Cigarette Lighter Trouble Shooting

[Davo53209@yahoo.com]

Originally Posted by mach4

You don't say what your car is. Some older cars, particularly imports, used a cigarette lighter plug that was slightly larger than the US ones. Sometimes you need to either get a shim or put something around the charger to make it fit more snug. On mine, I used a bit of zip tie looped through the springs to wedge it in.

Use a charger with a LED to confirm that there is a connection and it's providing power to your device.

Also, on some cars where the receptacle is in the ash tray, the connection is provided through some sliders. These can get out of adjustment or corrode and prevent power getting to the charger.

Probably not applicable, but worth checking.

I have a 94 Honda Civic VX. Aside from the fore mentioned problem, I also keep finding aftermarket cigarette lighters for Honda Civics that are only useful between the years of 88-91, and that's from three separate auto stores.

So instead, I've decided to run a wire direct from the battery with an inline fuse to the cigarette lighter. I'm just wondering what gauge would be most beneficial, along with the fuse amperage (i.e. 10 or 15 amps).

[some_other_dave]

For the wires, the bigger the better IMHO. Smaller may be easier to run through things, but bigger will carry more current more reliably with less drop.

Though realistically, the amount of current needed will influence the wire size needed, and will determine the fuse size. So you need to figure the current draw of all of the stuff you want to plug in, and then pick a fuse size somewhat larger than that, and use that larger fuse size (amperage) and the length of the run to select the wire size.

Or just guess...

-soD