>What size wire and fuse for cigar lighter
>type 12v outlet? to be used for portable radio or gps.
How come such a hoggy connector? Cigar lighters are
designed for 10A or better . . . and of course their
diameter is commensurate with the size of the lighter
that plugs into them. They're well suited to lighting
cigars but by-in-large, don't make a good electrical
connector in a car much less an airplane.
You can see a photo of some Radio Shack parts that
are much more suited to this task at:
http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/hh_pwr.jpg
Yes, I know it's preferable to have the powered
pins be female as opposed to the male pins . . . these
critters don't come this way. The risk of unintentional
shorting is quite small (the plug body that fits
into the jack housing is all plastic on the end) and
even if you DID get a short, this appication should be
fused at 3A or less.
Cigar lighters depend on friction to hold plug
in place, this connector set uses a metal retaining
ring threaded down on threads for the jack. It doesn't
take much corrosion or tension on a cirgar lighter plug
to make it disconnect . . . the combo I've suggeseted
is smaller and VERY positive engagement both electrically
and mechanically.
Just cut the cigar lighter plug off your hand-held's
power cord and install the new connector. Quite often
you can purchase mating connectors for the external
power jack on your handheld and fabricate a power
cord unique to your airplane . . . most of the time
they need to be shorter than the usual automotive
power cable when used in a cockpit.
Bob . . .
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( Knowing about a thing is different than )
( understanding it. One can know a lot )
( and still understand nothing. )
( C.F. Kettering )
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http://www.aeroelectric.com
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