Using a cigarette lighter socket to jump start a/c

On my RV7A panel the builder had an extra cigarette lighter style socket installed for the purpose plugging in a solar powered charger for the aircraft battery. My hangar has electrical power so I use a Battery Minder charger during the winter months to keep things charged and it plugs into a separate connection secured near the battery itself.

Looking at this cigarette lighter socket got me to thinking about the idea of converting it to an external emergency "jump starting" port. It doesn't work as a second cigarette lighter (USB outlet) port since it's directly wired to the battery. It's not wired through a circuit breaker.

Has anyone else tried to use a cigarette lighter port for an emergency jump starting port? If so what type (gage) wire did you use? What type (brand) of battery jumper did you use?

If this is a truly bad idea please speak up.

Yeah......you see the size of your starter cable? That how big it needs to be. And most cigar lighter sockets are thin, cheap metal. No idea how you'd make a connection that worked.

Those cigarette lighter sockets can handle maybe 10-20Amps max. Your jump starter sometimes put out 200Amps. You should not use it for anything but charging.

Thanks

Paul and Jesse thanks!

I was kind of thinking the same. I figured if the idea had any merit people would have already tried it. But I needed to ask just to be sure.

It would be nice however if there was a simple way to have an external battery jumper connection that was far enough away from the prop that someone could safely jump a discharged battery.

Cup of coffee

Use it for a dead battery. It will work fine. Just hook up a standard car battery charger... set at about 6 amps. Go have coffee at the airport cafe and then come back to start your plane. As mentioned.... do not connect a large current capacity to it.... or things will begin to melt. Rapidly.

Would recommend one of these... Use for charging, or jumpstarting.

http://earthxbatteries.com/shop/48-inch-long-quick-connect-chargingjump-start

Splice an inline fuse into the lead to the battery. Even if you cap the socket when not in use, it's still available to smoke the wires if there is a short or too much current tries to flow.

The cigarette lighter plug makes a real crappy connection. Even at 10 amps it will heat up.
I installed one thinking I'll charge the battery through it with a regular charger and I don't like how hot it gets, so I'm putting the charger straight on the battery terminals instead.
Forget about jumpstarting. You'll definitely let the smoke out of the lighter plug.

Jumpstarting will also mess with your alternator. Once the engine gets started and the battery is completely discharged it will make your alternator and its regulator work at close to max capacity for while.

It's way better for both the battery and the alternator to charge the battery up nicely with a charger.

MercFE said:

Would recommend one of these... Use for charging, or jumpstarting.

http://earthxbatteries.com/shop/48-inch-long-quick-connect-chargingjump-start

Click to expand...

Has anybody used one of these before? This looks like something that could be useful to have in the plane just in case.

I have it installed in my RV-9A and have the EarthX jump pack as well. Keep it charged and carry it with my flight kit... Just in case.

ArVeeNiner said:

Has anybody used one of these before? This looks like something that could be useful to have in the plane just in case.

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