Constant Power at Cigarette Lighter?
 

Purchased an FM Bluetooth dongle powered by the cigarette lighter - surprised to see that the dongle was powered long after the ignition keys were removed.

Took out the dongle as I didn't want to drain the battery when not driving - is this a normal thing on our cars?


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Yes, the cigarette lighter has constant power, it allows you to use a battery tender.

I have no power to my cigarette lighter. Fuse good, tested with voltmeter still no power. Any way to tap into something to get power? I want to swap it out so I can at least charge my phone. Any help will be appreciated.

The phone connector under the center console provides 12V switched and constant power. Not sure why your lighter does not provide constant power.

Interesting??? My 986 Does not have constant power to the lighter, I only get power when Key is turned to ON position.

Constant Power at Cigarette Lighter?
 

On most cars, the cigarette lighter only has power when the key is switched on or
in ACC. The same is true of most Porsche's. If yours has power without the key, either
someone has rewired it, or your vehicle is old enough that the lighter was in fact
constantly powered. Mine, 2001 Boxster S, has no power until the key is turned on or
in ACC. My Dodge truck is the same way. Though it does have addition
"power ports" cigarette lighter type connections that do have constant power.

My 2001 has power to the lighter all the time.
I keep a battery tender hooked up through it.

Same with my 2000 base, battery tender is plugged in there all winter.

My 2003 S has power at the lighter without the key. I plug my battery tender into it too. I bought my car brand new and the lighter wiring has never been modified in any way. I believe Porsche does this as they know a lot of their cars aren't daily drivers and want owners to have an easy way to use a battery tender.

I've heard of non-US Boxsters not having the constant on feature of the lighter socket.

I believe all 2003 and 2004 Boxsters have power to the lighter all the time. I also believe this was done to specifically allow you to maintain the battery by plugging a battery maintainer into it.

On a budget the HF floating charger works pretty well on my fleet. I clipped the alligator clips off and attached to a cig lighter plug and keep my vehicles constantly @12Vdc. These are not meant to charge low batteries but just maintain healthy batteries at 12v.

Full charge is 12.6v or 12.8v on an AGM battery. Not 12v.

My '99 and my '01S both were maintained during hibernation through an always on lighter socket.

Yep. 2002 Base Boxster with continuously powered cig lighter. Beautiful feature. My other cars I always have to pop the hood to connect the tender directly to the battery.

Just throw a fracking 12V battery in the passenger footwell with a couple wires and be done with it already.

On my 2001 I can come home, shut ignition off and open front trunk and the light will illuminate.

If I wait until the next day to open the front trunk, the light will not illuminate.

I suggest the cigar lighter may be on the same sort of timer.

It isn't..............

My 2001 S has constant power at the cigarette lighter.

I upgraded the socket to the later (narrower) version and use a Porsche (Porsche branded CTEK) battery charger/conditioner to keep it topped off in the winter.

My battery is 4.5 years old now, and still going strong. No idea what brand it is - made the (non-Porsche) dealer put a new one in before I would take it. Physically, it's the largest size that fits in the battery tray.

Im with JonD , my boxster only has power at the lighter socket when the key is on . It works for me because the Samsung tablet I have fitted for music and navigation turns on and off with the ignition switch.

Negative Ghost Rider

ok so i'm still none the wiser after reading a bunch of threads on this.
I'm UK, me and my dad have Boxster S's. Mine (2002, facelift) has power all of the time, my dads, a 2000, doesn't and only powers up with ignition.

so, maybe it is a facelift thing? maybe previous owners have changed it....?


either way... is there a way of stopping the power all of the time? i, like OP, don't much fancy the idea of the device plugged into the lighter (in my case, a BT/FM transmitter thing) draining the battery.

The factory set the cars up for constant power from the factory to allow the use of a battery maintainer with the car locked up and the alarm on.

ok, i mean i can kinda understand that for fancy cars, but a boxster? at the price they were selling for? hardly reason to keep it in the garage not being used :)

is there a way to disable then?

$50k+ for a 986 was a lot of money 20 years ago, and it still is today, the majority of 986's bought new where weekend warrior/garage queens. If you want switched power use the phone plug under the center console instead of the lighter, it is easy to tap into directly or you can use some wire taps and add a second hidden lighter plug under the center console to plug into. Changing the lighter to switched power would require a lot more work/wiring.

RHD cars made before 2001 have the cig lighter on a relay (on with ignition).
LHD cars made before 2001 have the lighter always powered.

2001 and up, all are powered constantly except for Australian market cars.
That's all I could extract from the wiring diagrams.

ah man, I don't know if i can be digging around under the console just to get switched power, i need the device 'to hand' rather than hidden away.

whats the chances of a device like a bluetooth fm transmitter sitting there on idle killing the battery from a few days of non use at a time? obviously i'll try to remember to unplug it if i know the car isnt going to be used for a substantial amount of time.

You could do it at the fuse box.
Using a jumper wire with a spade on one end and a fuse tap on the other, insert the spade into the the unpowered side of fuse D5 (for the lighter), and use the fuse tap on a switched power fuse that can handle the additional load.

I came across a video on YouTube ( it has English subtitles ) that achieves the same thing mentioned here. Seems like a reasonable way to solve the problem: https://youtu.be/vgE-5sXXbAs?si=V-XY6EhGOBGKyQLT