How much power can I suck out of my cig lighter/power point
 

I have a power point spliter thing that plugs into the power point and gives me 4 power points. Can I run my CB, laptop, and GPS all off either my power point or cig lighter.

Are the cig lighter and power point on the same fuse ?

I have no idea how much current these things draw.

The cigarette lighter and the Data Link Connector share a single 20A fuse (#17). The DLC draws nothing except when a code reader is plugged in for diagnostics. So, for your purposes, the circuit has the full 20A available.

The 12v Power Point is on a different 20A fuse (#22).

You should be able to run all 4 of them if you split up the load between the plugs. To be sure, divide the watt rating of each device by 12v to get its approximate amp draw. Then add up the various draws to get a total. Then distribute the amp draw of the devices to the two circuits. You will be fine if you stay comfortably below 20A on each plug.

Keep in mind that these two plugs are always hot, so you have to remember to unplug or turn the devices off when the ignition is off. I think if I were doing this, I might arrange for the devices to be powered only when the ignition switch is in the ON or ACC positions.

I should think they'd be okay on one plug:

CB < 2 amps typically (say 5 if you want to be safe)
Laptop < 3 amps (typically <2)
GPS < 1 amps (typically MUCH less than 1, lol)

Adding them all up worst case you get about 8 amps. Should be fine.

And as Bob suggested, you may wish to run some stuff off a switched circuit if you have a hard time remembering to turn things off. My GPS/APRS setup runs 24/7 so it's hooked to full time power.

Edit: Oh, by the way: if I were you I would just wire into the power system. If you suck on it you won't get anything but a shock...:crazy:

i use the left cigarette lighter for my gps and ipod fm dealie... and i use the right cigarette lighter for my radar detector, cell phone charger, and sometimes dvd player... it has never failed me before...

but for some reason, my gps will never get enough power out of the cig lighter on the right side...

and i never unplug any of it...

i dim all of them at night, but never unplug em...

and i have no problems..

thanks guys,

I was pretty sure I was ok, but I knew you guys would know. I had no idea how much current each devise was going to draw. I also have a small "AA" battery charger I might plug in also, as of right now the GPS is running on battery power until I can get the right cable and stuff(not to mention my own GPS), maybe next spring summer I will come up with a more permant wiring for some of the stuff like the CB.

Ben, did you buy that eMap you were looking at? I might want to get mine back before Centralia in 2 weeks. Doesn't matter when and I know you need it this weekend, no problem!

I have just bought everything off ebay except the GPS itself, there are still a few on there and am waiting the bids out and I am going to sniper one just before the bid ends.

Hey if you need it I will make sure you have it, I am getting my surgury monday anyway, so I wont be doing much of anything after monday, How far is your house from wharton ?

Pretty much out of the way, lol. You could just put it in a box and mail it to me if you like -- much cheaper than gas these days.

mapquest says its 1 hour 35 minutes from wharton to you, and its an 1 hour 30 minutes from you to my house, so that would add an hour to my drive home. any idea what it would cost to ship ?

Probably about $3 to $5, I would think. Maybe less.

ok I just bought my GPS got it for about $100 I guess thats not too bad

That's a fine price. You should be good to go. If you need more memory for it, there is some available on eBay new for pretty cheap. That's where I got mine. I think they're called "Gilson Technology" or something like that.

I saw those, I don't think I am ever going to use the GPS without the laptop though so I don't think I will need them.

What did the emap cost new ?

Mine cost a little over $200 and GPS units hold value pretty well. I bought an external antenna, mount, memory, and the MapSource software and the package was just around $310 I believe.

I bought ext antenna, 12volt power and data combo cable, neoprene case, and a laptop mount all for about $140 is so my package is about $245, I knew I was getting an emap so I bought the ext antenna before the unit and the unit comes with an ext antenna so I have 2 of those, and I forgot I put a bid in on a neoprene case yesterday and today I clicked buy "now on" another one so if I win the bid I will have 2 of those also.

unit also comes with "emap software of the use" is that mapsource or somthing else ?

Edit : I also see the unit comes with a serial cable, so there is another extra, I am thinking about taking my extra's and getting another unit and selling it all together in a package.