How To Fix Cigarette Lighter In Car

What Does A Broken Fuse Look Like

A broken fuse will have a broken metal loop from being overloaded. To get a better idea of what a broken fuse looks like and some common locations of the fuse boxes on different models, check out the video below. To find other repair videos specific to your year, make, and model, check out 1A Autos how-to video library.

Parts Featured in This Article

How To Fix A Cigarette Lighter Socket That Doesn’t Work

To get your cigarette lighter socket working again, you need to check and rule out each potential issue. Some of these steps are very easy and require no special equipment, but fully completing this type of diagnostic does require a test light or voltmeter.

Here are the basic steps to follow when your cigarette lighter stops working:

Using A Test Light Instead

Using a test light, this too can determine a switched source, along with the polarity. Instead of hooking up to both wires at the plug, the test light can have the negative wire connected to a known ground source. This can be on another connector, to the battery post, sometimes a body bolt under the dashboard, or a bare metal bracket. Its best to vary its connection with a reliable power source too such as the battery.

With a known ground source, the light will illuminate when it makes contact with a live power wire. As you can see its powers on the none switched 12v port wire, but wont on the other when the key is off. When the key is operated on and off, youll see the light turn on and off. The wire at the connector being tested is the power wire and the opposite not being tested will be the ground.

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Can I Replace The Cigarette Lighter In My Car

Replacing a cigarette lighter socket with a 12V USB port is a relatively simple operation, but you may have problems with fit and finish. Although more or less direct replacements do exist, you may have to cut into your dash a little or do some finishing work to make everything look clean once youre done.

How To Remove A Cigarette Lighter Socket

Remove the cigarette lighter and take a look inside its socket. You should see small openings on the sides. These openings allow you to remove the lighter socket without damaging it. Youll need a cigarette lighter socket removal tool or a small metal bar with prongs.

Insert the tool or prongs into the openings found inside the socket, and turn the socket clockwise to disconnect it. It should turn freely and may even pop out of its position. If youre having trouble removing the socket, move to the next step.

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Can You Leave Something Plugged Into Cigarette Lighter

Can you leave stuff plugged in cigarette lighter? If your cars cigarette lighter socket stays live even when you shut off your car, then yes, it will draw power from the battery. Only if your battery is so close to dead that it might not start the car even if you didnt leave those things plugged in.

Common Causes Of A Broken Or Failing Cigarette Lighter

More often than not, the culprit is either a blown fuse or an issue with the actual socket thats preventing your plugs from making good electrical contact. If youre wondering what causes either problem, its usually something falling into the socket:

• A coin or another metallic object: When a metallic item falls into the socket and makes electrical contact, it short-circuits the socket and usually blows the fuse.
• A non-metallic item: A non-metallic item wont affect the fuse, but it can prevent an accessory plug from making good electrical contact.

If you have a blown fuse not caused by something falling into a socket, the culprit is likely an electronic device that draws more amperage than your fuse is equipped to handle. Many cheap aftermarket chargers are guilty of this. Thats why its really important to use quality chargers and electronic devices .

OEM adapters, like this iPod adapter, are always the best option

Once in a while its just an ongoing issue with the fuse, which may have shorted a circuit somewhere in the system. Later in this article well show you how to determine if theres a shorted circuit, but now lets go over the three steps.

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Is There A Way To Get Constant Power From A Cigarette Lighter

However, the relay could be bad you can check by jumpering the 2 wider terminals of it with a pair of 1/4 spade terminals on a couple inches of 12-ga wire. You can also leave it like that to get constant power even with the truck off. There is also a non-replaceable fusible link type thing on the back of each outlet, or so Ive heard.

Is The Cigarette Lighter Power Outlet Not Working

Both checked out fine, I swapped the slots they were in just to be sure, and sure enough the Power Outlet slot worked, and the Cigarette Lighter slot didnt. Next, I switched my multimeter to 20v DC and stuck the leads into the panel, positive in spot 1 and negative in slot 2 as indicated in the photo.

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Make Sure Your Car Is Turned On

For older vehicles that you have to remove the lighter to access the socket, you are likely to receive power whether or not the vehicle is turned on.

However, with newer vehicles that are highly electrical and have many computerized settings, some electric outlets will not function unless the cars battery is engaged, so if the cigarette lighter socket is not working, make sure that the car is turned on.

While you do not have to start the car all the way, if the radio is playing and the fan is blowing, but there is still no power coming to the socket, then you will need to move on down the troubleshooting list.

How Do You Remove The Nut From A Cigarette Lighter

Use a socket wrench to remove the nut holding the lighter in place. Removing the connectors exposes the back end of the lighter socket. The nut is a metal ring with an opening in the center and it fits over the back end of the socket. The easiest way to remove it is by fitting a 1 16 in socket wrench over it.

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How To Remove Something Stuck In My Car Lighter

Automotive cigarette lighter sockets are prone to abuse, as children may insert foreign objects while at play burnt cigarette tobacco may stick to the lighter coil and become lodged in the electrical contacts of the socket and electronics’ power adapter parts may break off, remaining lodged in the socket. With just a handful of tools, foreign objects may generally be removed, as long as some safety precautions are taken before removal of the item.

Step 1

Find the fuse box in the car and locate the fuse or breaker that services the cigarette lighter. Use a pair of needle-nosed pliers to remove the fuse or breaker completely from the fuse slot.

Step 2

Remove the lighter from the receptacle and shine a small flashlight into the receptacle. Analyze the location of the foreign object and make note of any space around the object which would permit the jaws of the pliers to grab it. If there is insufficient space to admit the pliers, try the tweezers, which can fit into more restricted space. Failing that, form a small hook on the end of a piece of wire and manipulate the object. This should allow the object to be removed with the pliers or tweezers.

Step 3

Wipe down the inside of the lighter socket with a damp paper towel after the object is removed.

Replace the cigarette lighter fuse or breaker in the vehicle’s fuse box, and then insert the lighter back into its socket.

Tips

Things You’ll Need

V Usb Charging Port/voltmeter Combo

For a regular cab truck, it has 3 of these cigarette lighter/ 12v auxiliary ports, so I thought this would be a great upgrade instead of carrying around an adapter for USB charging and I can keep an eye on the voltage when listening to the radio with the engine off. Not all vehicles are equipped with a live voltage meter on the gauge cluster or there can sometimes be issues with accuracy.

I purchased this online, this version has an aluminum outer body and a link to it will be in the video description. You can get versions without a voltage meter and the same procedure also applies. This version also came with an aluminum polished outer shell, as well as a green and blue display. Mine has a red display. This also came with pigtails and crimp terminals, however, Ill be using my own instead.

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Can You Replace The Cigarette Lighter In Your Car

To start, shut off the car and fuse to stop power from reaching the lighter. Then, you can get a socket out of the dashboard or the lower half of your vehicle by removing interior panels. Remove a lighter socket to replace it with a new one or an alternative to charge any device you need while driving.

Inspect The Pulled Fuse

Your cigarette lighter fuse will look like a bigger version of your cell phones sim card tray when pulled open, with a wide head in front of a thin, delicate body.

If you had a multimeter at your disposal, you are probably already aware that the fuse is blown. However, if you are without a multimeter, or simply want to confirm your multimeters reading, a blown lighter socket fuse will be easily identifiable by looking at the body of the fuse, with a couple of symptoms likely present:

• Broken or cracked wire – the body of a functional fuse will have a thin, plastic, see-through casing that protects a small electrical wire. This wire should be in a small, continuous hump, like the normal curve used in statistics. If this hump is cracked or broken, the fuse is no good
• Burn marks – if the wire is charred or the plastic casing is charred with black tar, then the fuse has burned out and is no longer functional

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Check The Replacement Fuse

Now that the new fuse has been properly inserted, your dead cigarette lighter socket should come back to life. Use your multimeter to check the new fuse, if available. You should now get deep signaling flowing current.

Go back into the cabin of your car and test the electric outlet. If there is power flowing to your lighter or device, you are all set. Make sure that all fuse boxes are closed, and all tools used for the repair are picked up and properly stowed, especially the fuse replacement tool if utilized.

Installing The New Port

Install the new port, if equipped make sure the rubber cover is aligned properly with the new port. This rubber cover will keep the port looking clean and provide protection from any dust or dirt.

Install the large nut on the rear.

To snug up the nut, it may be hard by hand so interlocking pliers can be used. With the nut only being plastic, it can be damaged easier, so I would recommend wrapping electrical tape around the jaws. Dont over tighten it, its only plastic. You just want it tight enough where it wont move or come loose over time. Then verify that its straight, if not, make adjustments as needed.

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Clean The Inside The Socket

Contaminants and debris get inside the socket all the time. Many a time, coins fall into the socket, and if not detected, it can cause a short circuit.

While nonmetal debris doesnt cause a short, it can prevent the plugs from coming in contact with the socket.

Remove the accessory from the socket and clean out the bits stuck inside.

However, you need to take care before removing them since the circuit can still be hot and cause a short circuit. Ensure that you do not use any metal objects to clean the socket.

Use a toothpick to dislodge stubborn pieces and vacuum to remove them. Alternatively, if you know how to remove the socket, take it out and clean it meticulously.

If the socket work even after all these steps, you might want to check for issues within the socket itself.

Troubleshoot A Blown Cigarette Lighter Fuse

In the majority of the cases, the issues related to cigarette lighter is due to a blown fuse. It is quite easy to replace it as long as you are careful and meticulous like every electrical component.

If not, you might actually be damaging other electrical components, not to mention the fuses.

If you are here thinking how to fix cigarette lighter in car fuse, heres how you can replace a blown fuse in your car.

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How To Fix A Cigarette Lighter In Your Car: Quick And Easy Repairs

Ever wonder how to fix a cigarette lighter in your car?

Its funny that we still call them cigarette lighters.

Nowadays the people who use cigarette lighters to power their GPSs, phone chargers, dash cams, and other crazy gadgets far outnumber the people who use the ports to light cigarettes.

Anyway, if your cigarette lighter port in your car has stopped functioning, Im going to teach you how to fix it today!

This shouldnt be a hard project even if you arent a car-savvy person.

Hard Computer Reset Needed

This is likely only a remote possibility in newer models of vehicles that can see glitches due to faulty computer codes.

However, computer issues have been known to cause power windows to malfunction, so there is the chance that other electrical systems in your car, like the lighter socket, may be influenced by a computer issue.

As slim as this possibility is, a computer reset could be necessary if the following steps have been taken, to no avail:

• Car is turned on
• No electric outlets are working
• Different cords and devices have been tried
• Lighter socket fuse has been replaced and confirmed to be in good shape
• Receptacle has been cleaned thoroughly and/or replaced

The first step to resetting a vehicles computer is to simply start and restart the engine. This is not likely to resolve your problem because you have already turned your vehicle on once to ensure that power is being sent to all outlets. It is still worth trying, though, as killing and restarting your car is a simple step that may potentially reset any computer glitches.

Performing a Complete Drive Cycle

If starting and restarting the engine proves unsuccessful, the next step toward resetting your computer would be to put your vehicle through a complete drive cycle. This can be accomplished through the following steps:

Disconnecting the Battery for Computer Reset

Your car battery can be disconnected and reset using the following steps:

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My Cigarette Lighter In Car Is Not Working Whats Wrong

Sometimes we want to plug all our gadgets at once into the lighter socket without reviewing the specifications of the devices, causing the fuse to blow up. Or due to our careless actions, we accidentally dropped a penny inside the socket, causing obstructions and shorting the circuits inside.

There are only three possible reasons why your lighter socket is not working:

• The lighter socket fuse is blown.

• The presence of foreign objects that cause obstructions inside the socket.

• The socket has no power.

Whatever the reason why your lighter socket is not working, the good news is that you can diagnose it yourself and do a quick fix without spending a lot of money.

Does The Cigarette Lighter Drain The Battery How To Use Cigarette Lighter In Car

Yes, it can draw battery voltage if the cigarette lighter port in your car remains active even when the car is turned off.

When the engine is turned off, most cars turn off the lighter outlet, so it doesnt affect what is connected to it when the vehicle is turned off.

This article is totally about the factor of There is some option for how to charge the phone in car with cigarette lighter. Also, you can take advantage of every chance to recharge your mobile battery.

Thus, charging a phone with a cigarette lighter is not that much scary as you think. And after reading this article in this article, you all have come to know.

I am sure you are fascinated with my piece of information. Do share your feedback for further improvement!

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