My thinking was that by not using the High power setting, I would be avoiding the high current draw that could cause problems. The rated current draw at High power was 11.5 amps, so it would have been somewhat less on Low or Mid power. I was always very careful to run the radio at either the Low (5 watts) or Mid (10 watts) power setting. The socket in question was at the back of the console so it may have been intended as an aux power socket and not a lighter socket. And no battery eating the rear carpet, straining your back, or becoming a cannonball.Īs an additional datapoint, I ran a Kenwood TM-D700A mobile radio from the lighter or auxiliary power socket on a 2003 Ford Explorer for about a year.
When the event if over, unclip the cord and store it, you can connect it to any battery at any event for future use. Someone in the group should be able to connect these for you if you're not familiar with them. Two alligator clips, TWO fuses (that's a religious discussion(G), a dozen or sixteen feet of wire.and many ARES groups are set up using Anderson PowerPoles as the contact, instead of lighter plugs. That will give you alternator voltage (14.4) if you can leave the engine running, and that's enough to compensate for any line drops if you use something like 12AWG or 10AWG wire, which is easy enough to run. It can be done, but it REALLY would be simpler, possibly quicker and cheaper, to just run a duplex wire to the battery and then in through the doorframe. So, a Group 31 (~95~100 AH) battery would be good for 30-50AH before you got voltage sag and hurt the battery's life. That eliminates the lighter questions entirely, and still leaves the car unmodified.Ī large battery in the rear floor can be a very effective cannonball if there's an accident, so please do consider securing it down if you go that route.ĭeep cycle batteries should not be taken down more than 30% or 50% of their capacity. BFD, a foot of the power leads ran outside the windshield and two weatherstrips had to close over them.(G) I needed "good power" on a truck one day, simply ran the leads past the door hinge, under the rear of the hood, and to the battery. These days the battery may be in the rear, which can make it even easier. What you also can do, if you will be in the car for a while, is to run a longer wire either through a firewall plug or the inner fender, and take a power cord directly to the battery with a set of large alligator clips on it. If all the parts are "prime" and in good condition there are no problems, but that's rare. And sometimes, plugging it in and then giving it a twist will seat it in the socket better, depending on how the socket has been made. The power plugs themselves vary in quality, the spring contacts on the sides may be wide and flat, or thin round bars, or one side but not the other actually an electrical contact. That can often be cleaned up-while the power is OFF to prevent shorts. If the lighter socket was actually used to light ciggies, there may be "ash" on the center contact that creates a poor electrical connection.
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