A Brief Guide on the Car Cigarette Lighter

New vehicles come with native USB ports, a modern convenience that lets you charge mobile devices or connect them to your car’s onboard electronics. However, many older models that ply the roads lack a USB port. USB ports were first created in 1996 for flash drives but later became a source of power for charging phones and other devices.

Fortunately, these older vehicles usually have a cigarette lighter socket. While originally intended to light cigarettes and cigars, it now serves as a secondary power outlet. With the appropriate car cigarette lighter adapter plugged into the socket, you can charge your electronic devices.

Beginning in the late 1990s, vehicles would come with a lighter and an auxiliary power socket that looked like a lighter socket but was only designed to power accessories. Most vehicles now come with one or more auxiliary power points and no lighter socket at all. The diameter of the port is the same, but the socket isn’t designed for a lighter–only to supply power to plug-in electrical accessories.

What Is a Car Cigarette Lighter?

The cigarette lighter receptacle is a DC power outlet with an electrically heated lighter. Its original purpose was to provide the power that heated the lighter. Most vehicles have one socket.

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Pro Tip: Older high-end models would often have an additional lighter at each ashtray. Some will have non-lighter auxiliary ports available to the passengers in the rear seats and some will have one in the trunk.

Over the decades, it went from being a cigarette lighter to an auxiliary DC connector. The outlet draws power from the electrical system of the car or truck and delivers electricity to portable accessories. It can run various devices, including air pumps, cooling fans, mobile chargers, portable refrigerators, and power inverters.

How Does the Car Cigarette Lighter Work?

Most car cigarette lighters have three parts. First, there’s the main body. Also called the lighter body, the cylindrical part contains a slender coil made of a nickel-chromium alloy.

Plugging the lighter body into the outlet completes an electrical circuit. Direct current flows through the coil of the cigarette lighter, heating up the coil and making it possible to ignite a cigar or cigarette.

The next part is the cylindrical socket body. Finally, the case protects the main body and socket body from getting damaged by careless plugging and unplugging of the lighter.

What’s the Car Cigarette Lighter Voltage?

The lighter will always have the same voltage as the rest of the vehicle electrical system, just over 12 volts with the engine not running and a healthy battery, and up to 14.6 volts with the engine running. Some lighters only have power when the ignition key is switched on.

The lighter will always have the same voltage as the rest of the vehicle electrical system, just over 12 volts with the engine not running and a healthy battery, and up to 14.6 volts with the engine running. Some lighters only have power when the ignition key is switched on.

–Richard McCuistian, ASE Certified Master Automobile Technician

What’s the Original Use of the Car Cigarette Lighter Socket?

The car cigarette lighter socket supplies voltage and current to an electrical coil in the lighter itself. The heater increases the temperature of the lighter inserted in the socket. Once the lighter is glowing with heat, it can light cigarettes and cigars. Note that it can burn your finger or nose if you aren’t careful.

What Else Can You Use the Car Cigarette Lighter For?

The cigarette lighter socket usually acts as a power outlet. There are adapters or connectors that plug into the cigarette lighter socket, which enable backward compatibility between the decades-old socket design and modern devices.

USB Adapters

Like a smartphone charger, it plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. Some adapters have more than one USB connection port, allowing you to charge multiple devices.

Connectors

A connector has wires that directly lead to a device. When you plug the connector into the cigarette lighter socket, it takes the 12V current intended for the lighter and sends it to the connected device.

Examples of electronic devices that charge or draw power from the socket via a connector are dashcams, laptops, and radios.

Here are examples of popular devices that can charge using the car cigarette lighter socket:

Air-Quality Equipment

Your car usually has an HVAC that regulates the temperature and air circulation within the interior. However, extreme weather conditions can overwhelm the heater and air conditioner, especially if you drive an older car or truck with aging parts.

Fortunately, you can run air-quality appliances in your vehicle. Does the high humidity in your car’s interior make you feel hot and sticky? Plug a dehumidifier into the cigarette lighter socket. Are you feeling dry because of low humidity? Use a humidifier. There’s also a portable AC that can run off the voltage supplied by the cigarette lighter socket.

Bluetooth Adapters

While Bluetooth appeared in a few models as early as 1999, it took time to attain widespread status. Thus, many older cars and trucks lack this convenient hands-free technology.

If you drive one of those older models, you can modernize it with a Bluetooth adapter. The accessory plugs into the car cigarette lighter socket. Once you insert the adapter, you can operate Bluetooth devices without lifting a finger.

Food and Drink Storage

Food and drinks taste best when fresh and close to their ideal serving temperature. If you often dine or drink in your car, consider getting a storage device to keep your beverages and edibles cold or warm.

Many food and drink storage devices plug into the cigarette lighter socket. Running on 12 volts, they won’t keep their contents piping hot or chilly. However, they can prevent food from going cold or drinks from turning tepid during long drives.

Smartphone Chargers

Your smartphone’s battery usually lasts more than long enough for most road trips. But what happens when it runs out of charge while you’re far away from a power outlet?

Always keep a smartphone charger in your car for emergencies. The charger plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. While it takes longer to top off your phone’s battery, it will keep the device charged.

The car cigarette lighter is a curious case of backward compatibility. It started out as a simple convenience, but it eventually got repurposed into a versatile and useful feature. While newer models come with dedicated USB connector ports, the cigarette lighter socket continues to soldier on for the foreseeable future.