Rotator Amps?

Installs08

Tried the search function but could not find anything...

I have a 2 rotator 55Watt mini bar I just added a cord to. Someone told me that it was too many amps for a cigar lighter. Im thinking the rotators are probably like 3-4 amps max and it should not be a problem off a lighter cord? Any thoughts?? Thanks in advance..

Pimpala03

You are much better off hard wiring it.

Search for "melted plug". You should get some good threads.

Pat H.

Installs08

It is a highlighter which I bought as a perm mount and added a cord to move it from one vehicle to another as needed. I'm going to keep it on there because if the manufacturer adds a cord, I guess it will work.

Richard P

I bought some good wires for my 55 watt turbobeam, it runs 8 amps, cigar plug handles it well. it get warm, but not hot. I also have a star minibar with 2 50 watts, same plug, it got sligtly warm. these were over 1 hour periods continuous. get a plug with a flat positive cap, rounded ones are horrible for contact and heat up badly

FireEMSPolice

My work has a bunch of Code 3 LP6105 mini-bars. All have 2 rotators. All have cigar plugs. To date, ALL that have been used have had the plugs melt. The unused ones will remain unused. Everytime they melt within warranty, Code 3 just keeps sending more to us so they can melt.

Richard P

I beefed mine up with a heavier guage plug, its a lighter plug extension, flat tip, no current i, everything flows nicely

MikeyGoebel

Not to hijack the thread, but when I was like 13 I decided to hook a cigar plug up to a CB radio. Let's just say it didn't work out to well for the CB Radio, the plug, or the car. It melted the plug, fried the CB, and the cigar plug never worked again. I didn't get much better after that. I had no idea how to hook it correctly, so I put the power and ground wire on a new CB into the two spaces on the fuse block, and put a fuse in behind it to hold it in place. I know this don't have anything to do with the actual thread, I just thought it was provide some insight on what happens.

rwo978

Mick (firewolf)

I've had both good and bad luck with cig plugs and mini bars. My recc, if you're going to add one, make sure it's decent gauge wire and a good heavy plug, just to be safe. With just two rotators, you should be good, but better safe than sorry, is my opinion . . .

LFD-Mike

A 2 rotator mini-bar is only going to use ~10 amps. This itself is not a problem for the cigarette lighter; which is usually fused at 30A, but an accessory port may be another thing.

Most problems are due to cheap components, such as crappy plugs.

NPS Ranger

It all depends on your actual lighter socket, and plug, and how good the contact is between one and the other. As Pat said the actual amperage is around 8.6. If you had a gold plated lighter socket and gold plated plug contacts and the planets were all in alignment, it should run fine. If your lighter socket is corroded or the contacts are oxidized, it will produce resistance. Resistance produces heat. Heat melts plugs. A brand new factory wired plug stuck into the socket in a brand new car probably won't be a problem. A 10 year old Highlighter that has sat on the floor all its life with a crudded up plug, jammed into the socket on a 1978 F150 that has already lit 30,000 coffin nails, is likely to get very very hot. I have run factory minibars from Fed Sig and Ecco with factory wired plugs, and they all got at least warm. A much better idea is to get some sort of quick-connect mating plug such as a 4 way flat trailer plug, and wire one leg permanently into the vehicle.

Installs08

That sounds like a decent idea. I might just hardwire the bar to a trailer connector, then have another connector on the roof. When I'm ready to use the bar. Stick it on there, and connect the connectors

NPS Ranger

I was actually imagining the connector under the dash, and you run the wire in like any other throw light. That would keep the connector free of snow and ice.

PaLightFreak

I'll second Pat H on this....

A question that nobody has asked but only seem to be focused on the "cig-plug" in which that other person's comment could have been justified by is....whats the size of wire did you add to it when you "added a cord to" that person who said it was too many amps might have felt that along with small size of wire the cig-plug wont work. so i will ask, what size/gauge wire did you use?

rescue_oz

When I've had customers ask the best way to run these style of lights I usually install an Anderson plug (rated at 50A) at the base of the B pillar and replace the lighter plug with a matching connector. Leds in lighter sockets are OK but anything with a rotator needs a better connection than the manufacturers are willing to supply.

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