I'm an idiot and I need a guide to fitting a ciggy lighter

Post by **johnpaul74** » Sun May 13, 2007 8:18 pm

Hello all, I've got a 65 traveller and want to fit a ciggy lighter as an incar power source. I appreciate it's probably the easiest job on earth but I'm new to all this electrics business. A few top tips (including how to do the green light on my lighter as well ) would be spiffing. yours John-Paul

Post by **Welung666** » Sun May 13, 2007 8:25 pm

Depends if you want it to come on with the ignition or permanently live.

Post by **johnpaul74** » Sun May 13, 2007 8:26 pm

I reckon permanently live so I can accidently flatten my battery whilst using it

Post by **Welung666** » Sun May 13, 2007 8:35 pm

If you want it premanently live take a feed from the thick brown wire (terminal A on the regulator) with an inline fuse.

If you want it switched the take the feed from the white wire going out of the fuse box but still with an inline fuse

Earthing can be located locally to the Cigar Lighter socket.

For the lighting side take a feed from the red with white stripe behind the panel.

Post by **alex_holden** » Sun May 13, 2007 8:47 pm

Remember to make the centre terminal positive otherwise it's likely to blow up your phone/GPS/whatever you plug into it. If your car has positive earth that might mean you need to isolate the socket from the body.

Post by **Welung666** » Sun May 13, 2007 8:49 pm

I should have mentioned that Alex, I kinda figured he ain't that much of an idiot to connect the red to ground

as most of the cigar lighter kits I have seen recently have the wires attached already.

Post by **steve4063** » Sun May 13, 2007 8:54 pm

R but how do u know he's not color blind

Post by **Welung666** » Sun May 13, 2007 8:55 pm

Don't complicate it any more than it already is

Post by **rayofleamington** » Sun May 13, 2007 9:48 pm

Fit the fuse to the red wire at the battery end of the wire!

Don't do what I saw last year - the previous owner of Timbuk (sIII Land Rover) had run wires direct from the battery, past sharp bodywork, all the way to the rear load area for a ciggy lighter. He'd fitted the fuse next to the ciggy lighter... so if the red wire had chaffed on the bodywork, the result could have been a big hole in the tarmac, a crowd of people watching, a few fire engines, and an insurance claim.

Use good conectors, crimped securely (try pulling them off to check).

Don't wrap wires together to make a connection - and if for some reason you do that, DONT use sellotape!! Electrical insulation tape doesn't start fires - sellotape might.

(can anyone smell burning?)
Fuses are there to stop the wire catching fire if there is a short circuit. The fuse should blow before the wire burns - e.g. use 20 amp wire with a 10 amp fuse to be safe.

[the same principle applies in a modern car - if you increase a fuse size to stop it blowing, you can run the risk of an impromptu BBQ

)

Post by **RogerRust** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:39 am

I just want to revisit Lees comment about polarity.

Morris Monors were made with the positive connected to earth. (+ve earth). If you connect the lighter socket this way round the centre pin will be the negative. For chargers etc it needs to be the positive. The best thing to do is convert to negative earth like modern cars. This is easy to do and there are instructions in the technical tips section of the MMOC website.

Post by **johnpaul74** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:26 pm

My brain hurts

...How do I know someone hasn't already done that? I've got a cd player in, would that have needed the polarity to be changed for it to work? And re: taking a feed from the thick brown wire (terminal A on the regulator), is that coming from the bottom of it or the top or doesn't it matter?

Post by **alex_holden** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:37 pm

Which battery terminal is connected to the bodywork? That's the earth: if it's connected to the + terminal then the car is positive earth. If you have a CD player then the car has probably been converted to negative earth already, but it's best to be sure.

Post by **johnpaul74** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:43 pm

I've just gone out and had a look. First off I note there are no wires coming from the top of the regulator (told you i was crap at this) But the neggy terminal on the battery is connected to the body. So I'm still neggy earthed I take it

Post by **johnpaul74** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:44 pm

hang on, so neggy earth is what it's been changed to? So it's already done I think. Hooray

Post by **johnpaul74** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:53 pm

So here's my plan, disconnect the battery, snip the brown wire below terminal A on the regulator, shove a connector block or something with an inline fuse onto the reattached brown wire, my lighters got two male spade connectors, a peripheral one attached to the body of the lighter, and a central one isolated from the body which is what touches the lighter when it is shoved in. That central one should be postitive then? then link the outer one to earth. That'll do won't it? As for the light, go for the red/white sripey wire behing the dash, I'vegot 2 wires on the light, red and blak, is one an earth or what. Fab this innit. Calling upon the ammassed minds of the esoteric brethren of moggie minors, thanks chaps.

Post by **Kevin** » Wed May 16, 2007 2:28 pm

snip the brown wire below terminal A on the regulator, shove a connector block or something

Why not use one of the spade connectors with 2 connections then you wont need to cut the wire.

Post by **blueangelical** » Mon May 28, 2007 9:02 pm

So here's my plan, disconnect the battery, snip the brown wire below terminal A on the regulator, shove a connector block or something with an inline fuse onto the reattached brown wire, my lighters got two male spade connectors, a peripheral one attached to the body of the lighter, and a central one isolated from the body which is what touches the lighter when it is shoved in. That central one should be postitive then? then link the outer one to earth. That'll do won't it? As for the light, go for the red/white sripey wire behing the dash, I'vegot 2 wires on the light, red and blak, is one an earth or what. Fab this innit. Calling upon the ammassed minds of the esoteric brethren of moggie minors, thanks chaps.

or just give up smoking..?

Post by **Packedup** » Tue May 29, 2007 1:13 am

I was asked to take a look at the wiring on a soft roader thing the other week. Turned out the sat nav power lead was a slightly stiff fit in the lighter socket, and so over time had caused the retaining unt on the back to fall off. That left the socket to flap around, and the 4mm or so of bare pos terminal on the back could short on part of the metal behind the console, so blowing the fuse.

The moral is make sure it's fused before the wire goes anywhere it can short, and to make sure as soon as the socket feels a bit wobbly you tighten it back up!