UPMAN, Im satisfied with the new 536 i received today, it works fine with the home adapter, but while attempting to use it mobile the cigarette adapter is not working. I tried three different vehicles and the same luck. Is it possible to only send the adapter back to get a new one shipped out or do I have to lose my scanner for a few weeks too?
Cigarette adapter DOA?
- Thread starter Nitsud
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Many lighter plugs have fuses built into them. Some are under the tip and are released by depressing the tip and turning.
chris
chris
K8LEA
Member
Nitsud:
SOME of those adapters have an idiot light on them. Is it coming on?
I have a '99 Town Car and a '98 DeVille, and the thing would be useless in the Town Car without the light. "Flaky" is way too polite.
(The thing's not dirty - I quit smoking before I bought the car
.)
Another issue is the setting of a switch inside some scanners - for battery type. It's possible that the "charger" only works with one type, or the charging circuitry inside the radio for one type may be defective. Easy enough to check.
If the light's coming on, btw, a cheap meter will tell you if there's any voltage at the plug end. The connector is a little small, and it could have been soldered improperly, or there could be a problem on the connection inside the adapter. In these cases, a return for repair/replacement is about all you can do.
You could (thanks cg!) have a dead fuse, too.... Very easy to check in some cases, if your adapter allows it. They're not all that fragile, but with the stuff being shipped from Lord-Knows-Where, it's hard to say whether or not the Samsonite Gorilla was involved. If you can get to the fuse, you should be able to find a replacement at Radio Shack.
If you're not into fuses, the physical shape & size is kind of critical, as well as the maximum current. It's generally safe to put a higher voltage rated fuse in there, so if you've got a "24V" fuse, and all you can find is "48V", that's not a problem. (I have no idea what ratings are out there at this point.)
Current ratings are fairly critical, but if you have a fuse rated at 1 Amp, going up to 1.5A shouldn't matter. Just stay above the initial rating, and don't exceed it by more than a little bit.
There are ceramic fuses out there, and things like "slow-blow". Not likely in this instance.
OK, a quick fuse story.... I managed a small IBM Computer shop for over 20 years at the former day job. Back about 1980, we bought a new one, and I called the service folks for information on what sort of power requirements I would have to deal with. (Seemed like, then, that every new model, and often external devices like printers, had their own specific power requirements.) The service guy said "just match the computer you have". I gave that info to the Maintenance guys, and they put in the new fuse box and socket.
New machine came in, and worked fine. Next AM, my #1 assistant came in about 0700 and powered up the machine. Nothing.... Called IBM's Service folks, and the repair guy came out. Took him about 30 seconds to figure out that we'd popped one of the new fuses. Put in a new fuse, and off she went.
Same thing for about three days....
Something got my attention - the wall fuses were 20A "quick blow" types, but the heavy breaker inside the computer was a 50A "standard" type. IBM design engineers tended to be over-careful. There's no way they'd tell me to put a 20A fuse on the wall and then put a 50A breaker in the box. You do have to allow for "inrush" currents - when you start an electric motor - these things were full of fans! - you are going to momentarily pull a lot more current than in normal service, requiring a bigger fuse and perhaps a "slow blow" type fuse. The 50A breaker fit all of that. But we'd never popped it. Just my 20A wall fuses.... Well, it turned out that the new computer had a large inrush current when cold, and 20A was almost too small. But you don't use a "quick blow" fuse there! A quick call to the Service guy confirmed it. The old computer needed the "quick blow" fuse, but NOT this one.... I put some "standard" fuses into the box, and it never popped again during the ten plus years the thing ran.
Now, aren't you sorry you asked?
Regards,
SOME of those adapters have an idiot light on them. Is it coming on?
I have a '99 Town Car and a '98 DeVille, and the thing would be useless in the Town Car without the light. "Flaky" is way too polite.
(The thing's not dirty - I quit smoking before I bought the car
.)Another issue is the setting of a switch inside some scanners - for battery type. It's possible that the "charger" only works with one type, or the charging circuitry inside the radio for one type may be defective. Easy enough to check.
If the light's coming on, btw, a cheap meter will tell you if there's any voltage at the plug end. The connector is a little small, and it could have been soldered improperly, or there could be a problem on the connection inside the adapter. In these cases, a return for repair/replacement is about all you can do.
You could (thanks cg!) have a dead fuse, too.... Very easy to check in some cases, if your adapter allows it. They're not all that fragile, but with the stuff being shipped from Lord-Knows-Where, it's hard to say whether or not the Samsonite Gorilla was involved. If you can get to the fuse, you should be able to find a replacement at Radio Shack.
If you're not into fuses, the physical shape & size is kind of critical, as well as the maximum current. It's generally safe to put a higher voltage rated fuse in there, so if you've got a "24V" fuse, and all you can find is "48V", that's not a problem. (I have no idea what ratings are out there at this point.)
Current ratings are fairly critical, but if you have a fuse rated at 1 Amp, going up to 1.5A shouldn't matter. Just stay above the initial rating, and don't exceed it by more than a little bit.
There are ceramic fuses out there, and things like "slow-blow". Not likely in this instance.
OK, a quick fuse story.... I managed a small IBM Computer shop for over 20 years at the former day job. Back about 1980, we bought a new one, and I called the service folks for information on what sort of power requirements I would have to deal with. (Seemed like, then, that every new model, and often external devices like printers, had their own specific power requirements.) The service guy said "just match the computer you have". I gave that info to the Maintenance guys, and they put in the new fuse box and socket.
New machine came in, and worked fine. Next AM, my #1 assistant came in about 0700 and powered up the machine. Nothing.... Called IBM's Service folks, and the repair guy came out. Took him about 30 seconds to figure out that we'd popped one of the new fuses. Put in a new fuse, and off she went.
Same thing for about three days....
Something got my attention - the wall fuses were 20A "quick blow" types, but the heavy breaker inside the computer was a 50A "standard" type. IBM design engineers tended to be over-careful. There's no way they'd tell me to put a 20A fuse on the wall and then put a 50A breaker in the box. You do have to allow for "inrush" currents - when you start an electric motor - these things were full of fans! - you are going to momentarily pull a lot more current than in normal service, requiring a bigger fuse and perhaps a "slow blow" type fuse. The 50A breaker fit all of that. But we'd never popped it. Just my 20A wall fuses.... Well, it turned out that the new computer had a large inrush current when cold, and 20A was almost too small. But you don't use a "quick blow" fuse there! A quick call to the Service guy confirmed it. The old computer needed the "quick blow" fuse, but NOT this one.... I put some "standard" fuses into the box, and it never popped again during the ten plus years the thing ran.
Now, aren't you sorry you asked?
Regards,
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