Cigar Lighter Fitting

[Guest alan rowe]

Hi all

 

I have decided to buy a good quality camera detector to put in the Renault but much more importantly I plan to use it in my real car

 

I need to buy and fit a cigar lighter fitting - how do I go about wiring it in and to where - my knowledge on electrics is close to zero so any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Alan

[Mat-Moo]

Negative to battery, positive to fuse and battery However you probably want to search and find a switched (only power) when the ignition is on otherwise it will kill the battery. Ground shouldn't be too much of an issue, so it would depend on how much juice it's gonna suck out. If it's not much then maybe you can hook into the radio circuit.

[Guest alan rowe]

thanks Matt - so could I just wire it to the ignition switch so when I turn that on it will work

 

A

[Mat-Moo]

You should be able to find a wire that that become live when you switch yse, although I'd recommend adding an inline fuse as well (I don't think the detector would take that much pwer so shouldn't casue an issue)

[Guest daveg]

Alan

 

Don't waste you're money!

 

It won't detect laser devices, it won't detect cameras you trip as you go past

 

It will land you in prison in France

 

I have a guarrenteed way to avoid cameras...drive nearer to the speed limit

 

Dave

PS I love cameras but HATE speed bumps :angry:

[Guest hypermick]

Alan,

 

The best, and safest way to do this is to get a standard 30amp relay from your motor spares shop. The relay will normally have four terminals on it. One pair are used to energise the coil of the relay and the other pair are simply used as a switch. Find a suitable place to mount the relay on the chassis of the car and using a short length of wire with a ring terminal on one end ( wire about 4" long) and a spade connector on the other, place the spade connector to one side of the relay coil and the ring terminal to the back of the relay hanging tab as you screw it down so that the cable earths out at that point. For the next bit you will need a simple 12volt test lamp which again should be obtainable from your spares shop. Usually they have a sharp point at the screwdriver blade end and a lead with a crocodile clip. Place the croc clip to the chassis of the car and with the ignition switched "ON" very gently probe into the cables coming off the back of the ignition switch until you find the one which makes the test lamp stay ON when the car is running but goes OFF when the key is taken out. From that cable point connect a new cable to the other side of the relay coil. When you turn the engine on the next time the coil will now be energised (the relay will make a clicking sound just once)and the other pair of contacts (relay switch) will be closed. Next Stage,. take a cable from the battery positive terminal to one of the last two relay contacts ensuring that a fuse of about 8amps or so is present in that cable. The final relay contact should then have a cable coming directly from it to the cigar lighter socket to it, and of course dont forget to earth the other side of the cigar socket to the chassis as well to make the circuit complete!

 

The benefit of using this method is that the amount of current needed to energise the relay coil is very small, the relay contacts are doing all the work and the fuse is there protecting not only the contacts in the coil but the cigar socket as well since its placed near to the battery of the car.

 

Just one point, to connect the cable from the back of the ignition switch obtain some brown and blue Scotchloks from the motor shop. Its the quickest way to get the connection made without cutting and soldering cables.

 

Here are all the bits you will need:

 

30amp 4 terminal relay

7.5 or 10amp blade fuses (couple of each)

Blade style fuse holder

Pkt of covered connectors (for relay terminals)

Suitable cable of required length

Pkt Ring terminals & fixing screw

Ring terminal for battery positive bolt

12volt test probe

 

CAUTION !! Do make sure you dont put earth to one side of the contacts on the relay and positive battery feed to the other. If you are at all uncertain about the connections dont connect anything up until suitable advice has been obtained.

 

all the best

 

Mick

[Guest alan rowe]

Mick - that is absolutely a brilliant and comprehensive explanation - with all of that I can't fail (although I have an additional problem in that I am partially colour blind) - thanks again, it must be the best explanation of anything I've seen on this site

 

and Dave - if I get one of those expensive ones that use sat navigation to locate static cameras, they also pick up lasers (mobiles) - they're the b........d ones I worry about

- as to your other comment - I can't

every time I put my foot on the pedel I'm doing a 100 before I know it but comments appreciated

 

Alan

[Guest turbo]

as speed cameras take only 0.3 of a second to get a reading you better be even faster on the brakes.

[Guest hypermick]

You're welcome Alan.

 

 

Mick

[Guest rizla]

as a side note,what is a good detector and what sort of cost are they