I was wondering, if I cut up a phone charger( cut the wall plug end off) strip the wires back, solder it to a cig plug that would work right? There nothing special moving from ac to dc power is there?

 

The converter changes 110v to 12v. If you get rid of the 110v and change it to 12v what will it convert to? 1v?

 

You sound like my Cheap brother in law!!! Tightwad, go buy a damn car charger!!!

 

Not as far as wire is concerned.

 

Dont let the OP any where near a live wire and definatly do not isue live amo

 

I think the replies here are not what the OP is asking for.......

The wire itself doesn't make much of a difference.... the concern is the plug. A 110 wall plug converts from AC to DC by means of a rectifier/transformer.

If you cut the wall plug from a 110 volt charger, and then solder the wire to a cigarette lighter plug, then you will be providing 12 volts to the phone directly.... if the wall plug provides 12 volts output, then it will work just fine.... however, if it reduces to anything other than 12 volts, DO NOT do it!!!

However, as mentioned above..... just go buy a new car charger made for the phone. Its much easier to pay 10-15.00 for a charger, than it is to pay 200.00 or more for a new phone!

 

There are adapters for 12 volt to 110 but I've never seen 110 to 12.

 

DC voltaged can be reduced with a resister. AC voltage can be reduced with a resister or a transformer. Ac voltage can be increased with a transformer. DC voltage can be increased with a inverter whitch first converts it to AC then increases or decreases it with a transformer and then changes it back to DC OR will leave it AC for AC applications. most phone chargers are 5volts DC at the phone this is also the voltage required for most personal electronics and is the voltage supplyd by a USB2.0 port. Note1 a car charger is just a simple resister to reduce DC voltage from 12 to 5 volts. 2 ahome charger is a transformer to reduce AC volts from 120 to 5 volts and a rectifier to convert 5volt AC to DC.Car chargers are dirt cheap often under $5. hope this explains why you cannot just solder on a 12 volt plug to a home charger

 

I already basically have 2 car charging places. I was just using it for example to understand this all.. Thanks

 

Wow! This thread has quite a mix of BS and good advice.

First your original question:
Yes, there are several special factors and if you do it wrong, you're likely to destroy something. DC power has polarity (+ and -), AC does not. Nearly all wall chargers convert the voltage from 110 or 240, 50 or 60 Hz, to a lower voltage, some output DC and some output AC. All of them have some rated power or current and exceeding that load will damage them.

To do what you are describing you would have to make sure that the wall charger you want to replace with 12V DC is one of those that actually outputs 12VDC. Almost certainly such a 12V DC wall charger will have a lower current rating than your cigarette lighter, so that won't be a problem. Use a DC voltmeter and a couple sewing needles or pins to puncture the insulation and establish which wire is +DC and which is -DC. MARK THEM. After you cut off wall plug/converter, solder the +DC wire to the center pin of the lighter plug and the -DC wire to the shell or side contact.

Now let's consider some of the other comments:
No, the OP described clipping off the 110v->12v converter and connecting the wires to a cigarette lighter plug. Which will work just fine if the wall charger for your device actually outputs 12V DC.

Don't know the bro-in-law, but the advice is dead nuts on.

Technically correct, but would likely lead you into doing something you regret, because it trivializes all the issues involved.

Well said!

The first statement is wrong. 110 wall plugs are available that convert to AC and are also available that convert to DC. Either are available for nearly any voltage output you want. And as a separate issue for nearly any power level you might wish.

The point of the second paragraph is the cigarette lighter socket outputs 12V DC. If that HAPPENS TO BE EXACTLY what the wall charger FOR YOUR DEVICE outputs, then the concept will work just fine - if you make sure of the DC polarity when you connect the wires. If the wall charger FOR YOUR DEVICE is not 12V OR is not DC - then this won't work. The wall charger for your device will likely be labeled with it's output.

110v -> 12v is very common and 110v ->5v is very common, but there are adapters available for nearly any voltage you might want in AC or DC at nearly any power rating you might want. All of those little black boxes 2 or 3 inches in size that plug into a 110v wall socket are adapters to change 110v AC to whatever the associated device requires. For example, if you have a 12v DC battery powered electric drill, the battery charger for it probably has an adapter type plug that converts 110v AC to 12v DC and the OP's idea would work just fine. But if the drill is 18V, then it's charger probably has a wall adapter that outputs 18 volts or so DC and plugging it into a 12v lighter socket won't work.

Mostly this is just bad information and wrong. The most useful statement in here is that most cell phone chargers output 5v DC, because USB ports output 5v DC and cell phone vendors sort of agreed mostly to using 5v DC so they could be charged from USB ports and so wall socket adapters for them need to output 5v DC. But the statement about resistors reducing voltage is completely incorrect. And the OP didn't mention anything about cell phones, so we don't really know what sort of device he wants to get power to.

It's a pretty simple problem. If the device you want to charge or operate from the cigarette lighter socket uses 12V DC, then you're in great shape, because that's what the lighter happens to put out. If the device needs anything else, you're pretty much out of luck and the easy out would be to get a 12V DC => 110v AC adapter (rated at enough power to handle the device you want to power) that has a 12v cigarette lighter plug input and a standard 110v AC outlet, then just plug the converter (that you were considering cutting the plug off of) into it and your up and running. And they are pretty reasonably priced.