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DIY How to make 12 power outlets hot all the time

49K views 95 replies 28 participants last post by  IGadget 
I just want to be able to charge my phone without having my car on, would have helped me over 20 times now if at least one was hot, I mean this is the first vehicle ice owned where they all turn off
 
You really want like a 40amp fuse there as you are powering 2-each 20amp 12v power outlets. If I personal was doing that jumper I go with not less than 30 amps But nice job. I just took the relay apart and used wood and electrical tape to hold relay closed. Working great.


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I only use the outlet for Charging my phone it will hold with a 10amp fuse and it's 10amps max out of each plug at one time that's why there is only a 20amp fuse on the fuse box for power outlet
 
FYI, just because there are 2, 20amp outlets on the circuit, doesn't make it a 40 amp circuit. It's still only a 20 amp circuit, just like with a house 15amp outlet circuit, you don't add up all 8 outlets and put a 120amp breaker in it cuz there is 8 outlets! lol

And the fuse is the jumper wire is of no use, the fuse in the box will pop long before the jumper wire fuse will. :)
Yes you are correct about the 20amp fuse but I was not going to argue with someone that says they are an electrician but gives wrong facts... And it was the only spare piece of wire I had around and I figured its not going to hurt... And it has not heated up yet... I'm not a simpleton but that was my actual reasoning and I figured it was also a fail safe because I didn't know exactly how that relay ran
 
Had the same consideration when I installed my also battery powered GPS, and finding that outlet relay was easy as it is identified. But skipped bypassing it anyway, if anything happened to that GPS could wake up to a dead battery.

Also do have other vehicles where the outlets are switched off with the ignition. For cell phones, carry extra fully charged batteries so solve that problem. Ha, I only carry one spare battery, wife that can't live without her cell phone has three, got her a couple of wall chargers, see both are plugged in the wall right now.

Also carry a DC charger in the car that powers up a dead phone in an instant, just in case we have to make a call. Just another way of accomplishing the same task while protecting the vehicle's battery.
Can't carry spare iphone batteries haha
 
Actually you can.

Buy one or two of these or similar.



You are only looking at both extremes. If your wire can only handle 5 amps and you have a 10 amp fuse, when you draw anything between 5 and 10 amps, you will melt your wire and no fuse will blow. This is extremely dangerous and typical of people without any sort of electrical knowledge (not saying you don't).

The same mistake is people who are home owners. They plug their TV, game system, stero, computer, and a few lights to the same outlet and keep blowing the breaker. They think, "Oh, I'll just increase the rating of the breaker!" So they do, and then their house burns down, because their breaker wasn't keep the wire from getting hot anymore.

ALWAYS fuse a wire with a fuse that has a LOWER current rating than the wire. It's just that simple guys.

So if you put a wire that can handle AT LEAST 20 Amp between those pins, you will be OK without a fuse. Good luck! :)
That wire is good for 20 amps at that distance no problem, don't get hot at all
 
Okay,

After reading this thread, I decided it was time to make my outlets hot all the time.

I did take a different approach though.

Instead of rigging the relay, or making a jumper, I simply took a Mini Fuse, twisted the ends 90 degrees and inserted that into the two large slots. And I now have full time ON outlets!

Here’s why I used a mini-fuse instead of a regular blade fuse.

When I tried to twist the ends on the regular fuse, the twist actually shortened the depth of the blades, making it barely make contact.

The ends on the mini-fuse are actually a touch longer and when I twisted them, it didn’t shorten the length, so I got a good contact and it was firmly in place.

The pics should give you all the info you need. View attachment 17801 View attachment 17809 View attachment 17817
You should change it to a 20A fuse btw
 
If your fuse holder melts your other fuses can't blow. There's no voltage to them at that point.

Nevermind............................................................
Actually I believe the 20A fuse is before that relay so yes if it melted and shorted out the fuse would pop.. You know what never mind.......................................<(-_-)>
 
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