My daughter is in the back and beyond and wants to charge her mobile phone off the cigarette lighter. Only problem is, the car is a 10 yr old Corolla and the lighter only works with the ignition on.
I know that in the old days leaving your ignition on could burn out your coil if the points were closed but I'm guessing that perhaps that doesn't apply anymore.
So, in short, is there any danger to leaving the ignition on for a couple of hours say?
Tim
it is very likely that the socket is powered when the key is turned to the accessory position (I) rather than ignition position (II) Leaving the ignition on is not a good idea, the coil will still be energised, as will everything else.
That wasn't the case in a Golf I was sitting in the other day. It had no "accessory" position.
But will it be with modern ignition systems? Be nice to know for sure.
Tim
I'd be very surprised if there was serious current flowing through the coil with the engine stopped.
Modern cars with coil on plug or coil packs have the coil triggered by the ECU, so the electrical connections to them will be dead until the ECU energises them.
Anyway, it's not a big deal with modern coil packs / coil on plug systems - things have moved on significantly from the old school wet coils.
the coils are only 80 quid each (times 4) which would be nasty if they do get hot!! It would be interesting to see how much current flows when the ign. goes on.
It would be easier, safer and cheaper just to buy her a phone charger off ebay.
Someone might pinch her car?....
Oh golly, don't suppose she had thought of that!
Got any useful information?
Tim
You could lock the keys in :)
I have had no concerns about leaving the ignition on (apart from the obvious one of a flat battery), since my first ECU operated engine around 20 years ago. I don't believe any current flows through the coil(s) unless the engine is actually turning.
Called pyjama locking, or some such!
IMHO any ignition system that doesn't include points won't draw significant current with the engine stopped. Or rather if it does, it's piss poor design.
On EFi cars even the fuel pump is off until the crank sensor is making pulses. To prime system and remove vapour locks, it's switched on for a few seconds on turning key to "ign" and then off again.
Cars with multi coils or coils that distribute depending on direction of soak current can't be "on" until the ECU has had a cam signal to determine which one is due to fire next.
All modern ECU's use crank sensor pulses with a cam position sensor and not a set of points or fixed duration chopper (like old electronic systems such as Rita) control dwell as well as timing. So again won't start to soak the coil until x millisecs / y deg before the spark is needed. They even change the dwell depending on system voltage so give longer dwell during cranking to ensure a good spark without a ballast resistor.
Well there's the odd piss poor alternator design that'll energise the field coil at full to try & increase the output voltage. But I haven't seen one of those for ages.
So you need 2 keys.
If car has remote central locking and security that activates the immobiliser then it either won't (shouldn't) lock from 2nd remoote with key in "acc" or will but the electrics all shut off.
Peter Hill formulated on Friday :
With Pyjama option enabled, you can start the car, leave the car running with keys in ignition and remotely lock it. The engine carries on running with door locked to prevent theft.
And her mobile!
Hi-Jacking is the easiest way to nick a car nowadays.
In message , Harry Bloomfield writes
Until a pissed-off neighbour sticks a spud on the exhaust...
Contactless cars have been around since the early '80s. When I got one I had a hunch the coil current would time out after a few seconds so checked it. My assumption was correct. It's rather unlikely that once introduced this feature would be removed again. That's even assuming that inductor interrupt systems are still in production.
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