After years of never needing a lighter, I now find myself needing use of one for a "power port" in my beater xj. Only fuse I can find that may be to it says accessories. Is that indeed the one I start with? Are any stickies on lighter wiring here on sight? thank you.

 

Dome light ...

 

x2^^^

If anything make sure the connections behind the cigarette lighter are on and not corroded

 

mine wasnt used for a long time too and ended up just being dirt inside the lighter connection specially the positive connection, i disconnected the battery and cleaned it up inside with some sand paper and works fine now.

marc

 

Ha, thank you all for this info. Just now got time to go back out and check into it. Fuse was fine, and dome lights working so there is number one off the list. Going to track wire and check connections and do some cleaning. Thanks all for the replies!

 

You are aware it only works with the key on, right?

 

^^^^

 

I never liked this, My Dodge truck is like that too. Because we camp in ours a lot I ran a fused full time hot to both the lighter and the power port.

 

It's a safety consideration with the lighter I believe, in case it gets pushed in and doesn't pop out on its own. The power port in XJs should be powered full time. I like having the option of one or the other, and typically use the lighter socket so I know I won't run the battery down if I forget to unplug something.

 

I thought it was weird when I first got my Jeep. All my GM stuff was always on. Since then I've seen that feature in other newer cars. My Toyota has the same feature and so do other newer cars. My 97 VW though still keeps power to the lighter socket all the time, and I drained the battery keeping a GPS plugged in (thinking it shut off when the key was off).

I'm torn on what is the best way.

I'd really prefer a switch that you could power or de-power the socket, or maybe it would be better to have one "always on" power port and another "off with key".
Some accessories that you plug in have a smart feature that turns themselves off if the battery voltage drops below a certain value. I have a power inverter that does this (and it beeps a few times before it shuts down letting you know why it's shutting down).

It's a Jeep thing...
There's a neat Wikipedia article on the history of cigarette lighters.

You could also wire up a dedicated USB port or Anderson Power Pole set up and leave the lighter socket as-is. There's a lot more options available.

 

I hooked mine up hot because we take a solar panel out camping with us and plug it in one of the ports while we use the other. It keeps and maintains everything as we use it.

 

Neat. The battery likes to be trickle charged and I bet a solar panel is perfect for that.