12v car cigarette lighter socket adapter

DCFC79

Ive bought a car seat warmer that uses a 12v socket but I also use the 12v to charge my phone. Has anyone bought a an adapter so you can use the 2 12v items at the same time ?


1 thing I am concerned about is would the cars battery be ok with both items in use at the same time, I could turn the seat warmer off though.

Thanks

TadleyBaggie

I'd wary of using a heating pad plugged into a 12v socket. They will often have a low amperage fuse nowadays. In the old days of proper cigarette lighters they were able to supply more current.

I've do use a 2x socket but with items that will only draw a small current.

Owain_Moneysaver

Like this one?

No idea if that is substantial enough to power a seat warmer as well. You can also get double adapters with USB sockets as well as 2 x 12 volt sockets.

DCFC79

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

I'd wary of using a heating pad plugged into a 12v socket. They will often have a low amperage fuse nowadays. In the old days of proper cigarette lighters they were able to supply more current.

I've do use a 2x socket but with items that will only draw a small current.

Thanks, Ill take what you say on board and decide whether to keep it.

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Like this one?

No idea if that is substantial enough to power a seat warmer as well. You can also get double adapters with USB sockets as well as 2 x 12 volt sockets.

Thanks, yes something like that.

Norman_Castle

Couldn't you charge the phone after the seat is warm?

coffeehound

IIRC a cigarette lighter socket (or whatever they are called now) can supply 10 amps. So that would be 120 to 140 ish watts depending on whether the engine is running. How much current/watts does the seat warmer consume, and how much the phone charger? Think an iPhone needs 2.4 amps at 5 volts. Total budget must not exceed the 120 watt limit if that value is still true.

System

Absolutely no problem using one of those seat heaters with the 12V cig lighter socket or using it through one of those adapters that allow you to plug in 2 or 3 devices at a time. The seat warmer and the iPhone charger won't exceed the limit.

DCFC79

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Couldn't you charge the phone after the seat is warm?

Thanks all for the replies.


I could yes but I would have to pull over at a safe place and then swap the devices over.
Ill give it some more thought.

AdrianC

Think about it for a moment. How many people just want ONE seat warmer in their car? Many buyers are going to have two - so they're likely to be <60w. A quick look on Amazon suggests that those 12v ciggy-socket seat warmers that admit to their power consumption are 45w. And that's on the "high" setting. Low is likely to be half that, assuming they use two heating elements, and aren't simply some godawful bodge with just chucking a resistor into the circuit to lower the voltage.


Apart from not giving any issues at all with the ciggy socket alongside 12w of phone charger, that's really not going to give much heat, either.