I could build one but i was hoping to find a robust one which could be more safe and practical.

i saw one at concorde. i think it's a good buy specially if your car is automatic. you could always do clutch-start on manual cars in case the battery dies down.

Re: Cigarette Lighter Extension Cord

Thanks bro!

Re: Cigarette Lighter Extension Cord

Best to check with the auto electrical system experts or car manufacturer first (not the seller of cigarette lighter charging cables) as to whether charging, let alone starting, through the cigarettle lighter is safe.

It might appear to work for trickle charging, but I doubt that the cigarette lighter wiring and contacts are rated for deep charging and starting. Just look at the gauge of the battery wires and jumper cables and the size of the contact areas on the battery terminals and jumper cable connectors vs. those of the cigarette lighter.

Re: Cigarette Lighter Extension Cord

Yup, this is just intended for my mini car battery charger.

Re: Cigarette Lighter Extension Cord

Just curious. Why would you want to charge your car battery externally? Are you have problems with your alternator?

Re: Cigarette Lighter Extension Cord

Not really sir Jay, it's just that I rarely get to use the car as I'm only a kilometer away from my office :p

I sometimes only get to use it on Saturdays and Sunday if needed so the battery doesn't get any charging most of the time. I got an external charger so that i could charge the battery every 2-3 days in between so as to have enough charge when needed.

About the cigarette plug, I only use the normal pigtail plug that is connected straight to the battery. I also came to realize that I need to check if the car's cigarette socket is hot when the ignition key is at OFF position otherwise it won't be able to charge through the cigarette socket.

Re: Cigarette Lighter Extension Cord

Best to check with the auto electrical system experts or car manufacturer first (not the seller of cigarette lighter charging cables) as to whether charging, let alone starting, through the cigarettle lighter is safe.

It might appear to work for trickle charging, but I doubt that the cigarette lighter wiring and contacts are rated for deep charging and starting. Just look at the gauge of the battery wires and jumper cables and the size of the contact areas on the battery terminals and jumper cable connectors vs. those of the cigarette lighter.

Sir Guad is correct. By the looks of the wire size (in your pict), you would lose a substantial amount of the charging energy. Perhaps as much as 2-3 volts or more.

And since you need to have at least 2-3 volts higher from the source, you need a charger with 15v output just to nominally charge the battery with a short charging cable, but with longer wires, to add the voltage drop of also 2-3 volts, that comes out as 16-18 volts DC from your charger.

Needless to say you will need an even higher current and voltage to keep you car battery charged to its peak, which is 13.8 volts.

Trickle charging is ok with a small charger , but keep the DC line short
and extend your AC line cord instead.

Remember: DC voltage cannot travel long distances, thats why AC was used instead, for all power needs from the generation plant.

Goodluck. 🙂