Wednesday, Apr 19, 2006 at 21:12
I think the cause of the smoke may have been a faulty cable at the DC end although I must confess, I may have inadvertainly picked up a cable with a - ve centre DC plug (The lead went in the bin, since I was fuming too!)
I've since tried another cable with a positive centre to the lantern and all is ok.
I don't dispute that it would still have smoked with a 10 amp fuse, but I'd rather make it easier for a fuse to blow and have peace of mind rather than a $53,000 Nissan Patrol in flames on
the beach!
Unfortunately none of these cheap and nasty 12 volt products have fuses in the cigar lighter plug, hence the only protection in this case is a mighty 15 amp fuse, whereupon a 2 - 3 amp fuse in the cigar lighter plug would certainly have gone o/c and saved the day!
My 12 volt jumper pack DC socket for example isn't even marked whether +ve or -ve centre!
I guess it's all down to cost in the end and the price of a DC plug with a fuse inside might up the cost a little too much!!!!
I'd certainly be prepared to pay a little more for something of good quality, but alas it isn't always out there to buy and at 51 years of age having been a tv, hi-fi, vcr tech all my life, trust me...I know!!!!
Either way, I've learnt a valuable lesson and intend marking all my DC cables and fitting fused cigar lighter plugs.
Cheers
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