cigarette lighter adaptor beware

[Martin2]

i bought a cigarette lighter adaptor from argos on Wednesday the ones that allow up to four appliances to be plugged in at the same time,i only needed one extra to charge the firms new pda,been running tom tom sat nav for a year and a half no problems direct to the cigarette lighter,so yesterday morning i starts the transit up plugs the adaptor in with sat nav and pda plugged in and i start to smell burning the next thing i see smoke coming from under the bonnet lucky i carry a fire extinguisher popped the bonnet to find the power cable from the battery alight put out the fire Lucky i can still drive it but the cables will need replacing,i took it back to argos they haves sent it away to be tested has any body else had any thing like this happen to them .

[airgunalex]

I know of a similar thing happening to my friends car useing one of those but do not know the exact details.

[MC]

At a guess there was a short circuit somewhere, I have had one in my car for years and is used for satnav, phone charger and lamp when out shooting.

 

You can have a faulty anything, it doesn't mean there all are.

[Frenchieboy]

I can only say the same as MC! I have had one of those in my 4X4 for something like 3 years now which powers my Satnav, Phone Charger and (Occasionally) Gun Lamp and I have had no problems whatsoever with it. It is possible that there was a minor fault on your wiring and the extra ;load might have been a bit too much for it!

As long as you are OK, that's the important thing!

[MC]

Also to add to Frenchieboys comment,

 

I doubt you could plug enough equipment in 4 sockets that would load the cable up as much as the direct short when a cigarette lighter is used. Certainly a satnav and charger isn't going to do it.

[Martin2]

I can only say the same as MC! I have had one of those in my 4X4 for something like 3 years now which powers my Satnav, Phone Charger and (Occasionally) Gun Lamp and I have had no problems whatsoever with it. It is possible that there was a minor fault on your wiring and the extra ;load might have been a bit too much for it!

As long as you are OK, that's the important thing!

cheers fellas **** the life out of me 6 o`clock in the morning running around trying to work the extinguisher half asleep will let you know what argos say.

[Martin2]

it said max 10 amps, pda max 3.8 amps sat nav must be than 6 amps less very strange?

[BRYAN3]

Hello Peeps.

 

2 weeks back I went lamping on the quaddy.

The lamp was plugged into the power outlet through a 2-way adaptor. It did seem a bit blinky at times but I carried

on and I just wiggled it from time to time to make the lamp come back on.

However it conked out about an hour into the mission and I had to continue on the headlights.

A couple of days later I discovered that the end of the plug had melted and also ### the power socket.

I am surprised the fuse did'nt blow.

 

 

Bryan

[Stour-boy]

Looks like a short circuit elsewhere the ciggy lighters on transits should be covered by a 10 or 15 amp fuse.What colour is the burnt wire ?and exactly where is it ?

[SPARKIE]

i think you will find that if it was the main battery poss cable there will be a short somewhere for that cable to melt there has got to be some serious amp draw check your starter make sure it hasnt been stuck on as this will eventually melt the cable........if it was the ciggie adaptor cable the wire would of burnt out long before a main battery cable.

 

think its just coincidence there maybe an underlying fault with the car.

 

also check ya fuses in your fuse box people are notourious for putting haigher rated fuses into the ciggy lighter socket when the blow them from messing about with phone chargers and the likes.

 

if your going to use chargers and stuff you should really have a dedicated 12v supply fitted as ciggy lighters arnt really made for them.

Edited April 3, 2010 by SPARKIE

[stubby]

my works van had a 4 block that I got from argos, running

a phone charger

sat nav

a blue tooth pen charger

my dvd player

 

never had a prob

[Evil Elvis]

I use one too, never had a problem however if it was your adapter, MOST cigarrette lighters have thier own fuse, that should have gone!!

[sealine]

Me Too

 

have had one for 3 years to run sat nav, phone no problems.