SuperCivic

just tried to use my cigarette lighter for my gps this weekend, and FAIL. No power. just got a few minutes to check it out and i'm baffled. the 00 I have has a seperate 10 amp fuse for the cigarette lighter. It's good, there's power to both sides of the fuse. Checked the ground on the lighter body it has continuity to the bolt on the dead pedal. Good. Checked for continuity between the center pad inside the lighter and the hot side of the fuse. Good! So in summary, have a good ground to the lighter body, have 12 volts to both sides of the fuse, have continuity from correct fuse to the lighter, have no 12 volts in the center of the lighter. I even took the ash tray section out and there's no 12v to the plug supplying the cigarette lighter. Clock and radio and all lights work fine, just no power to the lighter, ignition on or off. This car does have an aftermarket alarm installed. Any ideas??

CraterGrillo

So did you actually measure the center-tap on the lighter voltage to the shield, or were you assuming there was nothing there because the gps won't get power?

Assuming all of your measurements are correct, AND the center tap has no measured voltage, then something strange is happening (obviously). Can you see 12V at the center tap when grounded to something else?

Steve

Steve

SuperCivic

yes, using a volt meter found no 12v at lighter using ground on the shield and ground at the bolt on the dead pedal. I also took the ash tray/lighter combo out and tested at the plug to rule out the lighter itself and found no voltage at the plug. I don't understand how in the world i can have continuity between the fuse (which has 12v) and the center of the cig lighter (which doesn't have 12v). I'm confused.

CraterGrillo

Is it possible that you were accidentally measuring the ground side of the fuse?

ALSO does it get 12v not only on the ends of the fuse, but at the connector that leaves the fuse?

Steve

SuperCivic

nope i first checked the fuse for continuity on both sides of it to make sure it wasn't blown. Then i found continuity from the fuse to the center of the cig lighter. not sure how to check the connector of the back side of the fuse block. i guess i'm kinda wondering where i can check for 12v on the way to the cig lighter to trace it down.

SuperCivic

any help?

Relic1

Fuse 27 (cig lighter) is powered directly from the ignition switch.
check fuse 28 (radio) it's connected to the same feed wire (12V in Acc or Run) as the cig lighter fuse.

SuperCivic

radio works fine. is it possible the 12v goes from the fuse, through the ignition switch, to the lighter?

Relic1

Helm says on the '00 ITR, power runs through the ign switch, through a white/black wire to the fuse box, then it's split to those two fuses.
You should be able to jumper the source side of the cig lighter fuse to the source side of the radio fuse to make it work.
source side of fuse = pull fuse, one side has 12V (source) other side does not (load)

SuperCivic

exactly what i needed. Thanks a bunch, i'll do it on my day off (monday) and post results.

SuperCivic

just got a chance to work on this today. Problem is fixed, however still not sure why it happened. I found which plug comes out the fuse box and unplugged it, found I had power exiting the fuse block. I made sure continuity from the plug to the cig lighter. Plugged it in and viola, 12v to cig lighter.

Also spent a few hours reinstalling the alarm with solder connections/shrink tube and prettying things up. I don't understand how people can twist wires together and think its a quality wiring job.