MrLeadFoot

Anyone know of a quick and easy way to re-route the hot power so that the lighter turns off with the car? Yes, I am aware that the power outlet under the center console is thusly wired, but I want the lighter to be the same.

Any information regarding easy access to the lighter's power wire without removing the console would also be helpful.

TIA

Edit: I'm thinking the easiest way would be to find the wire near the passenger-side fuse panel, and re-route it to an accessories socket? Suggestions welcome. ;-)

skydiven4fun

You could install a switch inline with either the ground or power wire, then you old shut it off when you want, that wold be very easy to do.

MrLeadFoot

Thanks for the thought, but having a switch defeats the purpose I am after, which is for power to whatever accessory I have plugged into the lighter to be turned off with the car, i.e. cell phone charger, etc. I'm tired of having to unplug chargers, or forgetting to, so having to flip a switch would be the same thing.

As a matter of fact, I can't see one reason I would NOT want the lighter to turn off when the key is turned off, except if I needed to run a tire pump or something. In fact, I think the design is backwards, in that the receptacle under the console should have power all the time, for emergency use like what I described, and the lighter should turn off with the car. If I only knew which wires were which at the passenger footwell, I would just swap them.

pmurray

This may not help you, but I have "hard wired" my radar detector to the fuse box. I ran the wire along the headliner, down the column then into the fuse box where I used a terminal that shuts off with the car. Nice and clean.

MrLeadFoot

If I was running something more permanent like that I would hard-wire, too. But, cell phone chargers are a different animal, you know what I mean? I guess I could disassemble a charger and somehow use it's guts down in the footwell, then run a custom-made-by-me cable to the phone location, but as you can see, that could prove to be a PITA when I switch phones.

So much easier to just know which power wire runs the ligher, and which power block is run by accessory power so I can tap into it, you know what I mean? Note all is lost, however. Which terminal did you use?

But, your suggestion got my creative juices flowing... which often results in me doing more work than I originally planned on.

raydawg357

You could also run a wire to a switched power fuse in the fuse box or you could tap into the accessory wire (brown) in the ignition harness. Either option will get the job done.

MrLeadFoot

That's exactly what I want to do. Do you happen to know WHICH wire is the lighter's hot wire?

raydawg357

If I remember correctly, it's orange. Of the two wires on the lighter, it's the one in the middle. Make you tape or cap off the original wire when you cut it cause it is a constant 12V.

K9Leader

Hmm, I have a '99 and the power outlet in the center (armrest) console is constant powered. Pain in the neck as I had to flip it open and unplug my GPS every time I got out of the car or it would stay on. I wired in a switch so I could manually turn it on or off. Would have preferred that the outlet turn off when the car is off but this was quicker and easier.

K9Leader
Red cars are faster. They did a study on it.

sunchaser73

Go in by the BCM and look for three (3) wires taped together (black, yellow, orange). You want the YELLOW wire. It is a switched power source (instrument panel electrical center fuse #11). Use that wire as you power source for the cigarette lighter socket.

MrLeadFoot

raydawg357 says the orange one goes to the lighter. Is that the same orange wire that's in the 3-wire bundle you mentioned? If so, do you think I can cut the orange wire, then splice it into the yellow one? Speaking of which, do you happen to know what else is on that yellow wire's circuit? I ask because, after the rewire, if something in the lighter socket blows a fuse, I assume the #11 fuse would blow, correct? So, if there are other things on that ciruit, I'm thinking I should wire an inline fuse to the lighter to be safe, in case the circuit contains more important things like dash lights, interior light, etc.

0Double D Mods

I had a customer request something similar to what you want to do when we installed his double din package
If you look in the pic below where the corner of the glove box meets the dash. There is that little carpeted section in which we put in another cig lighter. I have them for 2.50. Wired it to the passenger footwell to the yellow wire for accy power and to the black ground. Only works when key is on. Simple to wire and you take nothing apart. We just made a little bracket to mount to the car is all.
Jim wanted this installed there for his laptop to plug into.

sunchaser73

Yes, the orange wire in that bundle does come off the cigarette lighter. The yellow wire has nothing else on the circuit, so if the fuse blows, nothing else is affected.

You could either switch the wires, using the yellow wire to power your existing cigarette lighter, or you could add a socket as suggested above. Which, by the way, is a pretty slick idea...kudos Double D!

Illini Al

That's what I did to hard wire my XM radio. Plugging my radio into the lighter socket was a PITA. I'd have to either turn the radio on/off manually, unlpug it at the lighter, or install a switch, none of which I wanted to do. Now my radio comes on only when I start the car, and I don't have to use the cigarette lighter socket at all.
BTW, the ground accessory wire by the BCM is not a good one for a radio. Too much interference. I had to reroute the ground to another source.

MrLeadFoot

OK, I just looked. When I untaped everything, I saw that there were three open-ended wires connected to a factory connector. The connector houses no other wires. So, all the connector does is offer us the ability to unplug the half of the connector with the open wires, wire in whatever accessories we want, and plug the connector back in. In short (no pun intended), the orange wire is NOT connected to the cigarette lighter. If it is, it is AFTER the fuse box, so cutting it anywhere near that location would not interrupt power to the cigarette lighter.

I also made a feeble attempt at lifting out the fusebox altogether, and making my mod on the underside of the box, right at the fuse terminals. But, it would not come out easily. If my experience trying to lift the under hood fuse box is any indication, there is likely not enough play in the harnesses connected to the fuse box to pull the box out far enough to turn it over and work with it. Sadly, it looks like the only way to do what I want is to remove the center console. Unless, of course, someone knows how to get to the orange (verified by pulling out the ashtray) cigarette lighter wire elsewhere on the way to the fuse box. Hint, hint.

MrLeadFoot

I just checked, and stand corrected. The under-armrest receptacle is indeed always hot. So, now there is no reason for to turn back. It makes sense to have one always hot and one switched, for more options. Too bad GM didn't think of that.

MrLeadFoot

Great idea for powering/charging a laptop. My application differs in that I have a magnet mounted to the center vent above the radio, which my phone sticks to. So, the closest, and cleanest, option for me is to run to the cigarette lighter with one of the new-fangled flush-mounted cigarette lighter chargers that accepts a USB cable. Otherwise I'd have to get a LONG cable to run from where you mounted that external lighter socket. Not that the distance to the center vent is that great, but when you factor in the distance all the way to me when I have to send an e-mail or text while driving , that's a lot of cable, especially considering the thickness of a USB cable. And, then I've have to deal with all that excess cable hanging when the phone sits at the vent, like when I'm only using for a GPS and/or MP3 player.

I dread taking out the center console. While I did it previously to re-solder my radio's light diodes (they started fading), without mishap, I am not particularly fond of snapping cheap plastic on and off multiple times, you know what I mean?

On the other hand, maybe an external receptacle under the DRIVER's side would work, provided I can place it in such a manner that doesn't impede my driving comfort and entry/exit of the car. RayDawg357 says there is a brown accessory wire in the ignition harness; I wonder how easy it is to get to that harness. I will look tomorrow.

TheRadioFlyer

Here's the REALLY easy way.

You'll need:
(1) 30-40 amp Relay (available at ANY auto parts store)
(1) 12" length of black wire (18 gauges will be fine)
(1) 18" length of another color wire
(4) female insulated slide terminals
(1) blue quick splice
(1) ring terminal

Here's what you do:

1) Disconnect the battery or remove the fuse for the cig lighter.
2) cut the orange power wire to the cigarette lighter about 3-4 inches from the lighter itself.
3) Install a slide terminal on both of the cut ends. On the cig lighter end plug that into relay terminal #87. On the other end, plug that into terminal #30
4) Install the ring and another slide terminal on the black wire. Connect the slide terminal to relay terminal #85 and the ring to any solid ground (there are plenty in that area to choose from)
5) Install the last slide terminal on the 18" wire and connect that to terminal #86 then use the quick splice to tap into the large red power wire near your ignition. This is an ignition-hot wire so as long as you don't have the key in you should be okay to tap.

Now your cig lighter is ignition-on only.

DJPFinancial

Why not just buy one of the timed fuses and plug it in the box? It would be the same as the ones for the interior lights.

Dave

MrLeadFoot

What in the world is a timed fuse, and how do I find out more about them?