lvicks

Hello,

I've got a '95 es300. I bought a USB charger for my iPhone that plugs into the cigarette lighter. It worked fine for about 2 months, then one day it wasn't working. I figured I had done something weird and blown a fuse. What is strange is that all the electrical systems worked. If I'm not mistaken the radio and cig lighter are on the same fuse so should have both gone out.

Anyway I pulled the fuses and took a look, they were all fine. I turned the car back on and the problem was fixed by apparently resetting the fuses (which makes no sense in an analog circuit world). The problem happened again, and I did the same type of thing - pulled the fuses and put them back in, and it worked. It happened another time, this time on a long road trip. Half way through it started charging again, then went out. I tried pulling the fuses when i got home and no luck.

I double checked if it was the USB charger or the cig lighter by pushing in the cig lighter and seeing if it would work. I think the cig lighter got slightly warm (I could be imagining it), but it definitely was not getting enough juice to heat up properly.

Anyway the reason I'm so confused is all the other electrical systems work fine. Does anyone have any insight that could help me along?

thanks!
L

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Maybe you have poor/oxidized connections in the actual outlet?

JayR463

crazy, my 00 ES does the same thing. fuses are fine and all that. both the cig. lighter and the 12volt one in the arm rest dont work. can get annoying at times, always seems to happen when i forget to charge my phone the night before, leaving me with a dead phone.

lvicks

one day soon I'll poke around inside the dash and figure out if the wiring is messed up, but too busy at the moment. You should do the same if you have a moment.

mdbrown

Unless that's an Apple brand charger, I'd try that in another car first and make sure it isn't the charger causing the problem.

lvicks

Good call. I have a multimeter I am gonna check it w/ as well

dewso1

Check your battery voltage whilst running aswell, if its low the charger might sense that there isnt enough charge and not turn on.

When i had bad terminals it used to turn over fine, but didnt charge all that well, and occasionally the battery would get to a low voltage whilst driving and some of the electrical system wouldnt work and it wouldnt start again once stopped. Sounds like a different situation but still worth checking.

JayR463

^^ what he said is strange but its kinda true. the alternator on my car went out on me, it was the original back from 00, so it got a good 12 years on it, cant complain i guess lol. but yeah, so i swapped that out, and my charger hasnt died out on my yet. only been bout a week so i will def let know if it happens again. check to see if your car putting out atleast 14volts at the battery, if not your car aint charging right, and that could very well be the problem.

lvicks

How do I check if my car is putting out 14v? Just test the terminals while running?
My car is 18 years old so I wouldn't be surprised if that was a problem either.

dewso1

Yep, with a multimeter. Red to positive, black to negative etc. Make sure you have it set for 200v on the multimeter or you will get some weird reading like 30 or so.

Mines a 93 and i've had no problems apart from the terminals (previous owners fault) and some old worn out rubber. It's a very reliable car.

mdbrown

Just measure voltage at the battery while the car is running. At idle with no load you should get no less than 13.5 volts. At say, 2k rpm you should be somewhere around 14.1-14.4 volts. If you are under 13 volts then your alternator is weak. If you measure battery voltage only while running then the alternator isn't working at all.

lvicks

ok cool. thanks guys!

loving this forum

lvicks

I checked the battery terminals and they fluctuate between 13.2 and 13.1. Def never close to 14.

I then checked the cig lighter and saw fluctuates between 7v and 12v. I did my best to make sure it was not physical contact issues with my meter but I am pretty sure I saw fluctuation.

So it would appear that the issue is the alternator, except this doesn't explain why the stereo works fine. The stereo and lighter share a fuse so the stereo should be doing all kinda of weird stuff right? Either way I'll get the alternator checked out.

ErikTheRed

Mine has been dead the few times I tried using it... until I read this thread. For some reason it started working within the last couple weeks.maybe something was loose inside it or something?
Literally all I did was plug and AC Inverter into it and it kicked on.

JayR463

13v is good, your alt is fine. every battery is rated at 12v but a fully charged battery is 14.2v if i remember correctly. so pretty much anything under 12v is no bueno.