Cigarette Lighter Stay on after Ignition Off
 

Hello. I am a new member. I have question about my 03 Boxster. My cigarette socket stay on even after I turn off the engine and removed the key from ignition. Is it normal? I am worry that my battery may died if I leave my cell phone charger over night.
Thank you.

I can't see how you cell phone battery would drain that big old 12V bad boy.

Easy to check if lighter is active. Plug in the cell phone and see if your charging light comes on.

:)

Mabey like the gauges, it stays on until you lock the car, or a couple min.

As far as I've been able to tell, it's not switched. I have to remember to turn off/unplug my radar detector every time I get out of the car :(

It is for that very reason that I hard wired my radar detector to turn on and off automatically when I turn the ignition on and off.

The lighter socket is not switched. That is how the Porsche battery maintainer (storage charger) connects, BTW.

Has anybody had a problem that the lighter does not hold whatever you plug in to it. Everytime I take a sharp turn my radar detector becomes unplugged.
- Chris

The whole unit is pretty cheap if you have to replace it.

The US-style lighter socket is a different size than european. There are "adaptors" available (my original old Escort radar detector came with one) that are really just a hollow tube that goes around the plug to make it thicker. The tube has notches (picture the top of a "castle" chess piece) that allow the side contacts to still touch the sides of the socket but also fills out the plastic tube part elsewhere.

If you can't find one, a few well placed strips or wraps of electrician's tape on the plug should do it for you, just get it to the point that it doesn't wiggle any more but the side contacts can still touch the metal barrell.

Thanks. I could tell it was not a good fit. Hopefully I can just replace the unit with a US style one. I got 2 or 3 things I swap between cars (XM, cell phone, radar detaetor) and I do not want to change each ones jack.

- Chris

A picture is worth...
 

Here's a picture of the adaptor I was trying to describe. This easily slips off and I can swap it between plugs when I need to. This one came with a universal DC-DC adaptor, I think.