Cigarette Lighter Smoke

Lucanesti · Post by **Lucanesti** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:39 pm

Ok, so I put in a headunit today. Afterwards I started jamming down the road, my cellphone charger in the cigarette lighter. I smelled electronic death and looked down and the red light for the charger was off and I saw a little bit of smoke I think. The thing was damn hot to the touch. It worked fine for weeks before hand so somehow I really messed something up.

What could cause this? I'm really worried something else could start smoking or catch on fire!

mrsixstrings12 · Post by **mrsixstrings12** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:13 pm

well first things first, did ya wire the headunit right? haha also, how did you connect all the wires together (solder and heatshrink or just twist and tape) maybe you're causing a short circuit somewhere if there's bare wire somewhere

Lucanesti · Post by **Lucanesti** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:26 pm

I twisted them all together then wrapped them in electrical tape. There was one black wire from the CD player that didnt match up with any others so I wrapped the end off in tape.

mrsixstrings12 · Post by **mrsixstrings12** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:29 pm

the black wire could be a ground that needs hooked up. what headunit did you put in?

also, soldering the wires instead will help with the connection and the tape couldve maybe slide off while putting the unit in

Lucanesti · Post by **Lucanesti** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:39 pm

A dual cd player. I was told the power antenna is the ground since there is no ground wire for the stock radio

nineball · Post by **nineball** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:49 pm

mrsixstrings12 wrote:the black wire could be a ground that needs hooked up. what headunit did you put in?

if the hu wasn't grounded it would not turn on.

OP, the cig lighter is not related to the radio. if it is heating up you must have somehow grounded out the positive lead for it while installing the new hu. it is quite possible that the wire was pinched and it took a few weeks to scrape through the outside and have exposed metal. i would suggest you pull out the hu and the cubby with the lighter and take a good look around. if it is smoking you should be able to find a charred wire somewhere that is your problem.

Lucanesti · Post by **Lucanesti** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:06 pm

So no worries my botched cd player installation is slowly melting my cars electricals? That's what I was worried about.

nineball · Post by **nineball** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:07 pm

it's always a possibility, that's why i take everything out and look around.

Johny · Post by **Johny** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:59 pm

I dont think so, I think your cell phone charger adapter was burning. Mine did the exact same thing, fucking thing melted at that ball tip part.. was retarded.

Lucanesti · Post by **Lucanesti** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:06 pm

My ciggerate lighter does not work at all now. I plugged my gps charger in it since it has a fuse I thought it would be safe but it didn't even light up. Maybe it blew a fuse. Will check in the morning

RobsProjectSOHC · Post by **RobsProjectSOHC** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:07 pm

I had a cell phone charger melt....light never came on. I looked at the car adapter and saw little black mark where the cellphone adapters would connect. disconnected, wirebrush cleaned it just incase, nothing really came off, black stuff was really some plastic or something like that.

Check fuse box, make sure you dont have more than 10 amps on that "accessory," i think it is. Buy a new charger and see how it goes. Happens again you know you did something wrong. My thought is, if you havent caught on fire yet, then your good.

Johny · Post by **Johny** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:07 pm

Yup you blew a fuse, as a safety precaution I dont ever take out the adapter from the cig ligther unless the car is powered off. I've discovered that if I pull it out while the car is on, it usually blows my fuse

RobsProjectSOHC · Post by **RobsProjectSOHC** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:09 pm

damn, he ninja posted before me.

Post by **occasional demons** » Wed Dec 07, 2011 9:06 am

I would still pull the HU and solder/heat shrink the wiring. And yes the oem HU does have a ground wire. It bolts to the rear. Either by a ring/spade-slide terminal, or just a ring terminal, I can't recall ATM.

I have adapted it to work with aftermarket HU's many times. Yes, it does ground through the antenna, but you are basically going through the fender to get ground. Could lead to a lot of electrical noise at some point.

But it's your car. Just saying, it is better to take a little time, and do it right.

If you do decide to solder it, get the skinniest solder Radio Shack has. The solder I use is .025" rosin core. IDK if RS sells it that thin tho. It will make you like life more when using a cheap soldering iron. The heavier stuff will take forever to melt, if it even melts at all. And remember: Slide the shrink tubing on, and away from the solder jiont before soldering.

Lucanesti · Post by **Lucanesti** » Wed Dec 07, 2011 5:19 pm

Where is the cig lighter fuse? There wasnt one for in the fuse panel from what I can tell.

Johny · Post by **Johny** » Wed Dec 07, 2011 5:48 pm

Should be in the inside fuse box. Dont think its called cig ligther though, some 12v accessory or something

Post by **occasional demons** » Wed Dec 07, 2011 8:06 pm

Under the hood, PDC Fuse 14 (20 amp)

Johny · Post by **Johny** » Wed Dec 07, 2011 9:16 pm

occasional demons wrote:Under the hood, PDC Fuse 14 (20 amp)

woops