WARNING!! Don't blow your cigarette lighter socket! Options

[pflau]

Hi. Just a friendly warning to all that plugging a high drain appliance such as a power inverter into the cigarette lighter socket might render it inoperable!!!

OK, before somebody tells me that there is a fuse to protect the circuit and all that let me present my findings:

1. The fuse that protects the lighter socket is the same one that protects the radio. The radio works, the socket does not. So the fuse is not enough to protect the socket.

2. I use a meter to check the voltage of the cable plugged into the socket and there is 12 volts on the wire. So there is power, but none comes out of the socket.

3. Now check this picture out, there is clearly an element between the center contact and the post on the left that takes the +12 volt. I measured the conductivity of this element and there is none. Now this element is hidden under the rubber sleeve and I do not know what it is (but I do suspect it is a diode that protect the battery by preventing current flow to the opposite direction) but it is clearly blown!




Anyway, I'm going to take this to the Toyota dealer and see what they have to say!!

[SL44]

I got a 12V socket, not designed for heating the lighter, from Pep Poyz and will hard wire it into the battery with an in-line fuse so I can charge my cell or bluetooth with the ignition off. I'll mount it on the pass side of the center console to keep it out of the way when getting in the car. I got a basic one-socket type, but they have them with two and more sockets in one assembly and I'm sure some are for high power applications.

I don't care for the fact the lighter socket requires the ignition switch to be switched to on or acc. I'm sure it's a safety consideration from the design engineers. All other cars I have had let me light my smoke with no key in the switch, always hot.