Cigarette lighter car how does it work

World View. More From Reference. What Does 'Future Endeavor' Mean? What Is a Group of Turtles Called? To fit the lighter, all you need to do is to prise out the plug and fit the lighter in its place - the necessary wiring for the lighter will usually be already built-in round the back of the hole.

Older cars, however, may not have a special hole ready to accept a cigarette lighter. In this case you will have to cut your own hole, either in the dashboard or in the centre console, fit the lighter socket and wire it up. You will find that there is a wide range of aftermarket cigarette lighters in car accessory shops.

A point to watch out for when buying one is that some have a built-in light, often a small ring around the base of the lighter. You may find this useful in the dark, particularly if you are fitting the lighter in the rear passenger compartment.

Otherwise, there is little to choose between different aftermarket lighters. The Video Course teaches you everything about modern cars. Sockets and accessories. The easiest way to proceed from there is to replace the cigarette lighter or 12v accessory socket fuse and see what happens.

If you plug in the cigarette lighter and the fuse blows, then that is probably the issue. If everything is fine initially, but the fuse blows when you plug in the inverter, then the inverter is probably the culprit. In any case, the inherent limitations of cigarette lighter inverters mean that you may end up better off with a different inverter that is hooked either directly to the battery or to the fuse panel. For more information about that, you can check out our article on how to estimate inverter requirements.

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Updated on December 02, Christine Baker. Lifewire Technology Review Board Member. Christine Baker is a marketing consultant with experience working for a variety of clients. Her expertise includes social media, web development, and graphic design. Article reviewed on Feb 20, Tweet Share Email. In This Article. Check for Foreign Objects.