Charging through Cig lighter (lower constant on)

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Rogue9
Posts: 122
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2010 12:10 am
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Charging through Cig lighter (lower constant on)

Postby Rogue9 » Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:22 am

Has anyone trickle charged their truck using the lower constant on 12v plug?

My situation is I don't drive enough in a day (roughly 40 mins city) to charge up my battery well. (or so the battery guy says)

Battery loads:
I run a 600watt sub amp through a 4+4 ohm sub although only at about 1/4-1/2 setting usually.
Blackvue 2 channel dash cam (capable of being left on but currently shuts off with vehicle)
Compustar auto start alarm.

My truck does sit in the parking lot facing the sun for 6-8 hours a day so I thought to buy a 40 watt solar panel and throw it in the windsheild and plug it into the cig lighter.
The coleman panel w charge controller charges with the alligator clips directly to the battery, however will not charge (all 3 indicator lights shut off) when I try to use a 12v plug adaptor for the constant on plug.

Do the Pathfinders have something preventing charging through the 12v plug?

Also how do we tell if our alternators are going bad? I read they are variable output?
On startup/ high idle my alt shows 14.4 but drops to high 12's or mid 13's when its at normal idle. (approx 600 rpm)

sorry for the long post, Thanks for any insight.


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smj999smj
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Location: Prospect, VA

Postby smj999smj » Tue Jun 06, 2017 5:41 am

Below 13.2 volts at idle is too low. There is a voltage sensor on the negative battery cable about 10 inches from the battery post. Make sure you ground accessories to the chassis or before the voltage sensor and not at the cable end or between the cable end and the sensor.

Rogue9
Posts: 122
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2010 12:10 am
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Postby Rogue9 » Tue Jun 06, 2017 7:29 am

Yea everything is grounded properly to frame.
Does that mean I need to look into a new alternator? Or volt sensor?

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disallow
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Location: Winnipeg, Canada

Postby disallow » Wed Jun 07, 2017 1:30 am

I'm thinking weak alternator. 40 minutes should be more than enough drive time to charge the system.

I've also never changed an alternator with out changing the battery usually within a week or so. Even relatively new ones...


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