Gramps Garage Report post Posted July 20, 2020 (edited) Long time reader, first time poster on this forum. Gotta start some where, eh? In case it doesn't show up on my sig line; I have 2011 Escape SLS - bare bones as possible. Most things I've been able to muddle through with the help of this and similar forums. But this has got me perplexed. I was installing a second power socket by tapping off the cigar lighter power lines. After several fails, I removed everything and checked voltage to the wires that connect to the original outlet. With the truck off I get ~11.6 volts. With the truck running it reads ~12.4. I checked with multiple meters, and checked alternator output @ 14.5 volts. I would think that if a fuse had blown I should see nothing at the cigar lighter outlet. Right? Any ideas as to why this is happening? Edit: I realize that running 12v should be sufficient to operate anything plugged into the outlet, but it does not. EDIT 2: I did check for a short using the original wiring and it showed 0 ohms. Edited July 20, 2020 by Gramps Garage Forgot to mention something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrtechnologist2u Report post Posted October 17, 2020 Try testing cigar lighter with a load (low resistance) plugged in. You could have a bad ground connection, Or a bad +12 volt connection. Loose wire, corroded connection or broken broken wire just touching each other. If this case you have enough of a connection to read battery voltage but once you plug something into the socket you drop all the voltage across the bad connection and it heats up, increases resistance and becomes the load. When it gets bad enough the connection will fail and you will have 0 volts at the cigar lighter. Just think of it as a corroded batter connection. It will read the correct voltage but it wont start the car like that! Hope this helps Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
