Cig socket power problem.

**The Pastor** · 14th January 2008, 18:24

Hey guys.

I have a ciggy power thing on the bike for a radar dector (speed kills guys, dont do it ever).

I plug said RD into bike and it dosent power up propperly (display goes all funny and makes a weird sound)

I plug said RD into car and it works fine.

I check the voltages on both car and bike.

They both read 12V. (although i have an "electricans" "multimeter" that only reads V in terms of 6,12,24,240,640)

Whats going on?

Cheers
Rm

**nadroj** · 14th January 2008, 20:05

Polarity?.

**The Pastor** · 14th January 2008, 20:46

It has the correct polarity.

**davereid** · 14th January 2008, 21:04

We have assume, that the bike has a good battery, cranks and runs OK.

If so, whip the cig lighter from the car.

Plug that in. See if it gets hot.

A choc fish says it won't get hot.

Problem is likely a dodgy earth, or high resistance connection to battery.

On a voltmeter, these problems will not be apparent.

Often a 5 watt bulb is a better tester for vehicle electrics than a voltmeter.

Also, just be sure you have the voltmeter on a range one higher than you think you need.

So looking at the ranges you quoted, choose the 24v DC range.

(If you meter uses symbols, the DC range looks like a line of dots above a line. The AC range looks like "~")

Good luck with that safety device you are installing !

**The Pastor** · 14th January 2008, 21:09

my "meter" cant choose a range, its just some leds that light up when its near that voltage. For electrians not electronic work! (i.e., if i touch this wire will it hurt)

Thanks for giving me some ideas. I hooked it up to my headlight for the postive, so i can turn off the power by turning off the lights, would this affect it? Im going to try and see how the earth is, might be dirty.

**The Pastor** · 14th January 2008, 21:13

ciggy lighter gets hot.

**Gremlin** · 14th January 2008, 23:29

having just installed a safety device of my own (I used directwires tho) my new found electrical genius-ness (ok, I still suck) says you need a loop.

That is, + for juice, and a negative/earth... for something else. If you don't have both (and a good earth can sometimes be hard to find) it won't work. Simple as that.

Well... while not a very informative post, its certainly written at an idiot level

**MaxB** · 14th January 2008, 23:57

Find the earth at the back of your ciggy socket and run a new earth wire from there out to a GOOD earth. Try under a tank mounting bolt for example. Something that attaches to the frame. This is temporary for the investigation only. Does that help? = bad earth.

If not, does the socket have an inline fuse holder? I've seen them left fuseless and lashed up with tin foil. Nothing surprises me anymore.

Another thing to note after you have checked all contacts and earths is that some bikes run a headlamp relay and a headlight switch relay. The idea is to take load off the switch when you start adding heaps of lighting accessories. I have seen some BMWs with aftermarket kits to do just that. Have you plumbed into the low side of the relay? Even though there would be juice down to the headlight there would be f' all across the switch.

Just some thoughts FWIW

**The Pastor** · 15th January 2008, 06:53

i think i have a good earth, its going to the frame, the socket has no fuse.

it was working about 2-3 weeks ago same setup.

**idb** · 15th January 2008, 06:59

Sounds like a problem with the socket itself to me.
Dirty contacts, stuffed springs in the contacts etc

**davereid** · 15th January 2008, 07:20

Seems that I already owe you a choc. fish...

If the cig lighter gets hot, it doesn't sound like poor connections to the lighter adaptor, as a Cig lighter draws way more current than your safety equipment.

idb may be on to it. The connection from lighter adaptor to plug on RD would be a good place to look next.

**The Pastor** · 15th January 2008, 08:35

i am using a standard rj11 cable for my power cord (rd uses a 4 pin plug thats a bit wider maybe a 45 somthing?) but this cable works fine in the car. when i get home tonight i'll try it straigt off the battery and pull apart the ciggy power adaptor and check the connections.

**xwhatsit** · 15th January 2008, 12:14

I'm no electric genius, but I would grab a proper multimeter (hell, you can get cheap crappy ones that are accurate enough for this from DSE, $10) and check exactly what the voltage is coming out of the socket. A cigarette lighter doesn't rely on a particular voltage, so 10-11V (or 13-14V) is probably fine, but electronics equipment seems to be rather more choosy about what it wants, and that might be causing the scanner to beep and do strange things.