ok so i was fiddling with the car again and i just bought a new radar detector, i plugged it in and there was no power, so when i pulled the panel i found that the whole thing was disconnected, when i hooked it up my acc fuse popped, could it be safe for me to say the socket is defective? i read something about the tabs groudning out, i only need the thing for my RD so can i just bend them out and pop em off? im pretty sure this is whats popping the fuse because it wasnt plugged in before and when i plug it in the fuse just pops

 

minor update, i popped them out due to my impatience and when i plugged in my phone charger it threw a spark inside of the socket them my lights dimmed, i wiggled it, more sparks and then popped the fuse.

defective lighter socket?

 

sounds like you ahve it figured out

Pull it out disconnect your hot wire from it

put fuse in and see if it still pops the fuse, if it does it is not your lighter but a problem closer to the fuse panel

 

FYI, the (+) goes in the center and the (-) is the outer, in case it wasn't connected correctly. You should just hardwire your RD. Thats what I did with mine. Got to radioshack and just get an inline fuse holder, and cut the radar wire to the correct length and just wire it to your roof lights... It takes about 20mins and looks super clean...Good luck!