I need some help with wiring.

[biggs85]

Ok, I have a 3 way splitter for my cigarette lighter and I want to wire it in permanently. I also want to have a switch in the line because it has a little light on it and I don't want it to slowly fun the battery down.
So I'm thinking that I could just take the ash tray out and solder on the negative and positive wire to the existing cigarette lighter outlet. Then I don't know if I need a relay or something instead of just a regular switch in the positive or negative wire? I understand that a realy is a switch that is supposed to carry the higher voltage with a smaller switch that activates the relay but I bought a switch at radio shack that's rated for 12 volts. So would I be able to just stick the switch right in line without the relay? Or mabey I have no idea what I'm talking about and it's supposed to be done a completly different way.

 

[RiverRat]

Hey I think you will be ok with a switch. Just make sure the switch ampacity is higher than your load.

 

[FourXFred]

after reading that i am completely dumbfounded at what you are trying to do. i belive the cggarette lighter is on a 15 apm fuse from the factory in the fuse panel. check on the box that the switch came in to see how many amps the switch is rated for. aslong as it is rated for atleast 15 amps you shouldent have a problem. as far as the ciggarette lighter itself is concerned, when you pull out the ahstray, the wire going to the center of the lighter socket is the poisitive, while the one going to the outside metal sleeve that the lighter slides into is the negative. just hook up the splitter negative into the wire going to the outside of the metal sleeve, and hook up the splitter negative wire to one side of the switch, and run a wire from the other terminal on the switch to the wire going to the center of your lighter. if that makes sense to you, have fun!

HOWEVER! THIS IS HOW I WOULD DO IT!

go under your dash, and pull out the fuse for the radio. this fuse only has power when the ignition is turned on. take the positive wire from your splitter, strip about 1/2 an inch of insulation off the end of it, and hook it around the end of the fuse you removed. then jam the fuse and wire back into the socket for the radio memory. if you do this right, you wont have any extra bare wire sticking out, and the fuse will hold the wire securely in place. then run the negative wire to a good ground somewhere under your dash. i find that there is usually a small bolt or something that i can loosen up, and wrap the wire around (clockwise), and then retighten the bolt up. i forget the exact name of the fuse for the radio , it might be called Accessory or something. If you do it this way, the splitter will only recive power when the ignition is turned on.

 

[Crankcase]

Well, a switch will be fine if you plan on using small amp items like cell phone chargers and power cords for small stuff.

The switch should go on the POSITIVE lead.

You are right about simply soldering the leads together....the positive on your stock cigarette lighter wire is the round connection that goes to the center of the actual socket.

 

[Robb]

You don't need to worry about the voltage (it will all be 12v), you need to worry about the amperage. There is no real need for a relay, since you shouldn't be hooking anything up to it that will pull more than 10amps total. Just make sure the switch is capable of about 10 amps. What are you planning on connecting to this 3-way splitter? I would only suggest using this setup to run low amp items like a cb, phone charger, etc. And don't run any of these items in conjunction with the cigarette lighter.

 

[biggs85]

The reason for the 3 way splitter is I usually want to charge my cell phone and when I go on trips with my dad he has his cell phone. Then we need to recharge the battery for our digital camera. We never charge all 3 at once and we only charge the battery all by itself. It's mostly just for a cleaner setup so we have all the wires near the floor and out of the way. Also I like to be able to have power to it with the ignition off so the phone stays recharging if I just have to leave the engine off for a short time. But for the times when I don't need it on I just flip the switch. I know it sounds like a really weird and stupid idea but I've put a lot of thought into it for my needs and want to do it right.
The switch I bought says it's good for 30 amps but for some reason it has three prongs that you can hook up to. There's ground, power and load. If you have one wire hooked up to the ground then you can hook the other to either the load or power and it will work. It's supposed to light up when it has power but it doesn't so maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[Robb]

Yea, the only purpose of the Ground lead is for the light. To be used strictly as a switch, just put the power to its tap and the load to its.

 

[biggs85]

Ok thanks! So If I want it to light up I just need to run a wire from the ground prong to the frame somewhere?