Have recently purchased a new chinese gps unit.
The problem being it requires 15Amps, but the cigarette lighter only provides 10 Amps.

So, the quick question is.....should i pull the 10Amp fuse and put a 15 Amp fuse in? Or am i looking for trouble????

You are asking for trouble.

The reason it's a 10A fuse is because the wiring is only capable of sustaining 10A safely. Put a 15A fuse in there and draw 15A, and you'll most likely find that eventually you'll overheat and burn out the wiring or other associated components (like the cigarette lighter housing, or even the fuse holder). Worst case scenario is an electrical fire.

Run larger diameter wiring (perhaps 20A to be sure) from the engine bay with an inline fuse, through the firewall and into the dash area.

Flyboy is correct!

How does a GPS unit draw 15 amps??

Have recently purchased a new chinese gps unit.
The problem being it requires 15Amps, but the cigarette lighter only provides 10 Amps.

So, the quick question is.....should i pull the 10Amp fuse and put a 15 Amp fuse in? Or am i looking for trouble????

Gotta be a missprint. How could a GPS need more amps than a cigarette lighter (which is basically a short circuit). Nothing with an internal rechargable battery, or that can run off a USB cable, is going to pull anywhere near that. My guess is it would barely need an amp.

I reckon there's a missing decimal point or lower case 'm' there. 15mA I'd expect, 1.5A I'd accept but 15A is nuts. Has it got a 50 inch screen on it?!? In any case, the answer to your question about the fuse is no... in fact it's more like f%$k no! A fuse is rated to componentry, including wiring, in the circuit it's protecting. Upping the size of fuse is a great way to change the colour of your car to 'Charcoal'.

Gotta be a missprint. How could a GPS need more amps than a cigarette lighter (which is basically a short circuit). Nothing with an internal rechargable battery, or that can run off a USB cable, is going to pull anywhere near that. My guess is it would barely need an amp.

No misprint...didn't believe it myself....went for 300km drive, unit plugged into cig lighter socket all the way....batt went flat in unit after 30mins of telling me "insufficient charge power"....no not 50' screen...9'

Bought from same guy as this unit (same unit with 5' screen)
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Car-5-GPS-Navigation-Navigator-8GB-RAM-128MB-MTK-Western-Europe-Map-/131006285210?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item1e8095459a

It has traffic alert,wifi, media player, Bluetooth to phone, basic radar detector...basically its a tablet pc that also does gps....ws a bargain at $75, including aus and europe maps installed...used it on hols last xmas in uk and france. Havent used it since xmas, as I know how to get to work and shops !

Box and instructions clearly state requires 15Amp power socket minimum !
Those above are correct, draw is only 1500mA....but wont charge on 10A plug....says 15A minimum.
Worked in Hyundai ix35 and Volvo xc90 I hired in uk...and some citroen astrovan thing I drove Calais to cannes and back no problem.

No misprint...didn't believe it myself....went for 300km drive, unit plugged into cig lighter socket all the way....batt went flat in unit after 30mins of telling me "insufficient charge power"....no not 50' screen...9'

Bought from same guy as this unit (same unit with 5' screen)
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Car-5-GPS-Navigation-Navigator-8GB-RAM-128MB-MTK-Western-Europe-Map-/131006285210?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item1e8095459a

It has traffic alert,wifi, media player, Bluetooth to phone, basic radar detector...basically its a tablet pc that also does gps....ws a bargain at $75, including aus and europe maps installed...used it on hols last xmas in uk and france. Havent used it since xmas, as I know how to get to work and shops !

Box and instructions clearly state requires 15Amp power socket minimum !
Those above are correct, draw is only 1500mA....but wont charge on 10A plug....says 15A minimum.
Worked in Hyundai ix35 and Volvo xc90 I hired in uk...and some citroen astrovan thing I drove Calais to cannes and back no problem.


I'm no electronics expert but wouldn't it have blown the fuse if it was really trying to pull 15 amps? The 10 amp fuse is not 'limiting' the current to 10amps. Simply upping the fuse to 15 amps is not actually going to give you more juice. You are already getting all the power the system has got. Changing the fuse is not going to make any difference to your particular problem.

I must agree that i find it odd that the unit is actually drawing 15 amps.
The only thing i can think of is high school physics (from 25+ years ago) where i remembered....twinkle twinkle little star, power = I squared R.
So, the current (I) in amps is insufficient.
Therefore the only way out is to increase the power (wattage) of the outlet, or decrease the resistance of the unit.
Most modern cars run a 120+ watt outlet.

The big question is....what is the wattage of a Magna cig outlet?

I think that is the better question than the amps.

Any takers?

According to the print out I have of the internal fuse box (underneath steering wheel) #12 is Cigarette Lighter and it's listed as 15A.

Power = voltage X current, so 12 x 15 is 180 watts. Which is a lot! The main concern with using the lighter socket as a high-current power supply is that it isn't designed to dissipate heat. A lighter socket's intended use is heating the cigar lighter element which takes maybe 30 seconds, with plenty of time to cool down before the next cycle. Running something that's close to the limit for the socket's wiring for hours on end will get the socket, and the plug, nice and toasty. I melted two plugs running a car fridge which is rated well below the socket's max current.

To the OP, I'd consider hard-wiring the GPS unit to the battery via a relay and in-line fuse, as flyboy suggests, or chat to an auto elec about it.

I'm fairly sure it's a misprint and should say 1.5A (which is 1500mA).

I'd be absolutely flabbergasted if it actually requires 15A, because as stated above, that's 180w. For comparison, an iPad (GPS plus large 10" display requires 10-12w to run and charge simultaneously). I highly doubt that it could be pulling 15x more power than an iPad requires.

There's nothing in a GPS unit that draws a substantial amount of power.
Some sound systems require 15A current, but only when pumping 4 X 45 Watt RMS speakers at FULL BLAST !!.

A 10 amp lighter socket should be fine, assuming there is a proper connection and you actually have power to the cigarette lighter - otherwise the internal battery will go flat.

How does this GPS unit get power?

Normally they are USB, and USB is rated at just 5V and 500mA.
Often wall plug & cig lighter adapters can provide a full 1A (1000mA) though.

If it's USB, I'd look at swapping the cable - I've got some which take 10 hours to charge my phone, while another cable will do the same in < 3 hours - both plugged into the same power source.

How does this GPS unit get power?

Normally they are USB, and USB is rated at just 5V and 500mA.
Often wall plug & cig lighter adapters can provide a full 1A (1000mA) though.

If it's USB, I'd look at swapping the cable - I've got some which take 10 hours to charge my phone, while another cable will do the same in < 3 hours - both plugged into the same power source.

Oggy wins the prize !
Changed the USB cable (which worked well on 240v charge) with another that (used to) charge an old tablet i had.
WORKS WELL !
Wouldnt have thought that the cheap ass manufacturer would have included cable that clearly wasnt up tot the job, but there you go !
Thank you to all for your assistance.
J