The car cigarette lighter is not just for lighting a cigarette, but it is a car charger to provide power for mobile electronics in car. A car cigarette lighters is of utilities, however, many automobile users are using it in a wrong way without noticing anything. Though most cigarette lighters have been built in safety protections, it is inevitable to cause hazards if used in an error. Here are six misusages of car cigarette lighters that many people are easy to make.
Error one: the overall output current of a cigarette lighter can’t surpass the max current of a cellphone.
Actually, he rated current of a car cigarette lighter must be higher than that of a cellphone. Let’s take two cigarette lighters as examples. A 5V/2.1A cigarette lighter can deliver 1A input current for a cellphone and 2A for a tablet, so it is fast to fully charge your devices. But if you have a 5V/0.8A car charger for the same cellphone and tablet, then it can just deliver 0.8A, which is slow and easy to cause overheating. Therefore, it is important to choose a high quality cigarette lighter with a suitable current that can allow you to charge your mobile devices.
Error two: it is unnecessary to use a car charger as the car comes with USB ports.
Some cars are designed with USB ports, so most people think that it is no problem and rather easy to charge cellphones and other devices with the USB ports directly and don’t have to connect a cigarette lighter. This is totally wrong. The USB interface a car itself owns is specially designed for audio data transmission, so the current of this USB is lower than 1A. As mentioned above, it is easy to cause damages to cellphones and tablets charged by car USB ports.
Error three: the more USB ports a car cigarette lighter has, the slower the charging speed will be.
It is the current that determines how fast the USB port charge an electronic device, and it is the voltage of a charger that determines how much each USB port can deliver. Therefore, no matter how many USB charging stations your car charger has, all USB ports can provide power for your devices without bothering each other. If the single USB of your charger is slower, then return it to get a new replacement.
Error four: unplug the car cigarette lighter or car charger if the car is stalled, or the car battery will be lost.
You can see this notice almost everywhere for safety precaution. But nowadays, most cigarette lighters are designed as an ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) model that is easy to be controlled not the traditional one. The power can be automatically turned off when the car is stalled. If the power can’t be cut off automatically when the car is stalled, there is no output current without any loading, so only the low power LED light works and the energy consumption is too low that cab be neglected though the power isn’t cut off. Don’t worry about battery loss if you forget to unplug the cigarette lighter.
Error five: plug or unplug the cigarette lighter when the car is stalled, or it is easy to be burned.
This is an existing question for some car cigarette lighters. But not all the car chargers have this potential risk. Car cigarette lighters with strong anti-striking capacity can allow you to plug and unplug it freely.
Error six: never pay attention to the max output current of expansion cigarette lighter socket.
At present, there are varieties of cigarette lighters with 2 or more expanded sockets for connecting other cigarette lighters. But some people who use the multi socket cigarette lighter find it easy to blow the fuse. That may be a result of neglecting the max current of extension sockets, especially when you use high power appliances like in-car refrigerator, in-car vacuum cleaner. When buying a cigarette lighter, check the max current on the package first based on your appliances.
Car cigarette lighters allow you to use electronics and appliances in a car. Use your car charger in a right way and avoid those misusages, then you can start an enjoyable road trip now.