Hey guys,
So I could use some suggestions as I have been running into issue as of late powering things via a USB Cigarette lighter port next to the ash tray in our car.
This is the second time now, where I was using a USB port adapter from our Cigarette Lighter port (First one was some brand I no longer remember bought off of amazon and recently one that I bought from Frys (Granted both were about 6-10 bucks) ) and I plugged in my devices, started up my car and heard a "POP" followed by some burning plastic smell. So it seems that once again these adapters I have have been using has died out on me and I was trying to figure out why. I already confirmed that the port is still working fine, just by putting in the Lighter and making sure it still heated up.
Maybe if some of the more Electrical inclined folks could chime in (as I'm not too experienced myself), but both were capable of 3.2A of and both had two USB ports. Supposedly able to charge a Tablet and a Cell Phone simultaneously.
On a normal basis I use one port to power my Dash Cam (Black Box G1W-C Connected via a USB -> Mini USB cable) and charge my cellphone at the same time (Nexus 5 Connected via a USB -> MicroUSB cable). Now in the past it was worked just fine, but before this most recent one dying every once in a while there would be instances where the power would cut out for both devices and come back on (Usually unplugging one from one of the ports would stop this power cycling.)
I did some research and found that a USB port capable of at least 1A should be enough to power the dash cam alone as far as my understanding is. Also I think I may have read somewhere here that the power output on that port isn't always constant?
So which brings me to what I could use advise on. Is there some some error in how I am viewing the power required to power the devices from that port? Am I miscalculating the draw which is causing these USB ports to burn out? Or rather is it just perhaps due to some shotty USB adapters?
Any input would be appreciated, either with an explanation or perhaps better USB port adapter suggestions. Both were fairly low profile adapters so I could close the ash tray with no issue. Do i need to opt for a better brand one? Id be willing to even go for a larger one as long as it doesn't burn out on me again.
Thanks.
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Originally Posted by s4buckeye
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