Tapping into cig lighter for power.

[rhregis]

I am thinking of splicing the wires that power the cigarrette lighter to provide power to my satellite radio. Is there anything I should worry about or be on the lookout for?

Thanks

[Tool Pants]

Have you considered using the cell phone connector instead?

[rhregis]

I did a search and found pictures of the phone connector. Is it always found in the same location?

I am assuming the cell phone connector is behind the radio? What color are the wires that carry the power. As you can see, I am new at this so please bear with me.

However, I am enjoying the heck out of this.

Thanks for your help.

Edited September 29, 2006 by rhregis

[Loren]

Is it always found in the same location?

Yes, pretty much.

I am assuming the cell phone connector is behind the radio?

No, it is down below the radio. If you look at the other posts you will see you just remove the trim panel on the passenger side and it is usually right there.

What color are the wires that carry the power

Covered many, many, many times in previous posts. There is switched and un-switched power and ground. Ignore the telephone mute wire.

Look a little harder at the earlier posts please... :)

[rhregis]

Correct!! Plenty of material on this subject. Found what I needed after I posted.

Thanks Loren.

[Loren]

:thumbup:

[Richard Hamilton]

I tapped into the cigarette lighter for a switched supply for my speed camera detector - before I knew about the phone prep connector. The nice thing about connecting to the lighter is that the supply is held on when you switch off the ignition, and switched off when you remove the key. Is this the same with the phone prep connector?

[rhregis]

Richard,

From what I have read, you can either have the power supply on all the time or off when the ignition is shut off. It all depends which wire of the phone connector you tap into.

[Tool Pants]

Richard is in the UK. UK cars are a bit different than US.

All US cars have the phone connector. Guys on the UK message boards say they do not have it. Or, maybe they do not on unless they have a phone prep option.

On US cars the lighter is live all the time. This is apparently not so on UK cars and it may depend on the year. Some UK people have purchased a battery maintainer that you plug into the lighter, but it does not work unless the key is turned on, which defeats the purpose of a maintainer. Other UK people say their lighter is live all the time.

Confusing.

Putting that aside, on a US car you can use the cell phone connector for switched or constant power, depending on which wire you hook your device to.

[rhregis]

Found the phone connector and I am now using it to power the Sat. radio. Pretty simple actually. Thanks!!

I have another question however, when I popped open the carpet to get to the phone connector, there is some kind of electronic box for the air bags. I placed all the excess wire, etc. in the area where this small box is, would that affect its function in anyway? I am assuming probably not, but just wanted to ask to be safe. Thanks again.

[Tool Pants]

That is the air bag control unit.

Leave it just like you left it. Don't hit it with a hammer. And all those wires will not bother you.