cigarette lighter connections

[btoran]

i never tried the cigarette lighter in my car and now that i'm finishing up a dashboard project, i thought i would try it out. i bought a voltmeter that sticks into the cigarette lighter and it shows that there is only voltage when the ignition key is off. as soon as i turn the key, voltage stops. i'm pretty sure this is the opposite of how it should be connected. the connections look like a wire coming directly into the back of the lighter and another on a spade connector. i labelled all connections when i removed my dahs so i don;t think i confused any wires and it may have been this way when i bought the car. so, which is supposed to be the hot wire and which the ground? thanks.

[JEEPER]

i never tried the cigarette lighter in my car and now that i'm finishing up a dashboard project, i thought i would try it out. i bought a voltmeter that sticks into the cigarette lighter and it shows that there is only voltage when the ignition key is off. as soon as i turn the key, voltage stops. i'm pretty sure this is the opposite of how it should be connected. the connections look like a wire coming directly into the back of the lighter and another on a spade connector. i labelled all connections when i removed my dahs so i don;t think i confused any wires and it may have been this way when i bought the car. so, which is supposed to be the hot wire and which the ground? thanks.

The ground should be the outer shell and the center contact should be the hot. You can trouble shoot this by placing one probe on the center contact and the other on a bare spot on something connected to the frame.

[btoran]

will try that tonight. thanks.

[btoran]

got the proper wires connected in the proper spots and works great now. thanks for the help.