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Power outlets frying charging adapters

MWR

Full Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
444
Location
Southern NJ
I've fried numerous iphone/cellphone chargers in my Avalanche and I can't seem to figure out why.  It's happened on both the front and rear accessory outlets.  The charger will work for a period of time and then randomly a burning smell and a fried 12v adapter.  It's not blowing fuses, just frying the adapter for the charger.  Any idea what's causing this?
 
bad chargers
Reduce voltage at charger.

Bad connection that part does not stay in contact with power and causes surges.
 
Check voltages at the sockets. Should be in line with the voltage from the battery. If you have a bad ground you can have issues with voltage but shouldn't be an issue. I always use charger setups that are a socket with USB ports on it then use a USB charging cable. Get a decent quality charger though or you can burn up your devices as well.

Rodney
 
What kind of chargers are you using?  I know some of the aftermarket ones are of a much smaller gauge of wire, less area for current flow = more heat.  If it's getting that hot and your charging system is in check, it pretty much has to be a poor connection between the chargers and the receptacle (dirt or weak springs on the charger) or too small of wire.
 
These were all the socket-style with the USB cord of varied brands, both cheap and expensive.  A few belonged to friends riding in the back seat.  I'll check the voltage and report back.
 
If the voltage is way off or jumps around then you have a wire issue. If the ground is not stable the voltage will tend to bounce all over the place and can get insanely high. Your console plug may not be installed all the way or the socket/plug might be burnt. This happens if someone uses too big a fuse to protect the power ports because they kept blowing them or something...

My guess is someone put too big of fuses on them and used something that draws more than 10 amps through them. Burnt up the wiring... But you won't know until you can check the voltage of the socket.

If your truck is like mine there is a big plug/socket that allows you to remove the console. This must be plugged in all the way or it won't work quite right.
Hope it is just not plugged in because burn wires can be hard to trace since the wiring can be burnt inside the housing with no external damage to show its self. When you split the wire the copper is black is how you can tell... Not normally something you want to do since it could just be one spot that is burnt up by a plug.

Rodney
 
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