Cigarette Lighter Wiring

I am in the process of adding a lighted ring around the lighter receptacle so I can actually find the thing during night driving. I was shocked to discover that the factory wire is only 16 Gauge stranded wire! I have never owned a vehicle that had that small of wire to the outlet.

Has anyone ran into problems popping fuses while charging our current plethora of electronic gadgets?

I was thinking of adding an additional USB port but that gauge wire seems it can barely handle what it was intended for. They had plenty of auto accessories in the mid-nineties that drew more wattage than current devices so not sure why GM would skimp on the copper.

Wagoninabox wrote:

I am in the process of adding a lighted ring around the lighter receptacle so I can actually find the thing during night driving.  I was shocked to discover that the factory wire is only 16 Gauge stranded wire!  I have never owned a vehicle that had that small of wire to the outlet.

Has anyone ran into problems popping fuses while charging our current plethora of electronic gadgets?

I was thinking of adding an additional USB port but that gauge wire seems it can barely handle what it was intended for.  They had plenty of auto accessories in the mid-nineties that drew more wattage than current devices so not sure why GM would skimp on the copper.

It's only 16 gauge stranded wire? Holy crap! When I get my RMW as my first car first thing I'm doing is re-wiring that. With my phone chargers and gadgets I'll probably smoke the wiring!

An additional thought here, 16ga auto wiring should be fused with 10AMP fuse; factory fuse is 20AMP. Just doesn't seem correct.

Wagoninabox wrote:

An additional thought here, 16ga auto wiring should be fused with 10AMP fuse; factory fuse is 20AMP.  Just doesn't seem correct.

Did you buy the car used? If so is it possible the previous owner swapped the 10a fuse for a 20a?

Which style of fuse does the RMW use?

I installed this with it's own supply via a switched circuit:



Discrete, doesn't spoil the factory look, but provides 2 lighter-style outlets (one for GPS, one for the dash cam) and 2 USB outlets (one for the cell phone booster/charger, one spare for charging/powering other devices as needed). Unlike the factory outlet, they are switched by the ignition so the GPS, Booster and dash cam are not draining the battery when the car is off. I have a lighter to USB adapter for those rare times when I need to charge something with the car off.

buickwagon wrote:

Unlike the factory outlet, they are switched by the ignition so the GPS, Booster and dash cam are not draining the battery when the car is off.

Wait- the factory outlet always has power to it?

That is true, and so do the seats.

TheRoadmasterKing wrote:

Wait- the factory outlet always has power to it?

Yeah, that's pretty traditional in a cigarette lighter. I forgot what generation I was dealing with here. Ok, a little explanation:

Once upon a time, cigarette lighter outlets contained devices known as "cigarette lighters". These contained a small heated coil that glowed red hot after you pushed them in for a few seconds. Once the coil heated up, the cigarette lighter popped up (or right out into your lap if the mechanism was worn!) and you used them to ignite a paper or tobacco wrapper filled with cut tobacco known as a "cigarette" or "cigar", respectively. Once ignited, they filled the car with foul carcinogen laden fumes. It was quite popular for many decades and cars often had more than one cigarette lighter. My 75 Mercury Colony Park had one in each door, even the centre row ones. And often one might desire to light a cigarette without actually starting the car to do so.

It made even less sense than feeding the lighter socket with a 16 amp wire. After all, the lighter circuit was only intended to supply power for a few seconds at a time with several minutes or hours between uses.

Project completed....now I can find the darn thing while night driving!

Wagoninabox wrote:

Project completed....now I can find the darn thing while night driving!

Looks nice! Love it!