I bought two of these today (one from Tesco, one from Halfrauds) and neither of them worked so I returned them.

I find it hard to believe that they were both faulty so it leads me to believe it may be the 12v socket. The cigarette lighter works absolutely fine.

Both units had a small light on them to indicate when the charger is on and neither of them came on.

One was a unit that plugged a USB lead in, and one was a unit with the lead permanently attached.

It's not urgent but I'm travelling next week and was planning on using my phone as a SatNav and, being a modern smartphone, the battery only lasts about 10 minutes once you've started using it for anything.

If the ciggy lighter gets hot then there's nothing wrong with the socket:-)

Check the plug on the next device that you buy - I have a satnav that needs a 'twist and a wiggle' to make a good connection in the socket.

Regards

I occasionally get this problem, one will work whereas a different brand wont work, Funnier enough all the cheapos of ebay have worked fine.

Yeah I tried a couple, and I tried to wiggle them about in case of a sloppy connection, but no matter what, neither of them would get any power. Might try a cheap eBay one and if it doesn't work I've only wasted a few quid. Just seems bizarre that neither of them worked but the socket clearly does...

If the ciggy lighter gets hot then there's nothing wrong with the socket:-)

Be careful. If the socket is wired the wrong way round, the cig lighter will work but not the USB adapter.

If the ciggy lighter gets hot then there's nothing wrong with the socket:-)

Be careful. If the socket is wired the wrong way round, the cig lighter will work but not the USB adapter.

Meaning? I've ordered another one and I'm gonna try again, hoping I can get it to work, just for convenience really.

The centre of the socket should be the positive terminal and the outer ground, unless someone has modified the connector on the rear, it's not possible to connect it the wrong way :)

I don't see why anyone would have bothered doing that, so I'll just have to make the one I've ordered work.

I don't see why anyone would have bothered doing that, so I'll just have to make the one I've ordered work.

Its not uncommon for muppets to hang kettles, windscreen heaters or big invertors off the fag lighter socket.

Even if the fuse is correct, its quite easy to overheat the socket. The socket is then replaced meaning the wiring needs to be remade. If its remade in reverse, the fag lighter works but not your kind of adapter. However, if you are sure your wiring is 100% original and you are also sure the socket is 100% original then this isn't the problem.

People often attach loads to the back of the wiring to the fag lighter. If the wiring has been cut and remade, it may be the wrong way round.

Yes its more likely the problem is a badly fitting plug on your usb adapter and it needs to be positioned exactly to work.

Better to forget the fag lighter to usb adapter in favour of something like this;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/321490159445?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108

Well worth checking the socket is wired correctly though, you’d be surprised at some of silly s*** people do and you’ll never get your adapter to work (never mind how many you order) if the sockets polarity is wrong.

Good luck

I'm not even 50% sure on anything with this car to be perfectly honest. How can I check the wiring? Never removed the cig lighter, and wouldn't know what to look for at any rate.

How does the one that you linked work?

Cheers

If you have a multimeter? Then put the red lead onto the centre contact in the socket and the black lead to the outer part of the socket it should then indicate +12v if it says -12v then it has been rewired incorrectly

Getting a 12.82v from the socket, so it's wired correctly.

The barrel part of the socket could be dirty ie corroded. The lighter itself will still work because it has a totally round contact, the sub charger etc only has two small contacts.

Use some sand paper or emery cloth etc around the charger and spin it round a few times, this will clean the metal and give a better ground connection.

Also, if you want to take the socket out to check the connections etc, then just pull the ashtray out and then pull the whole black surround part out (it's one unit) as it just clips in. BUT be careful as these are prone to cracking and may come out in too sections so if you do take it out have some glue to hand. There should be a three way connector, the Middle should be black with a tracer (i think?) and the outer one should be brown. The other hole is for the light but they didn't fit that to the polos.

I just wonder about the voltage regulator on some of these cheap chargers, I need 5.0v for my iPhone and would hate to give it 14 volts of so, just because I was too mean to spend a few bob extra.

Regards

Hadn't even thought of that.I'm pretty sure the one I've got on the way says 5v on it.

My Amazon delivery turned up this morning and the one I bought worked intermittently, needed a wiggle. Took Dixy's advice and gave the contacts a gentle going over with a piece of sandpaper and now it works consistently and absolutely fine. :) Charged my phone 10% in the 10 minutes I used to test it.

Hadn't even thought of that.I'm pretty sure the one I've got on the way says 5v on it.

But is what it says on the label the same as what goes into your device?

Just a thought!

That is very true. I will only be using it as an absolute back up anyway!