A 12V socket is a cylindrical receptacle that provides direct current (DC) at 12 volts to a device plugged into it.
What is a 12V DC outlet used for?
The 12V socket, also known variously as a car cigarette lighter or 12V auxiliary power outlet, is the primary method by which power is delivered to portable electronics in cars, trucks, recreational vehicles, boats, and in a handful of other contexts.
What is 12V DC power?
12V power supplies (or 12VDC power supplies) are one of the most common power supplies in use today. In general, a 12VDC output is obtained from a 120VAC or 240VAC input using a combination of transformers, diodes and transistors.
What does DC plug in mean?
A DC connector (or DC plug, for one common type of connector) is an electrical connector for supplying direct current (DC) power.The dimensions and arrangement of DC connectors can be chosen to prevent accidental interconnection of incompatible sources and loads.
How do you know if a plug is DC?
Reading an AC/DC Adapter Label
Look at the “brick” part of the adapter for the word OUTPUT. Here, you’ll see the volts followed by the direct current symbol and then the current. Next, you want to look at your device for the DC input. You’ll usually see at least the voltage near the DC plug receptacle.
What can you run off 12V?
12v Systems
You can run just about everything else such as a microwave oven, TV, satellite system, computer, lighting and more.
Will 12V drain car battery?
If the cigarette plug is constant 12v, instead of switched 12v, yes it will slowly drain the battery. It would take a Very long time to drain that huge battery enough to affect starting. Fun fact: in some cases the cell phone can even back feed the 12v system.
Can I use an AC adapter for DC?
AC adapters use a diode rectifier circuit to ensure the electricity coming out is only DC. So if you were to connect it to DC, it will also still work and also doesn’t matter what polarity.
Are all adapters DC?
Usually they’re the same thing—a box that takes AC input and produces DC output. Sometimes people call them “AC adapters” because they let you run your device on AC power, and sometimes people call them “DC adapters” because they produce DC.
Is a car battery AC or DC?
If you connect an AC supply to a battery, the battery will only charge the half-positive cycle and discharge through the negative half cycle. Therefore, to answer that if the car battery is AC or DC, it is DC. Even though it works properly, it can completely discharge without giving any remaining power.
Is my power supply AC or DC?
One way to determine if you have an AC-DC power supply or a DC-DC model is to look at the device itself. Often, the input and output information will appear somewhere on the surface. If the input is AC, you have an AC-DC power supply, and you have a DC-DC model if the input and output both are DC.
Where is DC current used?
Uses. Direct current is used in any electronic device with a battery for a power source. It is also used to charge batteries, so rechargeable devices like laptops and cell phones come with an AC adapter that converts alternating current to direct current.
Is DC a battery power?
Batteries and electronic devices like TVs, computers and DVD players use DC electricity – once an AC current enters a device, it’s converted to DC. A typical battery supplies around 1.5 volts of DC.
What are 12 volt devices?
12-volt appliances run off DC power from a vehicle, deep cycle or marine battery, and are plugged into a cigarette lighter or the round female sockets that come in most vehicles, vans, RVs, and even smaller trailers like teardrops.
What do I need for a 12V setup?
So, what do you need for a 12V solar-charged setup?
- The devices you want to run.
- A battery to power the devices you want to run (generally a deep cycle battery).
- Something to charge the battery that is powering the devices you want to run.
How strong is a 12V battery?
A Few Basics
| State of Charge | Specific Gravity | Voltage |
|---|---|---|
| 12V | ||
| 100% | 1.265 | 12.7 |
| 75% | 1.225 | 12.4 |
| 50% | 1.190 | 12.2 |
What is the most common cause of car battery drain?
Human error is the most common cause of a drained battery. When car owners forget to switch their headlights off or mistakenly leave the trunk open, it can drain the battery overnight so that it won’t start the next day. Playing the radio for long periods while the car is sitting in park can have a similar effect.
Can you leave things plugged into cigarette lighter?
Most cars turn off the cigarette lighter sockets when the ignition key is off. In that case, no, it won’t run the car battery down. If you have a car that leaves 12vdc to the lighter socket without the ignition key being on, then anything plugged into the outlet will consume power and yes, run your battery down.
Does the cigarette lighter work when car is off?
If your cigarette lighter socket turns off when you shut off your car then the unit will not charge your battery using it’s cigarette lighter adapter.
How do you make a simple DC power supply?
So in order to build a DC power supply, we will need the following components:
- AC Plug.
- 24V Transformer.
- Full Wave Bridge Rectifier.
- LM317 Voltage Regulator.
- Heat Sink.
- 2200μF electrolytic capacitor.
- 100μF electrolytic capacitor.
- 240Ω Resistor.
How can I make a DC power supply?
Create a DC Power Supply
- Step 1: Build a Basic Full-wave Bridge Rectifier. 2 More Images. Your circuit should contain:
- Step 2: Add a Low-pass Filter. Add a capacitor to your circuit to reduce some variation in the output voltage.
- Step 3: Add a Zener Diode. 3 More Images.
- 6 Comments. mhermosi.
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