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Back of the socket
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What are center positive and negative cigarette lighter sockets?
There is a center pin, and two outside tabs. Which are positive and negative? Show activity on this post. Every car that I have seen had center-positive cigarette lighter ‘sockets’. All (as far as I know) modern cars use negative ground systems, so the outer negative ‘body’ is vehicle ground and positive center is battery
Can you plug a cigarette lighter into a 12v plug socket?
Here’s the thing: There are two slightly different standards for these sockets, and while both work with 12V plugs, receptacles that meet the newer of the two standards will not accept cigarette lighters. Further clouding the issue is that some vehicles ship from the factory with a plug in the cigarette lighter socket.
Do all modern cars have center positive cigarette lighters?
Every car that I have seen had center-positive cigarette lighter ‘sockets’. All (as far as I know) modern cars use negative ground systems, so the outer negative ‘body’ is vehicle ground and positive center is battery
Why can鈥檛 you use car cigarette lighters as accessory sockets?
Since car cigarette lighters weren鈥檛 originally intended for use as accessory sockets, there are a few inherent issues with using them in that capacity. Accordingly, devices that are designed to use a 12V socket have to be capable of working around these shortcomings.