Cigarette Lighter Socket Won't Stay Hot

[LDHunter]

I hate it that my cigarette lighter socket looses power shortly after turning off the ignition on my Ranger Raptor.

Is there and easy fix for this? I hate to have to install another cigarette lighter socket that will look like a backyard mechanic did it after a few beers in my nearly new and really great looking truck.

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[stuartmunto]

I think I remember reading that the timeout can be adjusted in Forscan?? Could be wrong but might be worth having a read through the Forscan mega-thread and checking out the spreadsheets

 

[LDHunter]

Thanks but I don't want to have to resort to using Forscan just for that because I don't anticipate using it for anything else.

Does anyone else have a quick and simple fix?

 

[MasterCylinder]

I hate it that my cigarette lighter socket looses power shortly after turning off the ignition on my Ranger Raptor.

Is there and easy fix for this? I hate to have to install another cigarette lighter socket that will look like a backyard mechanic did it after a few beers in my nearly new and really great looking truck.

Are you referring to the one in the center console storage box?

 

[John E Davies]

How long do you want it to stay powered? Because the timeout is there to protect the battery. My complaint is the opposite, the Accessory circuit powers up every time any door is opened. This is plain stupid - my Garmin gps is normally plugged into the USB C socket and it boots up, then goes to sleep without shutting down completely, and this kills the gps battery. I plan to install a switchable aftermarket socket that stays OFF until I turn it on manually. There are cables with inline switches, but the gps won’t charge with those.

One option for you is a battery pack that will power your device (like a small fridge) whenever the truck power turns off. Ecoflow makes great ones and they are heavily discounted (up to half off) during the holiday season. I have used my smaller one (512 Watt hours) in the truck bed, it works great but it won’t run a fridge more than a few hours at best. Larger is better! Be sure to get a model with LiFePO4 battery! Make sure it has a round 12 volt outlet - using the inverter to power an AC to DC adapter wastes too much energy.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BR5NM8L4?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

John Davies
Spokane Wa USA

 

[Trimjb]

Yep, wish it stayed hot.
I plug my dash cam into it so it would be nice to have 24/7 for parking protection.
I don't really want to run a hard wired system to a hot circuit.

 

[John E Davies]

Yep, wish it stayed hot.
I plug my dash cam into it so it would be nice to have 24/7 for parking protection.
I don't really want to run a hard wired system to a hot circuit.

An “always on” dash cam will flatten your truck battery very quickly and it will stop recording. It is a complete non-starter for long term parking. You need a dedicated second battery to do this. It doesn’t have to be enormous, just separate.

Dash cam battery video

Look at the specs for your dash cam, divide the watt hour rating of an additional battery by the camera watts used (while parked), that will give you the theoretical run time before the battery goes dead and switches itself off. But the actual run time will always be less.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[ChronciallyChronic]

I hate it that my cigarette lighter socket looses power shortly after turning off the ignition on my Ranger Raptor.

Is there and easy fix for this? I hate to have to install another cigarette lighter socket that will look like a backyard mechanic did it after a few beers in my nearly new and really great looking truck.

Maybe stop smoking? LOL

 

[Trimjb]

An “always on” dash cam will flatten your truck battery very quickly and it will stop recording. It is a complete non-starter for long term parking. You need a dedicated second battery to do this. It doesn’t have to be enormous, just separate.

Dash cam battery video

Look at the specs for your dash cam, divide the watt hour rating of an additional battery by the camera watts used (while parked), that will give you the theoretical run time before the battery goes dead and switches itself off. But the actual run time will always be less.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

Thanks for the advice.
I'll check out the video.

 

[bigb]

If I needed a live 12V socket in the cab with the engine off I'd probably just buy one of these and poke it thru one of the rubber firewall grommets and wire it to the battery. The socket and cord could be stashed in the charging cubby or in the console. They come in 3,6 and 10 foot lengths.
I have a 6 footer that I used to power a 12 volt cooler for 5 days last year.

 

[John E Davies]

I have a 6 footer that I used to power a 12 volt cooler for 5 days last year.

Do you mean 5 consecutive days? What was the outside temperature and were you parked in the shade? Can you please tell us what model cooler or fridge you have? Were you able to restart your truck afterwards without using a jump starter?

Thanks,

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[bigb]

Do you mean 5 consecutive days? What was the outside temperature and were you parked in the shade? Can you please tell us what model cooler or fridge you have? Were you able to restart your truck afterwards without using a jump starter?

Thanks,

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

Sorry I should have been more specific, this was not on my truck, it was on my motorhome. The fridge was an Alpicool IR42 portable inverter fridge that runs between 40 and 60 watts, the temperature was moderate in the low 70's, in the shade and the battery was a 100ah LiFeP04. The cooler was not opened during the 5 day test. The 5 days were consecutive and there was no charging taking place during the test.

 

[bigb]

Depending on what the OP has in mind to be running off that socket the second battery option is a good idea if the load will be substantial. If just for charging a phone I wouldn't be too worried.

 

[LDHunter]

What I'm tempting to do is run a GPS Tracking device for hunting dogs. It's unlikely to run the truck battery down in several hours. I'm going to look into separate battery pack as a temporary fix and having my mechanic install a couple of always hot outlets that can be turned on or off with the overhead switches later.

 

[LDHunter]

AHA!!! I just found this and I have several DeWalt tools, flashlights etc. I also have a BUNCH of their 20V rechargeable batteries. It's powered by a DeWalt 20v battery and converts to 12v and has a built-in cigarette lighter socket.

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