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cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 8:23 pm
by wolfie
my cigarette lighter will not work.I have had the fuses checked,what can i try next. Tha lighter worked until i plugged a 12v heater in for 5 mins,? Alan.

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 8:48 pm
by francophile1947
Bongo lighter sockets have very then wire and are not meant to power any powerful item for long. I suspect the wire has melted - have you checked the actual wiring?
Just curious, but why plug a heater in in this weather :?

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 10:32 pm
by Travis
Cant help you I am sorry.

But I have been posting a lot this weekend about power options in the bongo.

It may be a good idea to consider an inverter for a heater as I guess it needs a lot of power.

It would seem that the lighter socket is not meant for heavy duty appliances.

Travis

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 9:04 am
by stringman
Travis wrote:Cant help you I am sorry.

But I have been posting a lot this weekend about power options in the bongo.

It may be a good idea to consider an inverter for a heater as I guess it needs a lot of power.

It would seem that the lighter socket is not meant for heavy duty appliances.

Travis
The trouble with this is that the inverter will use as much if not more power than the heater :cry:

As mentioned before you really need to upgrade the cable going to the socket or better still fit a heavy duty socket with heavy duty cable and a suitable fuse wired directly to the battery

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 9:36 am
by mikeonb4c
wolfie wrote:my cigarette lighter will not work.I have had the fuses checked,what can i try next. Tha lighter worked until i plugged a 12v heater in for 5 mins,? Alan.
Have you got a multimeter (or circuit tester at least) so you can check if power is getting to the lighters connection point now fuses have been checked. Once you can narrow things now, the problem answers itself I'd have thought :roll:

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 11:59 pm
by cheffy34
My front one burnt out on the back couldn't tell till it was out, chuck it out anyway :) and buy a decent aftermarket one that lights up, I kept trying to put mine back in into the blind switch in tyhe dark, so i now have a nice melted blind switch :x :roll: #-o well mine used to light up #-o just summit else to fix :lol:

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 9:12 am
by Travis
Do you know if anyone has ever replaced the ciggy socket and relocated it to another place, such as the back of the van?

Travis

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 10:02 am
by westonwarrior
I ran a switched and fused wire to the rear off side and installed a 4 way cigarette socket.

It powers my kitchen and dvd players etc

A few weeks ago I installed a leisure battery so changed the wiring to that

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 10:23 am
by francophile1947
Travis wrote:Do you know if anyone has ever replaced the ciggy socket and relocated it to another place, such as the back of the van?

Travis
You've already got one in the back :? - still thin wiring though :roll:

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 11:10 am
by Travis
Cheers

Not getting my bongo until Friday... :D

Travis

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 11:55 am
by stringman
You can fit as many cigar lighters as you want. There's plenty of room behind the panels and its easy to run cables on the Bongo. Just make sure you use a suitable fuse if you wire directly to the battery and make sure your wires can't chafe against the body work.

I've fitted 4 in the back of my camper. A heavy duty one for the fridge. Three regular ones for other accessories, all wired to my leisure battery :wink:

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 12:06 pm
by Triple/R
stringman wrote:You can fit as many cigar lighters as you want. There's plenty of room behind the panels and its easy to run cables on the Bongo. Just make sure you use a suitable fuse if you wire directly to the battery and make sure your wires can't chafe against the body work.

I've fitted 4 in the back of my camper. A heavy duty one for the fridge. Three regular ones for other accessories, all wired to my leisure battery :wink:
Hya there-----i'd like to fit another cigar lighter to run my 12v fridge off when on the move--everyone says use heavy duty cable but which cable (me & electrics do'nt go together) i'd like to run it directly from the battery with an in line fuse but what amp fuse?? so wot i'd like to know---what cable & fuse i should use.
Regards Ray.

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 1:40 pm
by g8dhe
Triple/R wrote:i'd like to fit another cigar lighter to run my 12v fridge off when on the move--everyone says use heavy duty cable but which cable (me & electrics do'nt go together) i'd like to run it directly from the battery with an in line fuse but what amp fuse?? so wot i'd like to know---what cable & fuse i should use.
Regards Ray.
Try;
Socket Ref: 160409. £3.88 each
In-line Fuse 20 amp Ref: FH430. £1.68 each
Cable Ref 25. 28/0.30mm, 2mm2, 25amp.
For the cable choose one length of Red and one of Black both of the length needed.
Cable connectors BFF4 and BM4 you will need 3 Female and one male (2 for the socket and 1 pair to connect the in-line fuse)
The only thing left is connecting it to the battery terminal, chances will be you will already have a suitable nut/bolt on an existing connector.
The crimp connectors should be done with the proper tool, try to borrow one, otherwise there are some cheap ones available which will do the job. Most of these will also be available from local shops as well to save postage.
The in-line fuse, one end goes to the battery terminal itself, the other connect to the main Red cable using a pair of connectors. The other two connectors (female) go on the cable at the socket end.

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 1:47 pm
by Triple/R
Thanks Geoff -- your a superstar =D> =D> =D> i keep seeing these topics posted but no one ever tells people like me (useless) which cable etc; they keep saying heavy duty cable etc; well that do'nt mean owt to me :) :) :) anyway thanks again--will do it as soon as possible.
Regards Ray.

Re: cigarette lighter does not work.

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 2:19 pm
by PixieAndTheMoon
We had simular problem the fuse checked ok, but no power was coming out of the cigarette lighter but there was power going to it.
After a bit of a struggle we removed the ciggy lighter and found on the back of it there is an imbuilt fuse on the other side that had blown. By removing a couple of insulation washers we bypassed this fuse and fitted in inline fuse.

Hope that helps