ronjenx

I see. That would make an interesting read, assuming it was not the fuse shutting off the power.

ylojelo

I'm looking to run a pair of 2w LEDs as daytime running lights, so draw won't be a problem. And I'd want them to come on when the the engine is running.
I'm hoping the 2w atts will be bright enough. The are the brightest amber LEDs I could find that will fit in to the ARB front bumper corner markers. Those take a 1156 bulb, but the housing will melt if a conventional bulb is used longer than just a flasher.

ylojelo

This looks like a great idea. I dismissed the fuse box because it was so sealed up, it didn't occur to me to do what you did drilling a hole. Thanks for the great write-up.


I'll need to check if my '12 is the same.

swarbrickjesse

Hello Everyone!

I am new to this forum and hope someone can be of help to me and my recently purchased 2010 jeep wrangler unlimited islander.

I am planning on running a switch for my dash camera. I have already mounted the switch, I am just having some trouble deciding on how to wire the dash cam to it. I am using a simple rocker switch with 2 prongs on the back.

I would love to tap into the power wire of the cigarette lighter (make the power wire on the harness pigtail into 2 leads, one of which goes back to the cigarette lighter and the other going into the positive of the switch.

I am curious if anyone knows what color the power wire on the cigarette lighter harness is the correct one to use.

I know that I could simply run the wires to the fuse box but I am trying to keep the job consise and neat, and by wiring a dash cam that uses low amps to the cigarette lighter, I feel this will be the best way to achieve my project.

Any help would be great and I appreciate the feedback.

Thanks in Advance!

Jesse

resharp001

I tapped in to the 12V cig lighter/phone charger in the dash on my '13 to power my seat heaters. I also ran my Bully Dog tuner straight to the fuse box. The fuse box route was way easier.

swarbrickjesse

Thanks for the quick response! I understand that the fuse box method is the easiest way to do so and am very experienced in using use fuse taps to achieve my goal.

However, running directly to the cigarette lighter would be the cleanest way for me to do this.

My questions:

- Which wire is the power wire (which wire provides power to the cig lighter)?
- what color is that wire on the 2010?
- Once the wire is isolated, can I pigtail it so it has to leads, run the one lead back to the cig lighter as normal and use the other lead to run to my accessory/switch?

Thanks again,

Jesse

resharp001

When I did this it was a couple years ago, and it was to install seat heaters. I already had to have my center console pulled so just ended up going right behind the dash and tapping the wire. I don't recall what color or anything about it since I grabbed it literally off the back of the plug.

I don't see any reason why you couldn't do this. Like I said, I originally did this to run seat heaters to both driver and passenger seats. Later I came back and tapped it again for the switch to my twin arb air compressor located under my passenger seat. I essentially did the same thing you want to do. Now, if I'm running both seat heaters, have phone plugged in, and I hit that switch for my air compressor at the same time, I'll pop the fuse, but that's not surprising given the air compressor.

Lashway4x4

On my last personal Jeep, which was a beater that I abused off road, I tapped into my Cig Lighter.

The reason for doing so was once I turned my key then power was given to my ac plug and my electric fan would turn on. I had a wire run from the Cig Lighter to a relay, then the relay to the electric fan.

Now like I said I just found any easy way to splice into some power on a vehicle I didnt care much about, but I would recommend using the fuse panel and jumping in from there.

swarbrickjesse

Thank you all for the quick responses!

Here are the two wires that are attached to the male end of the cig lighter plug.

I tried using a volt meter (a very old one) to tap into the wire and read which one was HOT (positive).

The volt meter did not work, so I am not sure which wire is positive.

I would have to guess its the purple and blue one?

Either way if this wire is positive, I am going to snip it, splice it, and pigtail it, then reconnect the one wire back to the main plug. The other end of the pigtail will wire directly to the switch.

Here is a quick sketch for visual purposes below.


Let me know what you guys think... I believe if I grab the positive wire, I should be golden, although I havent been able to get a reading out of the volt meter for either wire.

Thanks in advance,

Jesse

resharp001

This might seem super obvious, but you did have the ignition on while trying to test that with the meter right? It's only live when the vehicle is on. Honestly, if it were me and I couldn't get a reading.....got a 50/50 shot at being right. Snip one and go for it. If you're wrong, it's just a quick patch job. Not end of the world.

Your diagram is precisely what I did.