Lighter socket

[cornflakes 9]

Does anyone know if the Spark cig. lighter socket works even when the car is OFF? (engine and acc. off). Or does it only work when you turn on the car and engnie?

Reason why I'm asking is I'm thinking about getting one of those solar powered battery maintainers and it has a 12V cig. lighter plug. If I plug that into the lighter socket while the car is turned off, will the solar charger still work and charge my car battery? Or will it only work while I'm driving?

[WaltK 305]

I believe it is switched, only on with the ignition switch.....

[cornflakes 9]

So does that basically mean I can't use something like the Schumacher p-200 2.4W 12V battery maintainer except by using a direct connection to the car battery under the hood?

I wanted the convenience of being able to use the 12V DC lighter socket to plug it in when I'm parked and let the solar panel trickle charge my battery. Then when I go home, I unplug the 12V DC from the socket and turn on the engine and go home (they say NOT to drive with the solar panel plugged in and charging at the same time...it'll damage the solar charger). So, if I can't use it to charge the car battery while parked in OFF mode, then do I have to use the other method which is to wire it to the car battery directly under the hood? Can I have this wired into my car because I don't want to have to always pop the hood, unclamp the alligator clips EACH DAY when i'm going and parking. I wanted to just leave the solar panel in the car dash and simply plug in or plug out the device.

Can I still do it like this without being able to use the 12V DC lighter socket?

[Greg_E 211]

I don't think it will work through the lighter socket with the ignition turned off so you will probably need to wire the charger into the car. You will probably need to find a wire that is hot all the time to splice into to do it the way you want. At the back of the radio you might find one for the radio's memory and power, but I'm not sure exactly how the radio works since in the USA models the radio will stay on for many minutes once the key is off, stays on until the driver's door is opened.

[WaltK 305]

I wouldn't mess with the memory wire, that is just a super low milliamp draw for the clock, and station memory. If you can use a volt ohm meter, then look for a hot connection when the car is turned off, on the interior fuse panel. If you are uncomfortable with using a meter, just hardwire it to the battery and put an inline switch in the cabin between the unit and the battery such as http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-5410-Appliance-Feed-Through-3A-125V/dp/B000FPANMK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1404762480&sr=8-2&keywords=inline+switch+for+lamp , or something similar, ratings here are not critical. Then you can switch it on and off from inside the car. Just a brief comment, as a rule of thumb, it takes about 3 miles of driving to replace the starter draw from the battery.

[cornflakes 9]

Thanks, I'll just have to wait and see if the lighter socket will work with the car off. It's really weird why they would make such a thing that can't work when the car is off? I could understand why maybe you can't draw power from it when the car is off -- safety feature to make sure nothing drains your car battery even after engine shut off, but why wouldn't it allow it to "receive a charge"? Even if the car is shut off, if you plug something into it to give power not draw power, why wouldn't they allow such a thing to do that? It seems to really defeat the purpose of having to use it "only" when you are driving.

Hmmm.

[cornflakes 9]

Ok, i checked the lighter socket and it doesn't work when everything is OFF. But when I press my start button ONCE it turns on the ACC, and then the lighter socket works (along with navigation and radio if I turn it on). The rest of the car is not on yet (engine and power windows). Does this mean I can leave the car on ACC and plug in say a solar charger or "mighty jump" and charge the battery or will leaving the ACC on just negate the benefits of solar charging since it's using up power or does ACC ON not mean it's necessarily using any power?

[Greg_E 211]

NO, that will run the battery down fast, or the computer will turn everything off after XX minutes and it will stop charging.

The best way to handle this would be to run a pair of wires through the firewall and connect straight to the battery, then connect the charger to those new wires. You could get a lighter socket on the end of the wires which would let you plug in the charger, or use other accessories without powering the entire car.

[cornflakes 9]

NO, that will run the battery down fast, or the computer will turn everything off after XX minutes and it will stop charging.

The best way to handle this would be to run a pair of wires through the firewall and connect straight to the battery, then connect the charger to those new wires. You could get a lighter socket on the end of the wires which would let you plug in the charger, or use other accessories without powering the entire car.

Oh, this sounds like what I need to do. So when you mean pair of wires, you mean like a red positive wire and a black negative wire and just use those little metal ring connectors and screw it onto the battery? Then run it through the firewall (what is a firewall? Is that just some compartment where wires can enter into the car from the engine bay without any open gaps that would get fumes in?). The "might jump" only has the DC lighter socket connector so I'd need to put a lighter socket at the end of the wires. Could you give me a link to where I could find this lighter socket and how to connect it properly with the wires?

[greggb 7]

I believe it is switched, only on with the ignition switch.....

That is 100% correct.

[cornflakes 9]

Wait though, not sure if it's the same with your car but I have a 3 ignition settings. 1st is ACC, which simply powers on the nav system, radio (if I want it on but I leave it off), and the lighter socket. There is no power to the windows and no other lights turn on in the display panel. But the 2nd setting is "ON" which then power everything on (you can hear the switch going on) and the all the lights on the display panel light up. Then the 3rd setting is to actually start the engine.

So what I'm wondering is why is there an ACC setting and then a ON setting? The ACC setting must be a really low setting to simply to allow for the "option" to use some stuff (like I i said, the cd/radio would work but if I leave it OFF, it won't draw any power right?). The lighter socket works only if I plug something into it at this setting. And the Nav system can be shut off or put into standby mode. Nothing else to my knowledge is actually powered on. So shouldn't I be able to plug in a DC lighter socket charger/battery to slowly charge the car battery without the battery draining on this setting?

I could understand why the battery would drain on the 2nd setting "ON" which seems to turn EVERYTHING on and there is a audible click sound that signifies the powering on of equipment.

Hmm....i don't wish for it to happen, but I'll have to try it one day IF my battery is low and can't start the engine....I'll have to put it on the ACC setting, and plug in the MIGHTY JUMP battery via the 12v socket and see if it actually can charge the battery enough to help the battery to start (the mighty jump product says to wait 10 to 15 minutes as it's plugged in and charging the car battery).

[icepick 9]

Why not use a multi-meter to test the amp draw from the battery when you have it in the acc setting? The biggest issue here is that a camera won't do much good if the key is left in the ignition. You won't even have footage to view if the car is gone. Make you own constant powered socket. You be happier in the end.

[cornflakes 9]

good ideas, i'll see if i can get my hands on a multi meter.