Is it possible to install 12V supply into car

AdrianC

The thing with ciggy sockets is that they have to be rated to 10A or more at 14v - 140W. Since most people these days just leave USB-able stuff plugged in, it's cheaper and easier to have a USB socket instead - 5v 1A, 5w, so much smaller wiring... Saves whole pennies on the cost of making each car.

bigjl

londonTiger wrote: »

what car is it? it must have one for powering devices somewhere

Why must it have one?

That's like saying a car must have air conditioning to cools the interior. Or it must have an Aux socket to listen to music from your phone or iPod.

bigjl

ElefantEd wrote: »

It's a Nissan Micra, 63 plate. I guessed it was because of the extra cost (about £3 I should think!) but they are useful, and as mentioned above, necessary for all sorts of devices.. I looked everywhere I could think of including the boot but I'll have another look in daylight!

Any competent auto electrician could wire in a 12v socket for you.

Nissan likely sell the socket, or as mentioned eBay can sell you one, though for electrical stuff I would buy from Nissan as an eBay one could well be inferior Chinese stuff.

shaun_from_Africa

Can you see a blanking cover or a round indentation of about the right size for a cigarette lighter socket on the dash or centre console?
If so, see if you can remove the cover or look behind the trim to see if you can spot any wiring.
It's possible that when the car was manufactured, a standard wiring loom was fitted but the actual lighter/power socket was simply left out.

custardy

looking on Google theres a blank in the passenger footwell/centre console?

Strider590

Easiest way is to find an unused fuse on the fuse panel and wire into that with 6.3mm spade terminals and an in-line fuse.
Alternatively with no spare slots, you can use a fuse tap, which allows you to tap into an existing circuit for power.

ElefantEd

The blank space is occupied by a USB socket and minijack on my car - I suspect this was instead of the ciggy lighter.

marleyboy

bigjl wrote: »

Why must it have one?

That's like saying a car must have air conditioning to cools the interior. Or it must have an Aux socket to listen to music from your phone or iPod.

The most common usage is to inflate the tyres, most modern cars allow the car battery to trickle charge using them...

In newer cars, the socket is equipped with a plastic cover without the lighter heating element, due to declining popularity of smoking.[5] However, the socket has been repurposed and continues to be used to power consumer electronics in vehicles.[6] Often, a vehicle may come with several outlets for convenience, some in the rear passenger area of the vehicle or even the cargo area, for such purposes as powering portable GPS devices, recharging telephones, or powering a tire inflator, a vacuum cleaner or a thermoelectric cooler. These outlets usually have a plastic cap tethered to them, and are usually labeled as being only for DC power, because they are not intended to withstand the heat produced by an electrical cigarette lighter.
The use of cigarette lighter receptacles to supply 12 volt DC power is a classic example of backward compatibility to a de facto standard. The connector falls far short of ideal, being physically large and awkward to use, while being less reliable than alternatives such as the Anderson Powerpole connector (which is often used by amateur radio enthusiasts in mobile operations). Nevertheless, cigarette lighter receptacles are in widespread use, and all but the lowest-cost cars, trucks, RVs, and even boats can be expected to have at least one such receptacle. Portable cigarette lighter receptacles attached to cables and alligator clips for connection directly to car batteries are available for temporary use. In newer vehicles, one or more USB connectors may also be provided, as a source of modest amounts of 5 volt DC power, but even in these situations a cigarette lighter receptacle is provided for 12 volt DC power, and for applications that require higher amperage.
Standardized 12 volt DC automobile plugs are defined in the United States by UL Standard 2089 regarding vehicle battery adapters. This standard covers plugs and cord sets that insert into cigarette lighter receptacles. In Europe, 12 volt plugs and sockets are not specially regulated, and do not require approvals for the CE mark.I][URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I
The male plug is sometimes used to feed power into a vehicle to recharge its battery. For instance, portable solar battery maintainers generally connect to a vehicle's battery in this manner. Trickle chargers also sometimes connect in this way, eliminating the need to leave a vehicle's hood open, as well as eliminating the possibility of reversed polarity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_lighter_receptacle

undaunted

An auto electrician should be able to sort you one out without a problem.


Alternatively get an adaptor to connect battery to a portable cig socket or take off the cig socket plug on compressor & connect crocodile clips instead. (the one connected to the moving pin on the end of the plug is usually the positive & the "squashable" outer pins connected to the negative wire at its base)

bigjl

marleyboy wrote: »

The most common usage is to inflate the tyres, most modern cars allow the car battery to trickle charge using them...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_lighter_receptacle

The most common usage? Do you really need Wikipedia to work out what a lighter socket is used for?

I don't know anybody that charges their car up via the lighter socket. They all use a proper charger. You can't charge them unless the lighter socket has a permanent feed anyway, if it is only live when the ignition is on or for a period of time after the ignotion is switched then it won't work (or so I have read, I use a proper charger attached to the battery, or at work the vehicles were fitted with an external charging socket)

Does a 63 plate Micra such as the one owned by the OP have a spare wheel?

I suspect it does.

The fact the car is fitted with a USB and Aux is likely due to the fact customers want to be able to use the charging lead for their phone without a seperate charging lead for the car.

Loads of in car chargers have an adaptor with a USB socket that goes in the socket rather than it all being one unit.

And loads of newer cars it is more important to be able to listen to your music from your phone and charge it at the same time instead of just charge it.

So I doubt it is a money saving exercise, most cars you have to ask for a "smokers pack" to be fitted when you order the car.

I doubt the wiring loan is different in any way, to have two different wiring loans would be expensive.