Here is the problem...everytime I plug my car charger for my cell phone in the cigarette lighter I blow the fuse. I dont knwo if there is a short or if it needs a higher voltage fuse. My car manual tells me to use a 20 volt fuse and I do but is it to low? How can I test if it is a short or not.

 

Do you mean 20A fuse? A cell phone doesn't draw anywhere near that much and I wonder if the wiring can even handle it, so I'd say that's probably a short. Sounds like 20A for a cigarette lighter is too high anyway but I'm sure someone will pop-in with the right fuse value.

 

I'd bet money on a bad phone charger. If you had a multimeter handy, you could measure resistance from the center conductor to the outside ground. It should read open. I'd bet you have very little resistance. Putting higher rated fuses in there is never a good idea, dramatically increases the chances of a fire. Just ask me how I know..

 

Yea it asked for a 20A fuse. The thing is it powers more then just the lighter. It also powers the dome light, the power locks, and some other smaller things (dont have the manual with me). How can I test if it is a short?? About the bad charger, I just bought it so it hope it isnt a bad one.

 

Does it blow the fuse when you plug in your cigarette lighter? If it doesn't then I would suspect the charger is defective.

 

I'm gonna have to say that it's the lighter. I had a similar problem with anything I plugged into my lighter. If I did it slowly, whatever I plugged in would work just fine. But if I was in a hurry or someone who didn't know any better was with me, a device would get jamemed into the socket and blow the fuse. It's most likely the tabs inside the lighter grounding out and blowing the fuse. Then again it may not be also. One thing that I would try is to plug your charger into another car lighter and see if it blows that one also. Another thing you could do is cut the tabs inside of the lighter off, if you don't smoke.