12 V Cigarette Lighter Socket

Hi all,

I am installing a few of these 12V sockets throughout the van. I plan to use a an auxillary fuse box from local part place. 15.00. I am not sure what fuse amperage to use for each of these sockets. They will be used to charge/power a portable DVD player, a blue tooth speaker, and cell phones.



Anyone know what amp fuse I should run on these? I have read the fuse amp should not exceed the wire gauge, so if using 12 gauge a 10 amp?
Thanks,
Shaun

A guy cant have enough power to run stuff,,,,,,,,I run 10 gauge wires to the outlets,,,,,that lets me also plug in Inverters to make 120 volts,,,,,,,,,,the real law is you want to have a fuse that will burn out before the short wrecks the equipment it protects like the 5 amp that protects the radio,,,,,,but I surely like 20 amp fuses to my outlets,,,,,my computer uses a lot of amperage to charge it up,,,,and so does my 12 volt TV,,,,,,,

good info. 10 gauge it is. So you run 5 or 7 amp fuses?

You'll know if it blows right away.  For an aux fan, I kept blowing 10-amp fuses, a 20 did the trick.  For a power outlet/charge, try 10 but go to 15 or 20 if you need it.  They sell nice inline fuse holders for the new style blade fuses, very cheap and easy to change.  I put them on all my non-stock wiring, gauges, tach, lighting, radio, sub woofer, and power outlet, etc. you can't be too safe.  They sell nice slip on piggy back splitters to expand your stock fuse panel posts to get extra terminals.

thanks. I am looking at getting one like this.



6 fuses will be enough for what I am running.

,,,,and see that the wires on those outlets are large enough,,,,,,,no use running a 10 gauge wire to 16 gauge outlet wires,,,,,,they will heat up and melt the outlets,,,,,,,,,but best thing is to have a fusible link at where the power leaves the positive battery cable to feed the whole van,,,,,,,it will melt before the van catches on fire, when,,,,,,not if,,,,,,,the wiring rubs through to ground,,,,,,,

more good info. so do these boxes ground from being screwed to the body of the van?
Do I have to run power to all of the fuses on one side and then wire the otherside to the outlet? Maybe this is the wrong set up. Was hoping to have all fuses hot from one power feed.

Outlets need to be grounded,,,,,,,,now if you mount them in a metal hole, that will do,,,,or you could run another like black 10 gauge wire to them if you put them in wood or plastic and bolt the blacks to to the body somewhere,,,,,,,,,,,If I had a Ford with the fuse box on top of the headlight switch, I surely would be putting 2 of these on,,,,,,one for the key operated equipment, one for the anything that needs juice all the time,,,,,,and what you need is a fuse box with a bus bar so 1 wire is connected to all of one side of the fuses to power them all up at one time,,,,

https://www.bluesea.com/resources/1437



Remember wire length is positive run + negative return length, both ways. Iow, if they terminate at the same point on both ends it's the length x2