Huh - Cigarette Lighter Not On No Key?? MY99 C4

[ickle_monster_au]

Ok..

I am really confused now. <_<

I was just about to go buy a battery maintainer due to going away for 3 weeks when I noticed something that is going to be an issue for me. My cigarette lighter powers down when the key is out and I am pretty darn sure that I am not going to be charging much with a closed circuit.

The car is a 99 996 C4 ROW purchased in the UK.

Does this story sound familiar, am I being silly or is there something I need to do here before I can leave my baby alone at nights?

Many thanks.

Peter

:help:

[Tool Pants]

I have been on the UK Boxster board for several years. This comes up once in a while when someone wants to buy a maintainer. For some reason on some UK cars the lighter is live all the time and on some cars the key must be turned on. No sense to have a maintainer if the key has to be on.

In the US all cars are live. The wiring daiagrams do not show a difference for different countries so it is a mystery.

[ickle_monster_au]

Relief...

My sanity was in doubt as even my owners manual stated that it should be live.

:oops:

Am almost tempted to stump up the $$ for an OEM one to see the fun of them trying to explain why it does not work and that they should not have to fix it. Any one for a spot of dealer baiting?

Peter

[ickle_monster_au]

Last Qn:

Where would be the best, safest in cabin place to wire in a socket or always live connection for a maintainer? I was going to use one of those 1W solar units for the 3 weeks due to power reach issues but it's all looking messy.

PL

[Tool Pants]

I wish someone would go to an OPC and talk to someone who knows something. Have that someone look at the wiring diagram and confirm that the lighter is wired the same for all years and all countries. Then show that someone the owners manual. Porsche sell a maintainer you cannot use in the lighter. In the UK if the lighter is not live then they hook it up to the battery.

When this subject comes up on the UK board there are usually several reports, live not not live. The thought was that the older cars were not live, despite what the owners manual says.

The simple solution is to replace the switched positive wire to the lighter with a wire that is live all the time.