And I am going to test for power with the ignition off, correct?

 

Well, I'd test both.

The lighter shouldn't get power if the key is off though.

 

yea... there is no power going through the cigarette lighter when the car is off. This way things can still be plugged in when the car is off and you won't drain the battery...

when it comes to hooking it up to a switch, just find out which wire is the live wire and hook it up to a switch, then run the live switch wire to a fuse in the cabin, then ground the other one. no need to go to the battery. That should work.

 

i dont know about radar detectors, but i know they do this with a lot of neons....

make sure that the transformer is NOT in the cig lighter plug. open up the little plug, since you might be destroying it anyway, and make sure there is nothing besides a fuse, some metal, and some brackets. if there is any kind of ciruit board, do not touch it, and put the thing back together. you will have to use the plug in this case, unless you want to get in some hardcore electronics(heatSINKing and stuff).

id hope that with a radar detector they dont stick a transformer in the cig plug though.

you can use a switch, but i wouldnt with a radar detector. just go straight to ground, and then attach the power to a power wire that turns on with the car with quick splice connectors. a radar detector doesnt use much power, so you shouldnt be creating to much of an extra load that you blow a fuse.

heres what i did....

took off the drivers side pillar panel. there were some wires inside the a-pillar, im guessing for the sunroof control. even if you dont have a sunroof, you could still have those wires, if you dont, you could run some through the a-pillar. i tapped right iinto them, tucked them inside a little hole, and put the panel back on. i think it looks clean as hell. no wires anywhere, and the radar detector is out of the way, but not to far. i just have the volume up, i never really visually noticed the radar detector when it was in the center anyway. turns on and off with the car, and greets me in the morning. wink.gif

 

I went out and looked at the wires and noticed that the power for the lighter had snapped off. I am going to solder in a patch wire tonight and see if that works. I misspoke when I was talking about what I was plugging in. It is not a radar detector, it is this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...TRK%3AMEWN%3AIT
I am assuming that there will be nothing in the cig plug, but I am hoping with my attempt at fixing it tonite I will not have to worry about it.

*DOUBLE POSTER ALERT!*

I just soldered a wire onto the back of the lighter unit, and it still doesn't work. I noticed that when I tried to heat up the lighter, that it only heated up slightly, and when I tried to use my cell phone charger, it did not work at all. I am assuming that the lighter unit itself is beat. To run that GMeter, can i just hook up a switch to the leads going into the lighter?

 

yup, just make sure you get the right ones.

black for ground
i think pink/white is the power

 

Last one I promise. I was just looking at a couple pics of the Meter, and I am not sure how I am going to make the switch for it. http://saxforte.com/images/gtp%20unit%20and%20box.jpg It looks like that the wire running to the cigarette plug is just one wire. Am I right in assuming that it splits apart in the plug?

 

Robert, don't double post man.

Use the EDIT BUTTON.

 

Didn't realize I did, sorry.

 

there has to be a power and ground wire inside of that cable. when you cut the plug off, run a razorblade lengthwise down the cable to split apart the covering. you will see both wires.