Re-Wire Cig Lighter to use Solar Charger?

Now I'm wondering if I should just add a new cig socket for the panel and leave the old one alone. I looked under the dash and it looks nearly impossible to even GET to the back of the lighter without spending a whole lot more time than this warrants. If I was reinstalling a deck, I wouldn't mind taking the dash apart... but to change one wire... argh.

Any thoughts on just running a hot wire from either the fuse box or battery to a new socket, securing and grounding it somewhere under the dash?

A diode or two is used to keep the battery from leeching through the photovoltaic panel.

If you can get at the radio's yellow wire, that should be your positive; I wouldn't use the cigarette plug. The yellow wire for the radio is wired directly to the battery, at the fuse box, to keep the radio's time-keeping circuit fresh.

Far better is to clip the photovoltaic panel directly to the battery.

I don't like it. :-) These photovoltaic panels should have the option to use aligator clips or cigarette plug, but most do not.

If you put a volt meter to your fuse box you can find a +13vDC circuit that is always "on" with the ignition key removed. You can then attach the negative lead of the photovoltaic panel to ground.

Thanks for your reply.

But that means having to leave the hood cracked open and taking the clips off/on the battery every time I use the truck, plus having the cable wires draped out an open window to the battery. The cigarette lighter is far easier. Just plug in the solar panel when I park the truck, and unplug it when I get in to drive it. No windows have to be open, the hood doesn't need to be cracked, and no wires are draping out the window, which to me, invites interest and possible break-ins.

This one does. Got it at Pep Boys. Comes with both.

Thanks a lot. That's very helpful!! :)

yes, any hot wire of the same guage will work fine. i wouldn't use the alarm just in case. i have a solar charger on my van and it works fine 4 years on.

No such thing as an "always-on lighter". The socket is always "hot" but the circuit is not active till the removable lighter is pushed in. No doubt the wiring of a lighter is pretty close to direct-to-battery, as it requires lotsa amps to get the lighter element red hot. I don't understand why you think you need to rewire anything. Buy the solar recharger and use as directed.

nb

On my 2001 4 Runner it was very simple to rewire the auxiliary outlets (but not the cigarette lighter outlet) to be always on.

You need the wiring diagram of the vehicle to see if the cigarette lighter outlet has its own relay, then you need to remove the relay and jumper across the switch contacts (not the coil contacts). On the 4 Runner, this relay is under the hood.

Otherwise, run a wire from the + battery contact, through the fire wall, and install an outlet for the gizmo (or better yet don't use a cigarette lighter outlet, use a simpler connector, i.e. "

You'll definitely want to include an in-line fuse as well, right by the battery. "

Most, if not all, Toyotas, don't have power to the outlets when the vehicle is off. There is a relay that closes when the ignition is on that the power to the outlets goes through.

It's generally a simple modification to change the outlets to always-on, if you have the wiring diagram (replacing the relay with a jumper wire). You want to be sure that the relay powers only the outlets.

In the olden days, the outlets were usually direct to the battery through a fuse.

I gotta confess ignorance on this one. For the first time I own a Toyota, a '91 mini-motorhome (50K- woot!). It doesn't even have a cigarette lighter. Jes going on old GM knowledge. Silly me. ;)

nb

Unfortunately, I don't have any auxiliary outlets. Just the one lighter.

I'll look for info online about this. I don't have the wiring diagram.

I considered this, but it takes two hands to take such a connector apart or plug in the charger. Plugging/unplugging into an AC DC outlet is easier, especially when lugging pakages and whatnot in and out of the truck, etc. I'm not too worried about the "unstable power issue" since it's just a solar charger and will only be running when the truck is off and sitting still.

Don't really need a fuse for the solar charger, but it doesn't hurt anyway.

Yes.

Thanks for your input. Appreciate it. :)

Do you have Harbour Freight near you? They have a cigarette female plug on a short wire with battery clips on the other end. I used this and ran the wire out the door and under the hood. Some messing to hook up but maybe easier than what you are discussing.

The fuse isn't to protect the solar charger, it's in case there's ever a short in the wire between the battery and the solar charger. The fuse should be right where the wire attaches to the battery. Every after-market device that connects directly to the battery (air horns, fog lights, etc., has fuse very close to the battery terminal.

Thanks. I knew it wasn't to protect the solar charger, but my understanding is that fuses stop a potential fire if the accessory attached sends too much juice down the wire and it overheats. Is that right? So the only point I was making is that the solar charger only trickles like 12 milliamps at best... and the wire is 14 gauge I believe. But you're right that I should put one in anyway, just because if I ever sell this truck someone else might plug something else in.

IAC, I decided against adding a 2nd socket because I didn't feel comfortable going through the firewall and there was really nowhere to put a 2nd socket that would be unobtrusive and convenient. Plus, I don't use the existing lighter for anything, so I decided to re-wire it.

There were two wires feeding the interior fuse box from what looked like was probably the engine compartment, as they were fed in through the chassis along the forward door frame on the driver side, going directly to the fuse box, with a fuse inline just before the box. One red, one orange. The red one had juice even with the key off, the orange did not. So I figured, red's my guy.

The wire coming to the back of the cig socket had a small connector on it to slide on to a post on the back of the socket. So I slipped off the connector and cut the wire about 2" back, leaving a tail on the connector so I could use it with the new wire. (At the point I cut this wire, it disappeared into a bundle of other wires with which it was bound, so I could not see where it went.)

I cut a length of wire I had on hand, same gauge as the red juice wire (and as it happened, the tail on the cig wire), and I connected the connector tail to one end. Then I disconnected the neg battery terminal, and took the red wire and shaved it's sheath away, exposing the wire. I wrapped the bare end of my new wire around this exposed area, then dropped a little solder and wrapped it in tape.

Reconnected the battery terminal and tried the lighter without the key. Worked great. BUT.... no radio now!!

I just checked all the fuses and they look good, but I don't know which one is the radio fuse. Does someone know, or can you point me to a wiring diagram? The harness on the back of the unit was in place and fine.

I am stumped! Any help would be appreciated!

No. The real danger isn't the device drawing too much current, it's that the +12V wire will short out somewhere between the device and the battery, and the wire will heat up, and it will cause a fire. You want to be extra careful when running after-market accessories, since the routing of the wiring may not be optimal, and the insulation could melt, or be scraped off by various engine parts or by rough metal (i.e. where it passes through the firewall).

Thanks for explaining. I was careful to route it safely and even used duct tape to keep it where I wanted it. But I will install a fuse anyway.

And btw, for the record, the wire that goes to the cig lighter also feeds the radio power, so I had to open the dash and find the wire I snipped and connect it to the new wire too... so now everything is working. :)

Argh, duct tape? You need to use wire loom and cable ties.

It only went from the center of the dash (back of cig lighter) to up over the emergency brake lever, which is where I stuck it with a bit of duct tape to the plastic molding over the brake lever to keep it in place, then routed it easily over the steering column and around some plastic down to the fuse box. Could not use ties or loom where I wanted to put it.

I would tap directly off the battery, route the new wiring where it is convenient but around hotspots and into the cab, somewhere add an inline fuse. it worked for a 03 buic century, and just get a power outlet