I have a cigarette lighter socket which has stopped working after refitting a replacement plug from Maplin onto one gadget.
Fuse is OK, cigarette lighter works (gets hot) and I have power at the bottom contact according to DVM. Also checked that the centre and associated contacts can supply a handsome current.
But when I fit in an appliance with a cigarette plug, I don't get any power to the appliance. Have tried a few!
Any ideas as I feel a bit stumped?
It seems that 3 things happened.
1 The fuse went in the sat-nav cigarette plug. 2 The in car mobile phone charger seems to be u/s. 3 I'm convinced the new replacement plug doesn't make contact, though can't see why.Change fuse in sat-nav and it works!
Well they were intended to work only as a cigarette lighter...
Is the plug you're using long enough? I've had ones with a charger in the end that, due to the bulge housing the electronics, wouldn't go far enough into the socket in the car to make a reliable connection to the centre contact.
Alternatively, check the side springs are strong enough so the plug isn't pushed back out by the centre contact spring. That makes the centre contact intermittent.
Check the socket doesn't have insulated parts at the side, where the side contacts slide, i.e. try putting the plug in 90deg rotated.
I wish we had a proper, well designed battery power connector in cars...
Having a decent connection with some polyfuse protection would be nice!
The mobile phone charger had a o/c surface mount fuse. Naughtily shorted it out and it now works! At least the socket is dependant on the ignition switch so not overly bothered from a safety POV.
It's worrying that 2 items with their fuses blown. No bulbs gone or any other indication of overvoltage.
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