Ruski

Is there a way to force the 12V outlets to always stay on?
(I need to charge my cell phone while I am at work)

Ray_Khan

getting power from the battery without the altenator being on isn't the best idea. Can't you just but a $20 charger at the mall and leave it in the office?

r10apple

Ray's right-bad idea on the alternator...The outlet under the stereo unit is constant and will charge your phone when the car is off, but that is a bad idea...I left mine in the car for two days adn when I went to start the car (albeit very cold outside), it was unusually difficult to crank...

Ruski

my outlet under the stereo is not always on. My radar detector is plugged into that outlet and when the car is off, the radar detector is off too.

adam

you could rewire it to constant power of course.. but i'd just get a charger for your office. seems like a better idea than chancing a dead battery

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

I have a good idea....

kchao2000

What about the one in arm rest?
I thought that one is always on.

phatratpak

nope, neither are on when the car is completely off, why would you think otherwise?

Nick

Doesn't Acura provide a cigarette lighter as an option? If so, would you need the car to be running for it to work?

agean

bad idea...i had a light bulb in my old cars trunk that sometimes stayed on, and that would drain the battery in a few hours. you don't want to come out of work to a dead battery.

definitely invest in a spare charger to plug in at work.

sssick

Yes, the car needs to be on for the cigarette lighter to work.

Most phones stop charging when completely charged. So, it would only be onn for and hour or two. It's such a low amperage draw that I see no problem with charging while the car is off.

But I do agree with the others, that it would be a hell of a lot easier to just buy a home charger.

r10apple

Hmm...I wonder if I should take the car to the dealer...The armrest lighter on my car is indeed controlled with the ignition being on as my radar detector is run through there. I run my phone and sometimes my laptop and attachments through the outlet under the stereo, which is always hot...Gremlins follow from my wife's old Beetle?

Ruski

on my 300M, changing from "always hot" to "only when the car is running" was a matter of pulling a fuse. Perhaps it is the same for TL. Only Acura is not telling anyone.

sotiri

Best option is to open up the center console and to rewire the power outlet. Easiest way to create an always hot connection is to cut the hot end of the power outlet and to tap into the always hot connection on the radio, due to its proximity. wiring the outlet hot will not draw any more from the battery, but it will allow you the option of using it after the ignition has been turned off. I personally hate the fact that there isnt a power outlet that is always hot, sometime you just need to leave your cell phone in the car and its nice to have it charge while you walk away. And believe me, a cell phone dc adapter WILL NOT drain your battery any time soon. We have about 525 or more CCA, and unless your car is in the artic, it will start even if you leave your phone and charger on for a week.

AndySara

I've quit charging my phones in my car. The battery life (of my phones - not just one, but several Nokias with OEM batteries) seems to drop by 1/3. I think the inconsistent voltage/amperage caused by power spikes (AC kicking on and off, plus other electrical items) prematurely kills my cell phone batteries.

Ray_Khan

interesting hypothesis...my nokia batteries seem to lose life all the time. Have you noticed the battries are staying chrged longer when not car charging?

AndySara

Have you noticed the battries are staying chrged longer when not car charging?

Once you plug it into the car charger a few times, you are basically "screwed". I think it does something internally to the battery and it never recovers, even if you were to go back to the desktop charger.

T Ho

You could rewire the outlet to a "battery" connection, from an "ignition" connection. Some cars are like this from the factory (my old '80 Z28 is).
It's not a bad idea. There is no way a cell phone battery is going to drain the car's battery over the course of a work day.

Car chargers generally charge the battery much faster than a wall charger. Li-Ion and NiMH batteries respond well to this, and you can even "recondition" some of these types of batteries with these rapid charges. These type also have no memory effect. This is a big No-No for NiCd batteries, though. They liked to be charged slow, and will exhibit a memory effect if always topped off.
Any type of cell battery is only going to be usable for a little over a 1000 charges. So, if you keep a phone for two years, and charge it once/day, you're about there. As such, charge it when it needs to be, but not otherwise. I'm not talking about a full shut-off-the-phone drain, but exercise the capacity, to limit the total number of charges. It'll last longer.

I have a Timeport Star-Tac with a Li-Ion battery. After nearly 3 years (bought in March 2000), it's about cooked, but I can still get 45 minutes of talk time out of it (from the original 170). It'll stay in standby for about a day (as opposed to nearly a week when I got it.) I recently bought a car charger, due to the limited battery capacity, and the rapid charging seems to have breathed some life back into it.

Todd

P.S. If you buy a wall charger, look at places like Wal-Mart and Target. They are WAY cheaper than the cell store. I got the car charger (a real Motorola piece) for $7.99 at Wal-Mart, vs. 24.99 at the Sprint store.