Car Cig socket

[Vass]

I have a separate car cigarette socket that I want to wire to a 12V battery the wires out the back are Black and Black with White stripe. Is the black'n'white wire the positive?

[Tim S]

Vass coughed up some electrons that declared:

Probably - but it would be best to trace them with a multimeter.

Sometimes white can be used to denote 0V too. It's all a bit random.

Tim

[Dave Liquorice]

Maybe, maybe not.

I suggest that if you don't have the kit to check you don't have the skills/knowledge to fiddle.

[Vass]

bugger, was hoping 2 hours of hunting for the multimeter was to be avoided. Quicker to hook up a battery, wire and lightbulb from a torch :-) thanks anyway

[Toby]

Can't you take the socket apart to see which wire is connected to the outer part (-ve) and the contact at the bottom (+ve)?

Toby...

[Vass]

If those that "have the skills/knowledge" kept to an industry standard ..... but that would be too easy eh ?

[Dave Liquorice]

Makes the assumption that this is a modern car -ve earth car... B-)

[Adrian C]

But, It won't be them in the wrong when it starts smokin' !!

Most people with the skills and knowledge prefer to meter these things out for themselves rather than take stupid risks.

[Tim S]

Dave Liquorice coughed up some electrons that declared:

Makes the assumption that this is a modern car with 12V battery

;->>>

[Man at B&Q]

lectrons that declared:

And HTF will that identify the positive?

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

Also makes the assumption that it's anything to do with a car.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

How about teaching those without the skills, instead of just telling them they don't have them?

MBQ

[Toby]

I actually assumed it was not going to be installed in a car, as the OP said it was a seperate socket (s)he wanted to wire to a 12V battery!

Toby...

[Vass]

yep, no car involved

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Tim S saying something like:

Makes the assumption that this is a car.

[Andrew Gabriel]

In addition to other comments, include a fuse in the battery terminal lead, near the battery - an in-line fuse from a car accessory shop would do. Slightly reduces the chance of it burning down your house.

[Frank Erskine]

On 29 Apr 2009 17:24:52 GMT, [e-mail] (Andrew Gabriel) had this to say:

Agreed, but buy a decent quality fuse holder capable of handling the sort of current you intend to draw - some will merely cope with 2 or 3 amps :-)

[geoff]

In message , Vass writes

Just open it up and have a look to see which is the pin

[Adrian C]

I think the OP has the skills (mentioned battery, bulb, multimeter), just needs to be aware that the skills should be used, instead of taking risks that a cable polarity marking scheme exists. It doesn't, which is the point I was making. I wasn't calling the OP stupid, I was saying that the risks were stupid.

[Bob Eager]

He only needs to see which wire is connected to which terminal. Batt/wire/bulb is a continuity tester...