Im really not sure if my problem is actually a problem with the vehicles electrical. Basically when using my phone charger, it charges fine. But as soon as i shut the truck off, it back feeds and will completely drain the battery on my phone. Im not sure if there is something in the electrical circuit that is designed to stop this from happening? Anything i can do to stop this?

Thanks for any help.

 

Use the Cigar Outlet instead of the Power Outlet. The Cigar Lighter Outlet goes through a relay that is powered when the engine is running. The Power Outlet is wired directly to the battery bus that has several other circuits wired in parallel, that are just looking for something to eat...like your phone charger.

 

Is that the outlet on the left or right? I noticed it when i had it plugged into the left side. Figured they were both the same...

 

On my 99 the left outlet turns off with the ignition. The right is hot all the time..

 

So that means i already was plugged into the cigaret liter outlet when i noticed it draining. Therefor i do have an electrical problem? Unless im misunderstanding....

 

The Cigar Outlet may be defective or the relay may be defective. I'd bet on the outlet being defective however.

Use the other outlet (Power Outlet) but remember it's hot all the time so if you leave anything plugged into this outlet without the engine running it will drain the battery.

The relay is easy to change if you want to give that a try. You'll have to remove the cover off the Junction Block to get at it. Below image shows the location of the relay.

You may want to locate a new cigar outlet and consider changing it if the relay doesn't fix it.



Here's how you get at the JB:

 

I never tested it but shouldn't the phone charger only allow juice to flow one way? It's taking 12 volts down to 5 or so there has to be a couple caps, diodes,, chokes, and so on in there... I'll test my droid charger after a couple cups of coffee..

 

On second thought, I wouldn't be bothered trying to use the Cigar Lighter Outlet for charging anything.

The Cigar Lighter Outlet has a thermal device in it that is used to kick the lighter out when it gets up to temp, which may be causing you problems.

Just use the Power Outlet for charging, etc., but remember not to leave anything plugged in when the engine is not running.

 

The thermal doodad you're talking about is in the lighter portion. A bitmetallic strip heats up and ejects itself once it hits a certain temp. The outlet though is identical with the 12V power outlet, save the connector on the back is keyed differently.

 

I can always count on Salad to cover my 6.

My cigar lighter went inop years ago, soon lost my lighter thereafter, and could never find an aftermarket lighter so I just left the socket empty.

I forgot how that POS worked.