Cigarette Lighter - Turn off with ignition?

[5t3v3]

Hey folks,

One thing I don't like about my beetle is the fact that all of the cigarette/12v power plugs are constantly hot, meaning no matter if you have the car on or off, they will still supply power to whatever is plugged in.

I HATE THIS.

Does anyone know of a quick idea or trick to make these turn off when the ignition to the car is off? I really only need the front two changed, not too worried about the one in the trunk.

Looking forward to any information/suggestions

Steve

[AzDivr]

I wish mine were. They're dead with the key off.

[Lnzbug]

I thought they DID go dead with the key out. I know you can still roll your windows up & down and open & close your sunroof after turning your car off & removing your key but ONLY if you haven't opened a door. Onc the door is opened they stop working. Maybe the same with the plugs.

[5t3v3]

Ohhh.. so they will die once the door is opened and the car locked probably... ?

I'm going outside right now to test this theory

[from Margaritaville...]

On my '99, the front two are always hot (don't know about the trunk)...

[5t3v3]

Just went out and did a 5 minute test. They are still on once shutting off the car, opening and closing the door, and alarming the car.

I can tell because I have a GPS plugged in, that is still lit up and charging.

[5t3v3]

Originally Posted by AzDivr

I wish mine were. They're dead with the key off.

You sure about that?

[antonym]

Mine are hot all the time. I guess my car is just a 'hot' cyber green

[Lnzbug]

Oh well, I thought for sure that would be it. OK, try this test, un arm your car, open the door, leave it open & try to lock & set the alarm. If it relocks then that's the problem.

[AzDivr]

Originally Posted by 5t3v3

You sure about that?

Yep, cell phone won't charge unless key on.

[zeusenergy]

Originally Posted by Lnzbug

Oh well, I thought for sure that would be it. OK, try this test, un arm your car, open the door, leave it open & try to lock & set the alarm. If it relocks then that's the problem.

What you are saying is the door latch switch is dead then. The car can't see when you have opened the door, so the accessories remain on. My latch switch is dead and my lighter jacks do the same thing, stay on.

[FarrisK]

Originally Posted by zeusenergy

What you are saying is the door latch switch is dead then. The car can't see when you have opened the door, so the accessories remain on. My latch switch is dead and my lighter jacks do the same thing, stay on.

My 02's door latches work fine, and my cigarette lighters are always on. I actually charge my cell phone in the car at night most times.

I thought it was a feature.

[Lnzbug]

Originally Posted by FarrisK

My 02's door latches work fine, and my cigarette lighters are always on. I actually charge my cell phone in the car at night most times.

I thought it was a feature.

So you did the test as I mentioned? If so then you indeed have a special feature.

[FarrisK]

Yep. I opened the door, clicked the lock button on the fob, and it didn't chirp at me until I closed the door.

Hmmm. I think I will do some digging in the manual about this...

[FarrisK]

Originally Posted by FarrisK

Yep. I opened the door, clicked the lock button on the fob, and it didn't chirp at me until I closed the door.

Hmmm. I think I will do some digging in the manual about this...

I flipped through the manual, and it says that leaving things plugged in without the engine running can drain the battery. Nothing about the ignition switch, though.

I did re-test my door locks deal, though:
Doors open: Socket on, doors will not lock with fob, but fob can unlock passenger door.
Doors closed: Socket on, doors will lock, alarm will arm.

Was my car modded by one of the POs?

[5t3v3]

Originally Posted by FarrisK

I flipped through the manual, and it says that leaving things plugged in without the engine running can drain the battery. Nothing about the ignition switch, though.

This is the stupidest idea... with all of the little gizmos and gadgets people use in the car, why the hell would they want to increase the chance of running down our car batteries... ?

VW engineering at it's worst

[boogety boogety]

Until 2005, the cig plug was live always. In 2006, a change was made to have the cig plug switched with ignition.

That's nice for the GPS, it switches on and off with the ignition, but not for charging my phone/PDA, which I want to be able to charge whether or not the ignition is on. You can leave a cell phone plugged in for a couple of days without running your battery down, so "forgetting" it is not really an issue for me. I can't be without my PDA for that long in any case...

I installed a two-plug adapter inside my armrest, and wired it to be always on, so I can hide my phone(s) in the armrest and keep it charged on longer trips. If a call comes through, the Bluetooth picks it up, so I don't even have to take my hands off the wheel...

[vomitburp]

i just thought since mine was a manual thats why they stayed on.

every manual vehicle ive had they always stay on after shutting off vehicle, but the automatics ive had shut off with the ignition

is that why or maybe just my vehicles have been that way.

id really like to have mine switch off, thats how my ipod charger knew to hit stop on the ipod

[5t3v3]

Originally Posted by vomitburp

i just thought since mine was a manual thats why they stayed on.

every manual vehicle ive had they always stay on after shutting off vehicle, but the automatics ive had shut off with the ignition

is that why or maybe just my vehicles have been that way.

id really like to have mine switch off, thats how my ipod charger knew to hit stop on the ipod

Hehe, interesting, but yeah probably just a coincidence :P

[Yurko]

my 2000 does the same thing. I have a radar detector, and it's a pain to plug and unplug the damn thing or reach up to turn it off when I turned out of the car. I also didn't like having the power cable draped all over the place.

I replaced my heater core a while back, and when I had the dash apart I hard-wired the detector into the car power supply, and put a switch in under the dash so I can turn it on and off easily. Yes I'm that lazy.

This is the DIY I got the info from:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2672579

my detector is velcro'd down at the top center of my center console piece, so the power cord just pokes out and plugs into it. This solved both of my problems.

If you want continuous power to whatever (i.e. when the car is off as well), that's easy. I can switch mine over in about 5 minutes, as it's just a matter of which power source you attach it to.