Does the car's Cell Phone Charger take energy out of Gas or Battery?

Question

I recently bought lots of accessories that only charges in the car, does that "plug" thing (that people use for cell phone charger) get energy out of the gas or the car battery? Because if its by gas, then i think i'll return my accessories, if its car battery, then its alright because it can always recharge itself.

Answer 1

When car is running neither.

When the car is running power is supplied by the alternator

When not running the battery

Answer 2

Actually the answer is both. When the car is running, it generates energy using the alternator. The alternator is (or should be) working all the time when your vehicle is running. The alternator provides plenty of energy to run your vehicles accessories, AND recharge the battery. Plugging in your cell phone charger shouldn't make your car use any more or less gasoline than it ever has. When the vehicle is not running, depending on the type of car you have your cell phone charger may still work but it will be using the stored energy in your battery. I hope this helps. :)

Answer 3

Your cell phone charger uses power from the car's battery if the engine is not running. If the engine is running the car's alternator supplies the power. Be careful how much stuff you plug in as the outlet you plug your accessories into can only handle so much or you will blow the fuse or cause other electrical problems. If you just charge your phone then you will be fine. Depending on how old your vehicle is if you turn off the engine it may also turn off the power to your accessories you have plugged in. If so then the accessories will only work with the vehicle running or the ignition key in the acc position.

Answer 4

Ive left a cellpone charger in my vehicle overnight with the vehicle off and it just doesnt have enough power to drain the battery on the car. it gets all of its energy from the battery not at all from the gas so dont worry about gas efficiency. Make sure you have a good battery in your car because an old worn out battery may lose its charge while the vehicle is off if you have to many accessories on at once.

Answer 5

The cell phone would run off the cars 12 volt battery. If the engine is running the battery is charged by the alternator. If you turn off the key switch nothing would be charging and your cell phone would not be drawing any current from the battery. Nothing is free and even that little cell phone battery will take some energy to be charged, in this case it will be from your cars electrical system and that is powered by gasoline (the engine)!

Answer 6

Where do you think the energy to charge your car battery comes from? Gas supplies the energy for everything. But, the energy your phone uses would take about 200 years to use up a gallon of gas.

Answer 7

It uses a very small amount of voltage from your cars battery..... such a small amount it dosent matter at all. I leave my cell plugged in my car over night and it has no effect on the battery. It dose not use any gas from your car.

Answer 8

My main concern if I were you would be blowing the cigarette lighter fuse running all those componets at once.Keep the electronics to a minimum and find which fuse is for your lighter and carry a couple extras and as someone mentioned earlier it would be smart to have a mechanic do a "trip check" Y'know if this is your car you can hard wire someof those gadgets in with their own fuses

Answer 9

Not enough that you would notice. It takes power from the battery, which does recharge. But where do you think it gets the power to recharge? From the alternator, which gets it's power from the engine, which gets its power from.....the gas.

Answer 10

Out of the Battery.

The battery then is recharged by the engine when it runs. It will not affect your gas consumption.