Cigarette lighter weirdness

[HBG]

Hi folks.

The cigarette lighter works and glows red hot when used. I've tested for voltage between the centre contact and the outer and have 12v plus yet both of the plug in chargers (known as good) fail to work.

What am I missing? I'd there some old car anomaly going on here?

[GG]

Not sure about Fulvia but recall similar difficulties with Aurelia - that the lighter works, but many plug-ins don't. There is something about the style of the lighter that is difficult - and oddly not all plug-ins are the same. Look for a plug-in with (I think) a longer extension; also they sometimes need to be wiggled around to make a connection.

[lancialulu]

I find you have to wiggle/twist the plugin  till the led comes on. Also the depth of the cig lighter is slightly longer than current devices so some will not work at all... Choose a parallel body device.

[HBG]

Just been out to measure it. Tim, you're right, despite me trying two long body types, neither are long enough.

I'll have a look for parallel body types as you say.

Thanks

[Wangler]

As others have discovered, the hole is too deep for a standard USB charging unit.

I soldered a small copper tube (a banana connector male end) on to the protruding bit, shrink-wrapped it for safety, then cut it to the right length.

I'll probably make a tidier job of the shrink wrap some time, but it works a treat!

[HBG]

Good job. I ended up doing a similar job by adding a rivnut to the end and adding a blob of solder to the tip.

[peteracs]

Interestingly I found out the other day that the early Beta ones are the same.

Peter

[andyps]

The only thing I've found which works in mine is a multi plug - can't remember the brand but it is one that has a wire on the plug which goes to a box with 3 cigarette lighter sockets. The plug is nice and long so it works well.