Haywire cig lighter....electric experts- need your help

[gixer02]

When my radar detector is plugged in it intermitantly works. It either doesn't work and I have to jiggle it or it works and when I hit a bump it goes off then right back on and I don't know what it is. The connection appears clean... is it the wire connected to the inside of the cig lighter? How can I find out? Thanks.

Pat

[cruzermusic]

try spreading the contacts with a screw driver for a better connection.

[Roger Hall]

dont wory about it just wire the radar dector into the fuse pannel and mount it to the dash.

[Leadfoot]

sound like a bad connection, either from the the connection or internally in the radar detector,
...dont have the circuit diagrams for the 944 but...most things that connect to the cig lighter like radio etc are in parrallel,so check for continuity, could be a bad solder join...??use a multimeter to check powers going to the detector....otherwise
check with a seperate power source, 12v DC adapter if u have one around, and isolate that its not the detector, open her up otherwise and look for a loose connection in the power input lead..
make sure the contacts are clean,otherwise strip the cable end a little bit and rewire it to the detector...hope this helps...Leadfoot

[gixer02]

cruzer- I will try to widening the contacts.

Roger- how do I wire it to the fuse panel? Sorry I don't know- it's not due to lack of understanding, I simply have never done it. If I do do that will it turn on and off with the ignition like the stereo. I want a new radar so if this makes it ignition controlled then I will do that.

Leadfoot- I once had a blown fuse- cig lighter, stereo and dome light. Dome light and stereo are in perfect working order. I'll use the multimeter to check if it's a bad solder. Does RadioShaq have multimeters? (if so how much, if no who does have them)

Thanks alot guys

Pat

[Leadfoot]

yep radio shack has multimeters over hear, should be able to get one at any electronics shop, they all vary in price depending on the fuctions they provide, i got one that was called an engine analyzer and could do DC voltage up to 200V,DC current to 15 Amp, resistance 20Megaohms, has a tachometer,dwell angle, duty cycle
the resistance testing has a tone for continuity as well....make life a little easier....cost me 80$AUS very cheap
it's also fuse protected...and auto power off...cool......Leadfoot
if you need to wire something to the fuse panel,check what else is on the fuse line, there are also a spare channels not used in the 924 i have, No9 on the second fuse box,the fuse box can be removed by unsrcewing the holding panel and removing the multipin connections,label them as u go...then seeing as the cicuits are internal to the box, use your continuity tester to check from the end of the fuse connection to where the output terminals are located, then join your new power cable to this ouput and run the other end of the wire to the radar detector, make sure the fuse is rated correctly. any problems let me know...L

[yOnKiNaToR]

so you're saying that i should get the regular spring centered clutch and not the turbo one?

i'm not a mechanic and may have a good friend do the work for me...he'll charge me hardly anything. (last time he charged me 200 bucks for a belt change)

[Roger Hall]

leadfoot is correct there are empty fuses on the panel find a leed that is ignition controled if you dont have a multimeter then just get a circut tester about $5.00 or just wrap the wire around the fuse and see if you have power then you can buy these crimp conectors that you attach to the power leed and insert it into the fuse block or you can also buy a plastic connector that has small teeth in it that will penetrate the wire without cutting it (available in home depot) just find a wire thats ignition controled place that wire and the power for the radar dector in the conector then snap shut with pliers eaisiest thing in the world