Cigar Lighter

[K1 CERB]

Can any body confirm if it stays live all the time. I want to buy an 'Optimate' for a xmas pressie, to keep my friends battery in tip-top condition.

PS promise you won't tell them!

K1 Cerb

[craig]

no it doesn't - as I found out soon after buying

I attach mine direct to the battery

[Arno]

K1 CERB said:

Can any body confirm if it stays live all the time.

It may or it may not...

As usual it varies between build years and types.

Only checking it will give you a definite answer..

Bye, Arno.

[DanH]

S2s are always live AFAIK.

[Arno]

I thought Lotus changed it on the S2 111S. The regular ones (like my S2) are indeed 'always on', but I've seen some reports about the '111'/VVC versions having a switched power again.

I tihnk they pulled the same sort of trick on the S1..

Bye, Arno.

[adrianr]

Even if it isn't it's a fairly trivial fix to make it so. On mine I ran a short lead with an inline fuse from battery positive to the appropriate terminal in the fuse box. Took about 15 mins to make up the wire, requires no permanent mods and is completely removable.

AdrianR

[Arno]

On the S2 you need a loooooong wire.. Battery in boot, not front

Bye, Arno.

[fergusd]

No need to go all the way to the battery, simplest way to change the behaviour is to change the tag the lighter is supplied from on the ignition barrel.

Alternatively put your optimate directly onto the battery, much simpler.

Fd

[Jayg0]

Can anyone do me an 'idiots guide' to making my lighter socket permanent live?

I was going to run a live from the loom as it rns along the transmission tunnel inside the car but I'm not sure (without piercing the insulation) which colour wire is permanent live!

Anyone got any easier methods?