cigarette lighter issue

We've had an intermittent electrical issue that I believe we resolved today.

Once in a while after we shut down the motor we had a mysterious draw on our electrical system. I know very little about electrical systems, but this seemed like something was trying to turn on and was drawing a lot of electricity. After some time it would go away.

It happened today and didn't stop... As we drove on and it started to get dark I noticed what I thought was a flame coming out of our "cigarette lighter" next to my leg!

We were able to stop and I removed the inline fuse and much to my relief the problem stopped.

Was there a lighter in the socket when you saw the flame, or was it empty like in your picture? The bare socket alone shouldn't be able to do anything which would cause a flame (and not blow a fuse). The lighter itself is the heat source, and I could fully believe that with it in the socket, you might have had it stuck in the "on" position?

Ray

Hey Ray,

The problem happened when I unpluged the GPS.

AJ

Hmm, something doesn't feel right here AJ. Taking the fuse out is probably a good thing for safety, but I'm hoping you didn't really see a flame, or any indication of heat!

I'm not quite sure what to think.

Ray

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ajhaig

We've had an intermittent electrical issue that I believe we resolved today.

Once in a while after we shut down the motor we had a mysterious draw on our electrical system. I know very little about electrical systems, but this seemed like something was trying to turn on and was drawing a lot of electricity. After some time it would go away.

It happened today and didn't stop... As we drove on and it started to get dark I noticed what I thought was a flame coming out of our "cigarette lighter" next to my leg!

We were able to stop and I removed the inline fuse and much to my relief the problem stopped.

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It sounds like a weak solder connection at the back of the lighter socket. I would purchase a new Socket and remove the wiring back tothe fuse holder and add all new.

Gary,

I am going to replace the socket. If you look closely at the photo, the lower socket is making contact. Any idea where I can get a new one?

Ray,

It may have been sparks, my wife was concerned that my pant leg was going to catch on fire... she had the fire extinguisher at the ready.

To make matters worse, in the heat of the confusion I accidently hit the air dump! Fortunately the tank was almost empty and it was raining very hard.

We took your advice on the KOA in Petaluma, it's very nice... We are going to head to Pacifica on Monday.

Thanks.

AJ

Andrew...here is a chance to begin accumulating tools. A good multi-meter, a small soldering iron, some wire cutters, wire strippers, and a few of the more basic tools such as a screwdriver set and wrenches will get you set up for the repairs and the check to make sure there is no short circuit. You may not even need new lighter sockets. The ones you have may be fine, but as Gary says it just might be some bad wiring or wire connections.

Auto parts stores have lighter sockets.

AJ, if you take a needle nose pliers and rotate the positive contact a little bit counter clockwise it should be ok, if it's really loose then replace.

AJ, add the needle nose plier to the list.

Here is a philosophy you may wish to embrace......whenever anything on the coach needs to be repaired, buy the tools and do it yourself. Eventually two things will happen. First, you will have a nice set of tools everybody can borrow at rallies, and secondly you will know your coach very well.

A side benefit you will find is that the tools cost less than the repairs, and you get to use them more than once.

You can find Power Sockets of many types at Radio Shack and probably at a decent Auto Supply . The reason I suggested replacing instead of fixing is they are inexpensive to replace and unreliable to fix. The smoke/flame indicates to me a slow build up of heat which the fuse is not reacting to. This is the worst type of problem, that is why you should replace the wire as well , all the way to the fuse.