Good enclosed cig lighter socket?

Almot wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
Not unusual for cig lighter plugs to back out all by themselves.

For mission critical devices like a fridge, add some wire ties to the mix. Cheap, easy and reversible. If you dig around you can even find reusable wire ties, they have a way to release the tie without the need to cut them off.

I think you're onto something with wire ties. The way the male plug is made, spring at the tip is pushing it out. Takes very little - less than 1/8" pullback - to lose contact. Will zip-tie it and order Anderson connectors.

Correct!

The are varying levels of quality on the cig plugs also, unless it is a high amperage draw (8A-10A) manufacturers tend to use the cheaper plugs which have very weak grounding springs which often do not have enough tension to keep plug in the socket. The problem isn't with the socket, but the plug.

Someone also mentioned a cig lighter socket with a screw retainer, great idea, except for the fact that to use the retainer one must change both plug and socket.

The is good arguments for cig or Andersons. If you might want to use your device in any vehicle then cig plug is ubiquitously universal. Andersons, not so much.

You can of coarse, make an Anderson to cig adapter just in case you run into the need to use in another vehicle.

A Ham friend of mine yrs ago converted all of his Ham equipment to Andersons, looked great and performed well.. But as he soon found out not everyone was using them so changing or swapping equipment soon became a hassle..

For my Ham shack I stuck with the stock terminations which used low cost but effective binding posts with the stock cables that came with the radios and in vehicle use I use the stock cable (which has a built in plug/socket for that manufacturer) and crimp and solder the wire to my power source wire I installed, bypassing cig lighters altogether..

If you have no plans to move the device, then why not just wire it direct? As someone mentioned, cig plugs will typically have a fuse under the tip (not all cig plugs have that though) so making sure you fuse the device is always a good idea. At the same time, you could add a shut off switch (with a protective cover to prevent accidental turn offs) to the mix to fully power down the device when not in use.

A long while back I bought the Blue Seas receptacle and mating plug, but never installed it on my 90 watt DC to DC laptop power supply, opting for Anderson powerpoles instead.

Later on, I employed the Blue seas products, powering a relatively powerful led light through a PWM LED dimmer.

When on, and slightly dimmed, there was this insidious whining occurring, but not coming from the led bulb itself, as usual. It was coming from the mating Blue seas 15 amp plug and 20 amp receptacle!
I was able to press it tighter together and change the volume of the whining, almost able to eliminate it, but take off the pressure and it came right back.

Do note that Ciggy plugs have a fuse inside of them, Anderson powerpoles do not.

I make my own inline ATC fuse holders from flag terminal quick connects, or regular female quick connects.

All the premade ATC/ATO inline fuse holders I have used have been junk, melting at well below their amp rating.

reluyog wrote:
For reliability I'd go Andersen anyway.

+1

https://powerwerx.com/anderson-power-powerpole-sb-connectors#?

Cigar connectors are miserable.

Gdetrailer wrote:
Not unusual for cig lighter plugs to back out all by themselves.

For mission critical devices like a fridge, add some wire ties to the mix. Cheap, easy and reversible. If you dig around you can even find reusable wire ties, they have a way to release the tie without the need to cut them off.

I think you're onto something with wire ties. The way the male plug is made, spring at the tip is pushing it out. Takes very little - less than 1/8" pullback - to lose contact. Will zip-tie it and order Anderson connectors.

Search on Amazon, there are some that have a locking ring that helps to retain the plugin.

Not unusual for cig lighter plugs to back out all by themselves.

For mission critical devices like a fridge, add some wire ties to the mix. Cheap, easy and reversible. If you dig around you can even find reusable wire ties, they have a way to release the tie without the need to cut them off.

Derp…

Be careful on the one that loses contact. Potential fire hazard. When it loses contact there is high resistance when it tries to make contact.

I had a triple socket that plugged into the one in my truck. Smelled something burning and something that was plugged into it shut off.
The one that lost contact got real hot and started melting the socket housing. (high resistance)

Best to go with a quality unit and solder it in if you have to.

For reliability I'd go Andersen anyway.