Splicing into Cigarette lighter?

[jimrobbington]

New questions:

Ok, so I pulled out the cigarrette lighter under the arm rest, and there are 3 wires. red/blue, grey/blue, and brown. Obviously two are power and ground, and the other is for the light ring around it.

My new questions are:

1. Which is which?

2. Can I use the wire for the light to make my adapter turn on/off with the key as opposed to always on?


Old questions:

1. The front cigarette lighter in my car, the one under the radio, does not work. I have checked fuses, and fuses are fine. I doubt it could be a fuse, because the light around it still works. Where do I go from here?

2. I am thinking about hard-wiring something that currently has a cigarette lighter adapter. Is it as simple as cutting the adapter off and then there is the usual neg and pos wires? How should I go about this? If that is the case, I would probably just splice into the wires to the working lighter near the e-brake.

Any help on these matters would be appreciated.

[bblume]

check to see if there's a coin in there.
I found a penny and a dime fusing together....although I don't even have the lighter itself so maybe it never worked???

[jimrobbington]

Will check, also, don't know if it helps, but the lighter won't push in and lock like it's supposed to, but regardless, I get no power through it.

[Stinkpickle]

Did you try plugging something else in besides the lighter to see if it works like a cell phone charger? You probably just need a replacement lighter.

[chopman87]

sounds like mine. it does the same dame thing

[jimrobbington]

Did you try plugging something else in besides the lighter to see if it works like a cell phone charger? You probably just need a replacement lighter.

Yes, I don't smoke, and that's the only reason it bothers me because I totally need it for my phone charger. It's awkward to use the one under the armrest all the time.

[jimrobbington]

sounds like mine. it does the same dame thing

Then I hope we can get this resolved!

[Stinkpickle]

Yes, I don't smoke, and that's the only reason it bothers me because I totally need it for my phone charger. It's awkward to use the one under the armrest all the time.

Hmm...I would double check the fuse. Replace it with a new one anyway. Fuses can develop small cracks that can't be seen easily. If it's definitely not the fuse there's gotta be a wiring issue between the fuse box and the lighter. Better start ripping stuff apart. Good luck.

[Sanjman]

Hmm...I would double check the fuse. Replace it with a new one anyway. Fuses can develop small cracks that can't be seen easily. If it's definitely not the fuse there's gotta be a wiring issue between the fuse box and the lighter. Better start ripping stuff apart. Good luck.

triple check it... from what I think I remember each cigarette lighter were on different fuses

[plokm]

check every fuse because I remember when I had that problem I checked my fuse for the lighter and it wasn't blown but the one next to it was. After I replace that fuse everything was fine.

[jimrobbington]

I will check the fuses today. All of them. And we'll see what we come up with. No one has any input on ?#2 of original post?

[CBRmatt600]

Mine didn't work from the day the car rolled off the lot. I can plug things into it and it will power them, but if they move even slightly it will cut off. The lighter itself has never actually worked, it won't even stay down when you push it.

[jimrobbington]

Ok, update....It definately was a fuse. Weird because I checked them before, and I swear that that wasn't the issue before. Anyway, that lighter outlet works now. Now I just need an answer to my 2nd question.

I want to hardwire my phone audio->radio signal adapter for playing Pandora radio through my car. Do you think it's possible to just splice into the wire on my adapter? Or do you think it actually changes the 12v signal into something else?

[grizzles]

I want to hardwire my phone audio->radio signal adapter for playing Pandora radio through my car. Do you think it's possible to just splice into the wire on my adapter? Or do you think it actually changes the 12v signal into something else?

Read some DIYs on how people hardwire their radar detectors. You should be fine just make sure you cut the cord right at the cigarette adapter plug in case there are any in-line electrical components on the cord.

[NastyNate]

You're better off running a new line from the fuse box with a cigarette lighter adapter at the end of it. You probably don't want to mess with the adapter for your device. The other thing to consider is that the cigarette lighter in our cars isn't switched (always on), so you may drain your battery by hardwiring into that...

It's not a DIY, but should help - here's how I HW'd a 12V cig adapter from the fuse box.

First, get a fuse tap (available at Autozone, etc), and tap one of the wiper fuses (I used the one with the red wire going to it for this purpose, the blue is aftermarket bluetooth). The white wire going to the bolt is going to be used in the next step:


Here is the 12V outlet ($5 or so at Autozone). Note the red wire going to the fuse in the first pic, and the black wire that got spliced into the white wire shown above.


I'm sure electricians the world over are shaking their heads at my choice of wire colors, but who really cares?

+rep if I helped!

[jimrobbington]

That's pretty much what I was thinking I would have to end up doing. Thanks and I will +rep once I am ungrounded from repping!

[jimrobbington]

Ok, so I pulled out the cigarrette lighter under the arm rest, and there are 3 wires. red/blue, grey/blue, and brown. Obviously two are power and ground, and the other is for the light ring around it.

My new questions are:

1. Which is which?

2. Can I use the wire for the light to make my adapter turn on/off with the key as opposed to always on?

[grizzles]

Ok, so I pulled out the cigarrette lighter under the arm rest, and there are 3 wires. red/blue, grey/blue, and brown. Obviously two are power and ground, and the other is for the light ring around it.

My new questions are:

1. Which is which?

2. Can I use the wire for the light to make my adapter turn on/off with the key as opposed to always on?

Just put a multimeter across the contacts and find out. I imagine the ring only lights up when the interior lights are on so that is not exactly switched. You'd be best to follow NJTurboB7's suggestion and run a fuse tap off a switched accessory....I wouldn't cut into any factory wiring....is there any reason you need to tap power from the lighter?

[jimrobbington]

Basically want to hardwire a phone charger, and a phone accessory into the center console somehow, but will actually need to wire in and hide complete cigarett lighters to do it. I don't want to add switches, but don't want them always on draining my battery. The red rings around the lighters I believe are always on with the car, without lights on.

[grizzles]

Basically want to hardwire a phone charger, and a phone accessory into the center console somehow, but will actually need to wire in and hide complete cigarett lighters to do it. I don't want to add switches, but don't want them always on draining my battery. The red rings around the lighters I believe are always on with the car, without lights on.

Okay, well I suggest making some new runs to the fuse box that way you aren't touching any factory wiring and you know it's switched and fused correctly but it's your call. Either way it's not too tough to figure out those wires with a meter.

**EDIT: I had an extra ashtray in my closet so I gave it a look. The grey wire is the light ring so if it is on with the ignition like you said that would be a good spot. Oh, and I forgot the wiring plugged into a harness so just tap above the harness and you are safe since you could replace the lighter if needed. For some reason I was thinking it was directly wired.

[jimrobbington]

Ok, so here's what I am thinking about doing.... Basically, to keep it simple, I want to splice into the wires from the cigarette lighter under the armrest. Attach another cigarette lighter with my phone charger plugged to it. Completely wrap all this very well with electrical tape. There is plenty of room under the e-brake to stuff wires. Then here are my options:

1. drill a hole through one of the cup holders to use as a "phone receptacle"

2. come out through the little felt area behind the lighter. Only problem here is there is really no place to hold the phone, except for the cup holder.

Which should I do? Is there any sort of insert they make for the cupholders? I mean as to make it more of a container than a big open area my phone could fly around in.

[jimrobbington]

Okay, well I suggest making some new runs to the fuse box that way you aren't touching any factory wiring and you know it's switched and fused correctly but it's your call. Either way it's not too tough to figure out those wires with a meter.

**EDIT: I had an extra ashtray in my closet so I gave it a look. The grey wire is the light ring so if it is on with the ignition like you said that would be a good spot. Oh, and I forgot the wiring plugged into a harness so just tap above the harness and you are safe since you could replace the lighter if needed. For some reason I was thinking it was directly wired.

Thanks for the wiring answer!

[NastyNate]

I would *guess* that if you splice into the red rings around the cigarette lighters, the circuit may not hold up to the amperage your two devices are going to draw. That's why I chose a 30A fuse that is not mission-critical.

In any case, go with option 2 at least until you decide whether this is going to be a long-term solution. Then you can figure out if you want to give up your second cup holder

BTW, there's a buttload of room right above the fuse box and above the pedals that you can use to hide additional 12V sockets or to pass it through to the glove box, where there is a shelf for this kind of stuff that'll actually look good. I'm just sayin'...

Ok, so here's what I am thinking about doing.... Basically, to keep it simple, I want to splice into the wires from the cigarette lighter under the armrest. Attach another cigarette lighter with my phone charger plugged to it. Completely wrap all this very well with electrical tape. There is plenty of room under the e-brake to stuff wires. Then here are my options:

1. drill a hole through one of the cup holders to use as a "phone receptacle"

2. come out through the little felt area behind the lighter. Only problem here is there is really no place to hold the phone, except for the cup holder.

Which should I do? Is there any sort of insert they make for the cupholders? I mean as to make it more of a container than a big open area my phone could fly around in.

[NastyNate]

You gotta love AZ for the fact that there are members with extra Audi ashtrays in their closet! I've heard of DV's and coilpacks, but ashtrays?

**EDIT: I had an extra ashtray in my closet so I gave it a look. The grey wire is the light ring so if it is on with the ignition like you said that would be a good spot. Oh, and I forgot the wiring plugged into a harness so just tap above the harness and you are safe since you could replace the lighter if needed. For some reason I was thinking it was directly wired.

[jimrobbington]

I would *guess* that if you splice into the red rings around the cigarette lighters, the circuit may not hold up to the amperage your two devices are going to draw. That's why I chose a 30A fuse that is not mission-critical.

BTW, there's a buttload of room right above the fuse box and above the pedals that you can use to hide additional 12V sockets or to pass it through to the glove box, where there is a shelf for this kind of stuff that'll actually look good. I'm just sayin'...

That's another thing I was thinking, will there be enough current to run both of my accessories off of the same wire? I don't know. If I put a volt meter to it and it reads 12v, is that good? Or does it depend on the Amperage? I have a voltmeter at home somewhere, I just think it needs new batteries.

The thing about the glove box is this is for my phone, and I need it close to me. Glove box is too far away. I am thinking even the arm rest somehow, but haven't got all my stuff I need yet, so I will wait to perfect the location to which I am thinking.