increase the cig outlet wire gauge?

[psartman]

I'm building out a small SUV that has 3 cig lighter outlets (fuse rating) - dash 10A, console 20A, luggage (no fuse listed?) I can see the wiring under the console, it's 2.2mm with insulation, which I guess to be around 16 gauge. I'll be running (while driving) a small Alpicool fridge and charging a small 384 WH solar generator (I know its a terrible term- not using solar, just the lithium battery with charging circuit and inverter) . Is it worth re-wiring these with heavier wiring, and if so what gauge- 14, 12, 10? Will heavier wire allow the power unit to charge faster and allow the fridge to operate more efficiently, or just prevent fuses from blowing?
Related question- I'm going to try a DC 12 to 15V converter to improver the charging time of my Beuadens power unit. Its rated at 12A. I'm guessing this will increase the draw and tax the 12V outlet in the car?

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Fuses protect wire from overload and shorts. Maybe install your own separate auxillary 12 volt outlet right from the battery with your own wiring and fuse?

 

[highdesertranger]

Yes on what Plethora said install a whole new wire circuit with the appropriate gauge wire and fuses. I would also upgrade the outlet with a Blue Sea or better yet a Anderson power pole connector. Highdesertranger

 

[psartman]

Fuses protect wire from overload and shorts. Maybe install your own separate auxillary 12 volt outlet right from the battery with your own wiring and fuse?

When you say install the circuit right from the battery, do you mean bypass the fusebox and install an inline fuse? If soo, what is the advantage of that? (There is room for another circuit and fuse in the fuse box). It's a pretty easy run from both the console and dash outlets to the fuse box.

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Yes, inline fuse at battery. Or if you expect a bunch of circuits, run like a 50amp circuit to an auxillary fuse box. But yea, if you have room in stock fuse box, go there. Just be sure not to overload it with too many high amperage circuits. It's unknown what those fuse boxes and wires are really rated for...

 

[highdesertranger]

so you want to increase the wire gauge from the fuse box to the ciggy outlet but not from the battery to the fuse box. seems your just moving the weak link down the line. highdesertranger

 

[jonyjoe303]

to increase the charging for your power unit, you need a boost and buck converter. A boost by itself wont be good enough to charge from dc to dc. You need a boost to increase the 12 volts to about 18 volts, then the buck converter to bring it back down to about 14 volts, doing it this way will let you get maximum amps to your power unit.

Also if you have problems with the fridge not getting enough power, the boost buck converter besides charging, can also be used as a regulated power source that will provide very stable power. I been using one for the past year to power my 26L 12 volt fridge that had compresser issues with my power system. I set the boost buck to 13.2 volts and it runs the fridge with no issues. Even when my li-ion batterybank was down to 10 volts the boost buck converter was still running the fridge.

The only problem with the 12 volt cigarette plugs is that they won't make a good connection, using larger gauge wire won't really help if you have an unstable connection. Even if rated at 15 amps, most cigarette plugs won't handle that without heating too much.

picture of boost buck converter I built to charge from dc to dc.

 

[psartman]

so you want to increase the wire gauge from the fuse box to the ciggy outlet but not from the battery to the fuse box.  seems your just moving the weak link down the line.  highdesertranger

As Plethora points out, it is unknown (at lest to me) the capacity of the fuse box is unknown. I'm assuming it's connect to the battery with very high capacity cable, and if so does not represent a weak link. Maybe I'm wrong I'll poke around to see if I can see.

 

[bullfrog]

In my opinion the ciggy plug is worthless for larger loads as they heat up they tend to come loose. My ideal solution would be to run a fused circuit from the starter solenoid or back of the alternator with the correct or larger size wire to a covered junction block inside the vehicle with a mounted Anderson connector in a panel or dash and change all accessories to Anderson plugs. Awh to live in a perfect world! Lol!!!

 

[highdesertranger]

Yep, for higher loads Anderson plugs are the way to go. I like to keep ciggy plugs to 5amps and under. The OP seems determined not to run a dedicated circuit so I don't know what to tell them. Highdesertranger

 

[PeterPiper]

Both your device small Alpicool fridge and a small 384 WH solar generator were both designed to be charged using cigarette lighter sockets.

The problem starts when you try to use BOTH at the same time, on the same circuit.

 

[XERTYX]

If it were me I would first check the charging parameters of the "solar generator" and see how many amps it pulls.

Second if the ciggy sockets are rated for it then I'd plug the "solar generator" into the ciggy plug and the alpicool into the "generator". (My alpicool pulls around 200-300 watt hours per day on average)

One thing I might also consider would be an inverter that plugs into the ciggy socket and then into the "solar generator". It would probably need to be pure sine wave but that way your charging parameters would be closer to spec without building a boost/buck converter. Also some of those generators have a safety feature. When the battery is 80% discharged it will only recharge when connected to AC charging. Not sure they all do this but some do for certain.