What plug for Cigarette Lighter socket?

[Adam32]

I am looking for the best quality plug for car cigarette lighter sockets. I will use this plug for an air compressor and occasionally a 12v pump. I can't hard wire anything in, as I will use this on a range of vehicles (some which are not mine)

I have been through a few plugs on the market, but have had over heating issues. I even tried the below plug, which is bakelite and better quality than most. It even ships with a 20A fuse, but still overheats (at as little as 3.5A). Just reading the reviews on ebay, you can see a number of users also report melting.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-24V-Car-Auto-LED-Ma...

Does anyone make a better quality plug on the market?

[phillpot]

As far as I know ciggy lighter sockets are not designed to take anything like 20 amps? Can you not get crocodile clips direct onto the battery or may be the back of the alternator?

[Fishlegs]

Adam32 said:

I am looking for the best quality plug for car cigarette lighter sockets. I will use this plug for an air compressor and occasionally a 12v pump. I can't hard wire anything in, as I will use this on a range of vehicles (some which are not mine)

I have been through a few plugs on the market, but have had over heating issues. I even tried the below plug, which is bakelite and better quality than most. It even ships with a 20A fuse, but still overheats (at as little as 3.5A). Just reading the reviews on ebay, you can see a number of users also report melting.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-24V-Car-Auto-LED-Ma...

Does anyone make a better quality plug on the market?

Just pick one up in Halfords. It'll be UK QA tested at least, and not made of Chinesium.

Is it overheating in the same vehicle every time? Maybe there's a loose connection (high resistance, lots of heat) in the socket, not the plugs?

What does the melting look like? Localised or the whole plug? Is it more melted around any particular connection or solder joint or terminal?

The inline blade fuse in the vehicle is probably 15A. There's no way you should be melting anything at ~180W so there's quite possibly a bad connection somewhere.

[paintman]

If you read the ad fully you will note that further down it says:
"Specification:
Connector Type: Car Cigarette Lighter Plug
Power Supply: DC 12V
Fuse: 5A
LED Indicator: Red Light"

Not surprised it's overheating with a 20 amp fuse!

[Adam32]

Fishlegs said:

Just pick one up in Halfords. It'll be UK QA tested at least, and not made of Chinesium.

I did look in Halfords, but the one they sell is only rated at 5amp. I want something with at least a 10amp rating, which is well within spec for this connection.

[Penelope Stopit]

How are you going to be able to plug a consumer into other cars not owned by you if the current carrying capacity of those cars sockets circuits is an unknown?

[GreenV8S]

I've never noticed any overheating problems running air compressors of an ancillary socket, but if yours is overheating then just connect it directly to the car battery - most pumps include the necessary adapter, or you can buy them for pence. If you expect to use it a lot, it may even be worth paying for a compressor with an internal battery.

[Jakg]

GreenV8S said:

I've never noticed any overheating problems running air compressors of an ancillary socket, but if yours is overheating then just connect it directly to the car battery - most pumps include the necessary adapter, or you can buy them for pence. If you expect to use it a lot, it may even be worth paying for a compressor with an internal battery.

Higher-powered compressors (of the tyre inflating variety - the dual piston ones) usually exclusively come with a set of crocodile clips for this reason.

I remember on my MG ZT the cigarette lighter in the centre console was specifically for cigarette lighting - the dealer-fit "accessory socket" for the armrest cubby used larger wiring and even then was only rated for 120w (i.e. 10a).