Cigarette Lighter Problems

[trbodon21]

When ever connect the wire to the back of my lighter the fuse blows. So I thought there was a problem in the circuit somewhere. I decided to run a new wire and tap into one of the other fuses on the block. I ended up useing the 20amp hazard fuse. Hooked the wire back to the lighter and now this fuse went too.
Could ther be something wrong with the lighter. It is not the original because I've had this problem for awhile and replaced with a new lighter a few years ago but never got around to troubleshoot it. the case that that holds the lighter assembly should be touching the metal part of the dash with nothing insulating it from that part of the dash right?

One last note i tried to run the lighter not installed into the dash by taking a wire and wrapping around outside of lighter assembly running it to a different ground in the car and the fuse still went. I appreciate any suggestions or alternatives becasue I need this power source to run my laptop.

 

[superballs5337]

im having this same problem but stopped after two blown fuses. someone answer so i can hook my gtech up and figure out my 1/4mile times etc.

 

[Tommyg]

ligther

My advise is to quit smoking !!

 

[trbodon21]

If you read the post I'm not using it to smoke I'm using it as a power source.

 

[IROC-ZTT]

Is this doing it with the actual lighter in, just in the base, or when you are using power from it.

It sounds as if it is grounding itself out. If you have an ohm meter, you can hold one side to the power and the other side to the housing. You shouldn't have any ohms. (continuity)

 

[GNBeswick]

This hapens to me too, I dont get it. Wierd thing is, I have a digital dash, so when it blows the fuse, it converts all my readings to Euro standards (kilometers, liters, etc). Kills the interior lights too when the fuse blows....think Ive blown about 4 fuses...because at first, I didnt know what the hell was blowing the fuse...

 

[Ash]

I had the same problem. the little tab that holds in the lighter and lets go got soft over time and began to touch the side grounding it out everytime i pluged in my scan tool. Just replace the entire lighter assy. If you stll have this problem with melting fuses then you might have to wire it to the batery with a thicker guage wire.
hope this will help you. Let me know what happens.

 

[trbodon21]

The fuse blows without actually having the lighter in. As soon as I hook the wire up to it with out actual lighter in, the fuse blows.

 

[gteatr6]

I had this problem in the past. If you look at the cig lighter socket with the lighter not in, you will see a rivet in the center and a tab on each side. This is the positve terminal. Make sure the tabs are not touching the side of the socket. The side is the ground. I had to bend them up, and have not had a problem since. I think after time, they get pushed down to far and ground out. I am 99.9% positve this will solve your problem.

 

[trbodon21]

If you look at the cig lighter socket with the lighter not in, you will see a rivet in the center and a tab on each side. This is the positve terminal. Make sure the tabs are not touching the side of the socket

I took the lighter apart and made sure tabs weren't touching. There are actually cut outs built into lighter I guess to stop what your saying from happening. I put everything back together and as soon as I hooked the wire up the fuse went.

I'm going to buy another lighter and see if this fixes the problem. Also I am using 20 amp fuse. Should I be using a higher amperage?

As a last out I am considering wiring the lighter directly to battery. What size fuse should I put in the wire? I am going to be using it strictly for a laptop?

 

[Ash]

I wouldnt put in a larger fuse in there. My inverter for my laptop is 75 watts. i had the problem of blowing fuses when i pluged it in with the car door open cause it goes to the interor lights. After replacing the entire lighter assy. I put in a larger fuse. after a month i looked at the fuse box and it looked like sombody had stuck a chewed up sower apple jolly rancher. It didn't tast like one thow. the fuse got so hot that it melted the plastic around the fuse with out blowing it. it made me wonder if the wires had also melted in the car. If the 20 amp fuse tends to blow when you plug your laptop power thingy look for a short in the wires also check to see if any leads are being held in by only a few strands. this will cause alot of restince and get hot. If your going to add wires from the battery to the socket There should be a couple of holes next to the power master break on the firewall of the car that will lead right under the dash on the drivers side. you may have to move the inslation out of the way to run them through, thats where I ran my wires through. And as for a fuse 30 to 45 amps should be good enough if your conecting it to the battery. Btw the metal case of the lighter should be ground It should touch the frame of the car.

 

[GNRick]

Same thing happened to me. I bought a new socket and lighter from Walmart and it works fine now. The case was grounding and shorting itself out.

 

[trbodon21]

I bought my third lighter and case hooked everything up an it works fine. Thanks