Way OT Power Plugs in vehicles

adamsgt

adamsgt

Jerry Adams
Was looking at a new Ford Flex today and was taking note of the DC power adapters in the car. Again, the ire rose in me. There is no logical reason anymore to have to use cigar lighter sockets to power 12 V DC accessories. Few people use the cigar lighter socket to light cigars or cigarettes anymore. DC voltage only requires two pins to provide power. One pin could be formed differently to avoid reverse polarity connections. There's various ways the two pin to socket mating could be implemented.The space saved could be used to provide more connection points. Adapters could be made to allow current accessories to be used until vendors convert to the new format. These clumsy, bulky cigar lighter adapters should have been replaced years ago. A lot of commercial airplanes have such DC connections and the auto industry is way behind on this. :(
 
... but that only applies to guys like you & I who don't smoke. I just bought a plug with 2 USB outlets & an acceptable output which powers my GPS (all the time) and my cell phone or car camera when needed. It might have enough grunt to recharge my laptop.
 
My new chevy hd has a usb socket that charges or hooks pandora or other music into the nav sound system. It also has cigar lighter sockets everywhere they would fit. I think they need usb everywhere with one old style socket to power the air compressors and junk that we use every few years
 
Well, when the first portable devices that needed DC power came along the only source in vehicles was the cigar lighter. So the accessory vendors designed adapters that would plug into them. I remember seeing one Y cord setup that had the adapter that plugged into the cigar lighter and two cigar light sockets that would accept two more cigar lighter adapters. What a clumsy and cumbersome setup that was if you wanted to power two devices. But that's what you had to do at the time. That was decades ago. There hasn't been much improvement since then. The cigar lighter adapter that has one or two usb ports to provide low power for recharging is about the only improvement. My 2010 F-25o does have one usb port and my 2013 Escape has two SD slots and two usb ports. That's improvement. But if I want to power my Garmin GPS in my F-250 I still have to use that godawful cigar lighter adapter. Think about all the different electrical devices we use for music, computing, gaming etc. The providers collaborated to agree on common connection protocols so purveyors of products could connect their products to other products with no difficulty. Examples are headphone jacks and plugs, SD cards and slots. Some slots accept a number of different cards. Interface boards slots on computer main boards. There's been a revolution in interconnectabiiity in the last decade that is incredible. Notable exceptions being the auto cigar lighter adapter and Apple computer who doesn't connect with anybody else.

Whew, that was a rant. But I feel much better now after getting that off my chest
 
Good point on all the "lighter" outlets, on the other hand why do we need all the connections (plug-in/outlets) in the vehicle to begin with. I'm not a big fan of all the electronic gizmos used today in vehicles...but to each his own.
 
What is the range of an electric car if the kids all have devices hooked in, you have the GPS powered up, the headlights are on, and your wife is using the lighted vanity mirror?
 
Uthink Uknow said:
What is the range of an electric car if the kids all have devices hooked in, you have the GPS powered up, the headlights are on, and your wife is using the lighted vanity mirror?
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Even worse is using heat or AC in an electric car. Huge drop in range. Electric cars should be covered with PV cells.
 
Uthink Uknow said:
What is the range of an electric car if the kids all have devices hooked in, you have the GPS powered up, the headlights are on, and your wife is using the lighted vanity mirror?
Click to expand...

And how will the electric car perform running the air conditioner here in Texas in August with 105 degree temperature and 95% humidity.

Keith, you beat me by a minute while I was typing mine.
 
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See, Here we do not worry about air and all of those fancy gadgets. As long as it will go through 3ft snow drifts, who cares? EH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Bill Gammon said:
See, Here we do not worry about air and all of those fancy gadgets. As long as it will go through 3ft snow drifts, who cares? EH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Bill, one of my bases while I was flying for the Air Force was Grand Forks North Dakota. One year we took a vacation through Canada pulling a travel trailer. At one park we met a really nice couple who were in the Canadian Air Force. We had dinner together and during the after dinner drinks and conversation about places we'd been an interesting fact surfaced. The southernmost Canadian Air Force base was North of the northernmost US base. Didn't feel so bad after that.
 
I see big problems with the touchscreen controls on the new cars--seems to me just as bad as texting while driving. What was wrong with 2 knobs and 6 buttons on the CD/radio--took a loaner car, took me 20 minutes to change the radio station!
 
Man you guys my 2010 Tundra has USB's and and even a 110 volt. Inverter never know when someone may only have a charger with a 110 volt plug. Or the Wife may want to dry her hair.

Joe Salt
 
I didnt get the popcorn maker- i opted for the chilled wine rack instead- and it doesnt really have a soda fountain per se- it just has one of those soda gun things like they have in bars in the center console
 
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