[Mk2] [Turbo] Strange cigarette lighter problem!!!!

[chum_2000_uk]

When I bought my car there was just a hole where the cigarette lighter used to be. I had a spare one lying around from a previous MR2 so tried to wire it up via switched live and earth - did not work. It was not powering up any of my chargers (iPod charger, phone charger etc).

I assumed that the unit was broken, so ordered a new one. Just been wiring this up today and again I have used the switched live (same as car stereo) and earth. The unit is getting enough power (14.3v when engine is running - checked with a digital multimeter) and heating up the cigar lighter element, however it still wont power any of my adapters!

I have also tried making contact from the switched live and earth direct to the adapters, and still the LED's on them stay unlit and will not charge the phone or iPod.

One other thing to mention is that I have fitted a 15amp inline fuse to the lighter from the switched live, but as I have mentioned after the fuse the circuit is getting plenty of voltage and the fuse is fine.

Please can someone try and shed some light on this matter! I am really out of ideas!!!

Would it be worth trying to wire it up to the permanent live? Although I really dont see what difference this will make, as surely that would just mean that I could use it with the ignition off... plus i'd be worried it would drain the battery.

Could the voltage actually be too much!?

Cheers guys

[RST]

Might be a really silly question but some of the adapters have fuses in them themselves -either a tiny version of the bade fuses in the car or a small glass cartridge type -you checked those out? Have you double checked the polarity as well -not sure if some of them will work if it's reversed (the lighter element would still work though I guess).

[chum_2000_uk]

Yeah you are right!

I tried the adapters in another car and they are both not working. I'm assuming the fuses have blown in them?

They were both working a week ago in another car, what could have caused them to blow? I'm guessing they have blown when i've been testing them with the fag lighter over the past few days. I have two other adapters for other things and they are working great with the lighter I have just wired up.

The only diffence I can see between the ones that are working, and the ones that aren't are one of the blown ones says DV12v whereas the working ones say DV10-14.5v and DC12-24v. I would have thought most fag lighters were putting out more than 12v when the car is running? But could the 14.4v through the circuit in my car have blown the fuse?

I'll go measure the current through the circuit now as well

[RST]

To be honest mate I've never actually checked my cig. lighter voltage (can't check it now -as I fitted a pushbutton starter in there). I'm not sure what "DV" means -never come across that one but I'd have thought any of them would be fine on the voltage you were getting -perhaps not though. I don't think 14V would have caused the fuse to blow -unless you had something which is causing a current draw higher than the rating of the fuse (maybe by the higher voltage?). Change the fuses and try again in your MR2 and another car?

[chum_2000_uk]

Thanks RST for the suggestion, all seems to be working now! I'll replace those fuses tomorrow and try again with those particular adapters, but all the other peripherals I have that need 12v from the lighter seem to be working fine!

Cheers buddy