Cigarette Lighter Not Working? (1 Viewer)

[ravencr]

Hey guys,

My cigarette lighter isn't working, but the fuse is still okay. Is there a secondary fuse or inline fuse, as well, that I'm missing? What else could it be?

Chris

 

[Steelbender77]

Could probably remove the dash bezel and see if it's still connected. If I remember it was a pretty flimsy looking solder joint connecting mine.

 

[ravencr]

It's definitely still connected...checked that already.

Chris

 

[Ebag333]

There is a fusible link on the back of the cigarette lighter itself. You'll have to pull the panel to get to it.

 

[scottm]

Common problem. The cig lighter socket has a small fusible link on it that burns out before the fuse on that circuit does. I'm not sure why it's there. If you pull the socket out, you'll see the back of it has a small hex nut holding the whole assembly together on a threaded rod. Look along the side and you'll see a small wire going from back to front bypassing a fiber washer. It's easy to see if that wire is burned through. If you take the assembly apart then reassemble without that fiber washer, you should get it working again. Slee has instructions for taking the dash apart there:
http://www.sleeoffroad.com/installation/difflock_install.pdf

 

[ravencr]

So, basically remove the fiber washer and re-assemble it without it and it should work again?

Chris

 

[ravencr]

Hey guys,

Just ran out and removed the fiber washer re-assembled with the rest of the parts that were originally installed, and it works. Thanks for the help,

Chris

 

[scottm]

You're still protected by the circuit fuse, as far as I can tell there's no risk in taking out that fiber washer. Perhaps that socket is used elsewhere in an application that needs that fusible link, or maybe the manufacturer just went overboard protecting themselves from potential lawsuits?

 

[ravencr]

That's fine for me...the weird thing on mine is that it didn't appear to burn up that line, but when removed it works again.

Chris

 

[Ebag333]

The fusible link is there because the cigarette lighter is rated at a lower rating than the rest of the circuit it's on.

IIRC the entire circuit is something like 25 amps, while the cigarette lighter is rated at around 5-10 amps. If you short out the cigarette lighter, it could catch on fire as it'll be drawing three times the power that it's rated for before the fuse blows.

Plenty of people have bypassed the fusible link (myself included), but it is something to be aware of.

 

[ravencr]

So, bascially, run normal stuff and that's it off the cigarette lighter, nothing more to be safe. Got it!

Chris

 

[Ebag333]

So, bascially, run normal stuff and that's it off the cigarette lighter, nothing more to be safe. Got it!

Chris

Exactly.

In theory, you could pull 25 amps (or whatever the fuse is) through the cigarette lighter to whatever you have plugged into it. That'd be bad. Very few 12v plugs are rated for that much. Most of 'em are rated for maybe 5-10 amps (if they say at all).

5-10 amps isn't that much power. Even my cell phone charger can pull 1-2 amps (most cell phones are around 1 amp). If you're trying to use an inverter or something, they can pull a lot more than 10 amps very easily.

Just be careful with what you plug in. If you need more power, run a large gauge cable straight from the battery and wire in a couple new 12v receptacles.

 

[scottm]

I blew the circuit fuses on both my 80s multiple times running inverters on trips. The socket looks pretty robust, but if it pulled 10 amps through a cigarette lighter that'd be a lot of heat with no ventilation. I suspect the fusible link is to protect from a crazy malfunction in the cigarette lighter, not to protect the socket itself.

 

[ikeedikeed]

Common problem. The cig lighter socket has a small fusible link on it that burns out before the fuse on that circuit does. I'm not sure why it's there. If you pull the socket out, you'll see the back of it has a small hex nut holding the whole assembly together on a threaded rod. Look along the side and you'll see a small wire going from back to front bypassing a fiber washer. It's easy to see if that wire is burned through. If you take the assembly apart then reassemble without that fiber washer, you should get it working again. Slee has instructions for taking the dash apart there:
http://www.sleeoffroad.com/installation/difflock_install.pdf

Thanks for this. I'm doing exactly as you've said. I've got the dashboard open and I've unplugged the wiring harness and pulled out the light bulb thing. I have power to the wiring harness, so I know that's good.

What I can't figure out is how to remove the lighter assembly from the dash so I can rebuild it without the fiber washer. I've tugged twisted and pulled but I don't want to break anything.

Thx a bundle.

 

[ikeedikeed]

Scratch that. I figured I could pop it out, but I ended up removing the screw with the lighter still installed in the dash. It was a pretty awkward putting it back together after removing the fibre washer, but I got 'er done.

Thanks a bunch for the tip. Cig lighter works like a charm.

 

[KevinNY]

Thanks for posting this, mine has been dead for 2 years!

 

[ikeedikeed]

Ya. Mine worked for about 20 seconds of pumping up a tire with a cheap 12V pump from Canadian Tire. I guess it was enough current to blow the fuse in the back, but not enough to blow the main fuse.

I just tested my cig lighter with my new shower water pump thing (with heat exchanger!!) and it ran for a solid 20 minutes. A-OK. If I was smart enough to remove the screw right away, this fix would have taken about 30 minutes.

 

[Ebag333]

I would not be running an air compressor or pump through there. The amperage is likely too high of a load. That plug is designed for small loads, maybe 5 amps at the most (think iPad/Touchpad load, which requires 2 amps minimum).

It may run fine for 20 minutes now, but there's more to it than that. You have to plan for the worst case scenario, which is the maximum amount of amps that the compressor or water pump will draw, and it's very unlikely that you hit it.

Run a new wire and new plug, throw an appropriately sized breaker in there, and call it good. Don't risk starting your truck on fire because you didn't want to spend $10 and an hour in running the correct sized wiring.

 

[ikeedikeed]

I would not be running an air compressor or pump through there. The amperage is likely too high of a load. That plug is designed for small loads, maybe 5 amps at the most (think iPad/Touchpad load, which requires 2 amps minimum).

It's a pretty dinky pump. You say your iPad is 2 amps? Here's a link to the same pump I have and it says it's 1.5 amps. So I figure I'm OK.

I suppose more can go wrong with a pump (clog with dirt etc) but do you really think it could fry it?

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[Ebag333]

1.5 amps isn't a problem. What could be a problem is if the line kinks/plugs, the pump will run hard and amps will shoot up as it will be under heavy load. Is that still 1.5 amps, or something significantly higher?

That pump isn't likely to hit high enough amps to be a problem, but why risk it? Plus with a heavier line you can run other things, like that air compressor, or inverter.