Adding 12V Cigarette Lighter Socket

[camperwa]

I have a 2014 21ft escape and am adding a simple 12V Cigarette Lighter socket to power a small 300 watt inverter. Socket wiring is 14AWG 20A Heavy Duty Cable 10FT with fuse. Attaching directly to my batteries (2 6volt). Expect less than 100 watt draw at any one time. Does anyone see any issues with this setup? Thanks for your help.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by camperwa

I have a 2014 21ft escape and am adding a simple 12V Cigarette Lighter socket to power a small 300 watt inverter. Socket wiring is 14AWG 20A Heavy Duty Cable 10FT with fuse. Attaching directly to my batteries (2 6volt). Expect less than 100 watt draw at any one time. Does anyone see any issues with this setup? Thanks for your help.

a 300W inverter *could* draw as much as 25 amps. 25A should use AWG 10 wire all the way from the power source (the battery) for both the + and ground/- side.

the 'cigar lighter' plug/outlet really isn't suitable for much over about 15A. a 15A circuit would be fine with AWG 14 wire, but should have a 15A fuse. If you used a 15A fuse on the DC side of a inverter, it will blow if you pull more than around 180W from the inverter. since you say you don't intend to power more than 100W loads, that would be fine.

btw. watts == volts * amps. modern inverters are about 90% efficient, so I just pretended they are 100% efficient for these calculations.

[camperwa]

Thanks John, Very helpful advice, plan to switch out the 20a fuse for a 15a and my expectations are that we will only be charging our phones and laptops.....keeping well under the 150 watts. This will at least give me an additional charging port over by the dinette while we are dry camping. Jim

[John in Santa Cruz]

what I did for phone charging was this....



dual 10W USB (5V, 2A, so no, it won't fast charge newer USB 3 / USB C stuff, but its good enough), the middle is a pair of powerpoles each on a 30A fuse and AWG12 wiring, and finally a 15A fused cigar outlet. My mini inverter, I replaced the cigar plug with a powerpole.

this is on the back part of the U shaped dinette bench. this is whats behind it...

[camperwa]

Nice build quality and just about where I plan to put mine. Good to have charging capability in that corner.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by camperwa

Nice build quality and just about where I plan to put mine. Good to have charging capability in that corner.

it later got upgraded with ...



(a 2000W Renogy TrueSine inverter)

[hugh]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

what I did for phone charging was this....



dual 10W USB (5V, 2A, so no, it won't fast charge newer USB 3 / USB C stuff, but its good enough), the middle is a pair of powerpoles each on a 30A fuse and AWG12 wiring, and finally a 15A fused cigar outlet. My mini inverter, I replaced the cigar plug with a powerpole.

this is on the back part of the U shaped dinette bench. this is whats behind it...

Wow, nice clean wiring job. What type of cable did you run to the power-pole connectors? I can read "Marine" but not much else.


I'm asking because I'm wondering if it might be any cheaper than the $$$ silicone insulated wire I've been using for my added circuits. 😉

[John in Santa Cruz]

I use Marine 12/2 and 10/2 for that sort of wiring. 12/2 is fine for 20-25A, 10/2 is suitable for 30A. its fine stranded so its way more flexible than romex. Not super cheap but very durable insulation too.

Here's the 12/2 I last ordered in 2017 from Amazon... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MI5EOGG/ 50 feet for $37, it was $35 in 2017.
here's the 10/2, $60 for 30 feet. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087LPQ2ND

for my main battery panel wiring I used awg 1/0, awg 4, awg 8 stuff like
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MD1XRSL
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MD21BCC
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M8QVZTN

that stuff gets pricy. but its true to gauge, unlike most of the "Chineseum" wire sold on da Zon.

[CharlesinGA]

Good 10-30v DC USB chargers are easily found and would be a much better choice than using an inverter, which is wasting current doing the conversion to AC and then you are using wall warts to convert back to DC to charge the devices.

I always use chargers that are Qualcomm 3.0 certified and with my phone being the same, the phone charges quite fast.

I made a couple of posts in a previous thread, one involved a portable battery powered USB charging setup made from pieces that I already had, and uses a Makita 18v power tool battery, which is easily swapped out.

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...tml#post437773

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...tml#post439166

Also installed charge ports inside the trailer (not an Escape, see my signature) at both sides of the dinette and at the bed in the rear.

I used plastic "tents" (yes, that is what they call them on Amazon) and put a charger on either side of the dinette plus a power socket for my 12v laptop adapter or anything else, and a switch to shut off the chargers.

[John in Santa Cruz]

FYI, the Qualcomm charging spec was proprietary to phones using their chips, and has been phased out in favor of the new standard, USB C Power Delivery, and can go as high as 100 watts, although most phone devices and suitable chargers don't charge much faster than 15 or 20 watts. My new laptop uses USB C at 60 watts. To meet the spec, any USB power supply much over around 30 watts has to have a captive cable so you don't try and use a phone grade cable to charge a 100W device as the wire simply can't handle.

if you see a USB "A" port with a 'green' or 'orange' tongue, thats Qualcomm, one with a 'blue' tongue is USB 3 with PD 1, but all the newer PD stuff uses the USB "C" connector.

yeah, its really confusing.

[hugh]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I use Marine 12/2 and 10/2 for that sort of wiring. 12/2 is fine for 20-25A, 10/2 is suitable for 30A. its fine stranded so its way more flexible than romex. Not super cheap but very durable insulation too.

Here's the 12/2 I last ordered in 2017 from Amazon... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MI5EOGG/ 50 feet for $37, it was $35 in 2017.
here's the 10/2, $60 for 30 feet. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087LPQ2ND

for my main battery panel wiring I used awg 1/0, awg 4, awg 8 stuff like
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MD1XRSL
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MD21BCC
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M8QVZTN

that stuff gets pricy. but its true to gauge, unlike most of the "Chineseum" wire sold on da Zon.

Thanks. That Marine wire looks good, and it is actually cheaper than the silicone jacketed wire I've been using. (The silicone wire has been my go-to because I know it's copper, and has high temp insulation, but is definitely overkill)

[hugh]

BTW, I definitely like Johns approach of using Anderson connectors. Cigarette lighter plugs have got to be the worst possible choice for any electrical connection. They never fit well, and at anything over a few amps, seem like they are always overheating / melting due to the loose fit.


For what it's worth, I use XT-60 connectors on all my DC connections. The are compact, easy to install, and provide a nice solid connection.

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I use Marine 12/2 and 10/2 for that sort of wiring. 12/2 is fine for 20-25A, 10/2 is suitable for 30A. its fine stranded so its way more flexible than romex. Not super cheap but very durable insulation too.

Here's the 12/2 I last ordered in 2017 from Amazon... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MI5EOGG/ 50 feet for $37, it was $35 in 2017.
here's the 10/2, $60 for 30 feet. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087LPQ2ND

for my main battery panel wiring I used awg 1/0, awg 4, awg 8 stuff like
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MD1XRSL
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MD21BCC
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M8QVZTN

that stuff gets pricy. but its true to gauge, unlike most of the "Chineseum" wire sold on da Zon.

Also available in 25' lengths of 12/2 for around $1.00 per foot from Custom Cable & Wire. Other sizes available & they also make excellent quality battery cables with custom ends, lengths, colors, etc.