back when l last drove there was no sat nav or the multitude of stuff that plugs into the ■■■ lighter to worry about.
i was told that some trucks use a 24v socket as opposed to a 12v? if thats the case, how do you tell them apart? i obviously don’t want to plug a 500 quid phone in and fry it. or am i worrying about nothing, is the 24v a different connection?
Almost all heavy vehicles have 24V electrics (there might be some category C1 vehicles that are 12V, for example 4.5 ton Transits and, I believe, some if not all Unimogs). The cigarette lighter sockets will be 24V and are not necessarily marked as such, though many vehicles have at least one 12V socket.
The safest thing is to use a phone charger that is equally happy on a 12V or 24V supply. Most better quality ‘car chargers’ are, though you need to check the markings on the charger itself.
The only truly safe way to check a socket is to measure the voltage using a reliable piece of test equipment, such as a multimeter’s DC voltage range. A socket marked an 12V is not guaranteed to be connected to a 12V supply!
My Premium has them labeled. I’ve got a regular ■■■ lighter socket whats not labeled but next to it is a 12v 10amp socket. There is a 24v 15amp socket but its up on a shelf in the corner of the cab for some strange reason.
I’ve found that nearly all cig lighter ones are 12v and Hella’s are 24v.
I generally use this as a guide if not labelled.
I also have all my chargers that I use as dual voltage just in case.
dcgpx:
I’ve found that nearly all cig lighter ones are 12v and Hella’s are 24v.
More voltage than a device can cope with is almost guaranteed to lead to serious damage. This has been taken into account with that arrangement. A cigarette lighter plug will usually fail to make contact in an ISO 4165 (Hella) socket, likely preventing a 12V only device from being destroyed by 24V. An ISO 4165 plug will usually make contact in a cigarette lighter socket but is typically very loose, which might mean 12V being fed to a 24V only device - not enough to make it work, but unlikely to cause any damage.
That said, you can’t rely on ISO 4165 connectors being 24V and cigarette lighter connectors being 12V, especially in an older vehicle.
Use those dual voltage USB adaptors and just plug into those. I’ve never had any problems. I’ve come across various voltages both cig and hella in every type and size of motor I’ve driven.
djw:
dcgpx:
I’ve found that nearly all cig lighter ones are 12v and Hella’s are 24v.More voltage than a device can cope with is almost guaranteed to lead to serious damage. This has been taken into account with that arrangement. A cigarette lighter plug will usually fail to make contact in an ISO 4165 (Hella) socket, likely preventing a 12V only device from being destroyed by 24V. An ISO 4165 plug will usually make contact in a cigarette lighter socket but is typically very loose, which might mean 12V being fed to a 24V only device - not enough to make it work, but unlikely to cause any damage.
That said, you can’t rely on ISO 4165 connectors being 24V and cigarette lighter connectors being 12V, especially in an older vehicle.
I was simplifying it as I’m fully aware of voltage/current issues if wrong voltage supply used and I was talking about the sockets fitted in the vehicles not the connectors on appliances.
I’ve found most that are standard cig lighters are 12v and the hella’s are 24v.
In older trucks maybe that isn’t always the case hence my caveat to use dual voltage appliances where possible or triple check before you plug in.