cigarette lighter not charging electronics in 1971 Mach 1

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sadlerb_98

Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2011
Messages
14
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Location
Colorado Springs, CO
My Car
1971 Mach 1
My 1971 Mach 1 cigarette lighter works when I push in the lighter. It just wont' charge things like a GPS or phone. Is that normal for our Mustangs? Or, do I need to check some things out.

thanks,

Bobby

 
My experience has been that the chargers and such of today don't reach far enough into the socket on our cars.

 
I am glad you posted this. Had the same issue with my 71. Bought a new cigarette lighter and spliced it in behind the floor council. Runs my GPS and phone charger. Thanks again for posting.

 
Stupid me cut the wire to the cigarette lighter charger and hard wired it for my GPS for the mustang.

Blew it in 2 seconds because the actual bit that went into the cigarette lighter also housed the electronics to drop it down to 5 volts!

Boy, what a lot of fun that was......not!

 
The pin at the end of any charger don't reach the contact. Before I picked up my car around Paris last year, I asked to the vendor if the lighter was working to connect my GPS to drive back home (500 miles), he sent me a picture of the lighter red like my coverall, but then when I wad ready to drive back home and connect my GPS, was not working.

I went back home anyway :)[/u]

 
Here's what I did. I got me a cheap extension that has two outlets and even two USB outlets. Bought it at a gas station if I remember correctly. It has a cord that you would plug into a standard (modern) cigarette lighter. I clipped that plug off and looped the wires in parallel into the wires of the original lighter.

I glued the new outlet onto the side wall of the glovebox using double sided adhesive tape. That way I can charge phones by USB while using my GPS on one of the standard outlets. The wires can be routed through the gap at the bottom of the glove box door, so you can keep the glove box shut while you drive.

Easy and works like a charm.

 
I plan on just buying an aftermarket "power outlet" from one of the local auto parts houses, and mounting it somewhere out of sight, then using that for the modern electronics, that way I can leave the original lighter as is.

 
Yep, something like that! Maybe below the dash on the passenger side.

 
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