How to have the lighter/accessory sockets turn off

[wai]

G'day,

I have discovered a rather annoying thing with my Caddy Maxi Life.

Basically, I cannot turn the lighter/accessory sockets off. Even when the ignition is turned off and I have removed the key and locked it up, the lighter and accessory sockets remain live. I have checked several hours later and they are still live.

The fine manual says that they should go off with the ignition, but not mine.

Anyone know of a solution to this? I have read similar threads on other forums that reveal this feature on other vehicles in the VW range.

Thanks.

[Lams]

you could find the fuse that powers it, take it out, and bridge it to come from one of the ignition fuse ports. my '06 and my '11 both have live ciggy lighter sockets

[rogerd63]

Same problem in the T5 van. Very annoying ! Plus id like to shut up the seatbelt warning ding ding ding! Any ideas?

[Lams]

You need to get into your Instruments controller via a VCDS
Ran out of time on the weekend... will try again this weekend!

[ugg327]

Why does it matter? They wont drain the battery, will they?

[wai]

As far as the lighter/accessory sockets are concerned, there is a safety issue. Also, the manual says that they turn off when the ignition is turned off.

[wai]

Just thought I'd let you know what I ended up doing.

To try and add an extra circuit off the fuse panel under the steering wheel I bought two Add-A-Circuit devices. I managed to locate an unused fuse position 28 had power available only with the ignition switch in the engine on position. There was nothing on the output side. Actually all locations from 25 through 28 were the same. Shining a torch on the panel showed the bright metal to indicate where power was available.

I hooked up one of the Add-A-Circuit devices there and confirmed the additional circuit as having power when the ignition was in the engine on position.

Thinking a bit, it suddenly came to me that I could use the other Add-A-Circuit device in reverse in fuse 47 (the cigarette lighter). Here it is installed so that the input side of the device is actually on the output side of the fuse and the cables from both devices are connected together.

It all works, and can be easily returned to the original configuration if necessary.

There are two things that have to be noted.

The first is that on both devices the lower fuse must NOT be installed. This normally restores the original circuit, however in this case, the original circuits are not used.

The second is that the upper fuse must be installed in both cases and must be the same rating as the original for the cigarette lighter. The two fuses are in series so the overall circuit protection is the same. If the cigarette lighter fails, you will have to check both of the fuses and if both have blown, you will have to replace both of them.

Lastly, before you connect the cables together, double check that both halves of the circuit are working correctly and that the fuses are in the correct position.

The one off fuse 28 must only be active with the ignition in the engine on position.

The one of Fuse 47 must not light in any position.

Both devices must have NO fuses in the lower position.

When all these checks pass, connect the cables together (I used crimp bullet connectors).

Now with the ignition off, the cigarette lighter is off, and with the ignition in the engine on position, the cigarette lighter is on.

It should also be noted that this does not affect the operation of the accessory socket at the back of the centre console, or the one in the load area. Those are protected by fuses 52 and 53. If you wanted the same operation on them you would have to do something similar to them with appropriately sized fuses.

The standard fuse for the cigarette lighter socket is 20 A, the one for the console accessory socket is 25 A, and the one for the load area is 30 A.

In summary, what this does is take power from the ignition on supply and deliver it to the cigarette lighter power supply. The two fuses are a little wasteful but does not change the circuit protection for the cigarette lighter. I stayed away from trying to bridge one of the fuses as this is asking for trouble and is not good. There is no issue with the supply for the ignition on supply as this has a 60 A main fuse and potentially powers all the fuses from 25 through 42.