basic electrical question

I put a cigarette lighter on my bike so i could charge my phone and ipod how many amp fuse should i put in the line it is 12 gauge wire yes i know very heavy duty wire for my inverter. I just don't want to fry anything

I did the same as you for my air pump to inflate my air bed at bike rallies! I put a 5amp fuse in!

Is this easy to do?

What do you need and where do you wire it in?

[Sid Squid]

As I'm sure you're aware, the fuse is intended to be the weak link in the electrical path, so that it will fail before damage is done by excess current flowing through any electrical parts should a fault occur, as such you need a fuse which is a small as will comfortably do the job and no more. If you're solely using the connection to power your phone and I-pod then a three-amp, (or less), fuse will be plenty.

An air bed Billy???

Wot ever happened to roughing it??

He he !!

[Taipan]

'Wattage' of Equipment = Fuse Rating

'Wattage' of Equipment

Fuse Rating

Up to 600 Watts

3 Amps

Between 600 Watts and 1000 Watts (1KW)

5 Amps

Between 1KW and 3KW (3000 Watts)

13 Amps

Originally Posted by Taipan

'Wattage' of Equipment = Fuse Rating

'Wattage' of Equipment

Fuse Rating

Up to 600 Watts

3 Amps

Between 600 Watts and 1000 Watts (1KW)

5 Amps

Between 1KW and 3KW (3000 Watts)

13 Amps

Not at 12V though.

Power = Volts * Amps

Therefore,

Power = 12V * 3A = 36W

So be careful.

Find out your equipment wattage then divide by 12 to give you ampage.

Realisitically you can only utilise something up to 120W on a 12V system - 10A fuse. You'd use a wire size of 6mm.

Check this out.

http://www.unlimited-power.co.uk/Cab...ing_chart.html

Originally Posted by danf1234

Is this easy to do?

What do you need and where do you wire it in?

well i wired it directly to the battery terminals and used 12 gage wire which is overkill for most applications i put an in line fuse holder into the line and then put crimps on the end. I then got a cigarette lighter from an automotive store (they are easy to find) and then plugged in the crimps and wired it to the battery there is probably a better way to do it but i need very high wattage so that is why i went directly to the battery terminal. Ill post a picture up when i get back from flying

Wouldn't it also be worth remembering that if the device is to be used while the bike is running, you will see ~14.4-ish volts across the terminals and not 12v due to the charging circuit? This may have a bearing on the size of fuse/wire guage needed. I'm sure the voltage can be brought back down to 12v with a couple of resistors though.

I am really interested in doing this now. Like the idea of being able to charge my phone and Ipod etc.

Can someone givew me a shopping list of what I need to buy, and where to get it? (Halfords maybe)?

Can I just wire it straight to the battery? I wouldn't use it while the bike was in use anyway. More like camping and stuff like that.