Polarity of power outlet

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Chip - 24 Nov 2007 00:19 GMT

I am removing my ashtray and cigar lighter as I have no need for them.
I am putting in a new power outlet (old cigar lighter socket with a
fancy new name) and was wondering about the polarity of the connections.
I assume that the center pole is + and the case is - (ground). Right?

Chip

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-->> T.G. Lambach <<-- - 24 Nov 2007 04:01 GMT

Since the whole chassis is attached to the battery's negative terminal
the "hot" wire is the + one.

Be sure the device that you'll be plugging into the power outlet expects
that polarity.

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David J - 26 Nov 2007 16:02 GMT

>Since the whole chassis is attached to the battery's negative terminal
>the "hot" wire is the + one.
>
>Be sure the device that you'll be plugging into the power outlet expects
>that polarity.

And always use a multimeter to check polarity when working on the car
electrics.

David

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Rob Smith - 27 Nov 2007 18:54 GMT

> I am removing my ashtray and cigar lighter as I have no need for them.
> I am putting in a new power outlet (old cigar lighter socket with a
> fancy new name) and was wondering about the polarity of the connections.
> I assume that the center pole is + and the case is - (ground). Right?
>
> Chip

That is the way it's been on every car that I've ever worked on, and that
is what virtually all 12 volt accessories that use a lighter plug expect
to find.

+++++
Posted via Debian GNU/Linux
www.debian.org
+++++

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DougS - 28 Nov 2007 13:24 GMT

On Nov 27, 1:54 pm, Rob Smith <r_a_smith3...@sbcglobal.NOSPAM.net>
wrote:

> > I am removing my ashtray and cigar lighter as I have no need for them.
> > I am putting in a new power outlet (old cigar lighter socket with a
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> Posted via Debian GNU/Linuxwww.debian.org
> +++++

I did this exact same thing on my 84 300D. I put in three sockets in
place of the ash tray, one wired directly to the battery (for power
when the ignition is off) and two others controlled by the ignition.
You can see them on an early entry at my blog: http://dougsmb.blogspot.com
I used the old connector for the cigar lighter, and checked (and
double-checked) the polarity of the plug with my multi-meter before
hooking everything up. Simple spade connectors fit inside the plug
sockets, so that worked great. Only new wire was the positive from the
battery, along with the other stuff (including a fuse) hooked to the
new sockets.

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