Talk:Car cigarette lighter

How about the history behind this curious standard. How did it happen, that all car manufactoring companies agreed on this? Was it due to one car cigarette lighter producer, or what happened? 195.249.172.62 18:17, 11 January 2007 (UTC) kvols

Relationship between SAE J563 and SAE/USCAR-4?
It is not clear what is the relationship between SAE J563 (Six- and Twelve Volt Cigar Lighter Recepacles) and SAE/USCAR-4 (Standard for Cigar Lighters and Power Outlets), and how to know which vehicles use which... SAE J563 has an 8 ampere limit, whereas SAE/USCAR-4 seems to allow upwards of 20 amperes. It would be helpful to know are the physical outlet configurations different preventing misconnection, and are there any safety issues if a larger power product (e.g., inverter) designed to be attached to a power outlet complying with the SAE/USCAR-4 standard is connected to an older outlet designed to the SAE J563 standard instead? Is the only protection feature the automotive fuse blowing? What if a owner replaces the fuse with a larger fuse? Tom 455 18:27, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I have purchased the SAE J563 specification, so am 1/2 way to the complete knowledge of what differentiates the two. J563's details are sparse, as they neglect to define the depth of the socket, the diameter of the center pin, and many other features. My hunch is that USCAR-4 is an update based on J563, but revised specifically to support the use for supplying DC power instead of just heating up cigar lighters.
 * Because the difference between the two 12-volt sizes is so small (about 0.5 mm), it is tough to visually determine which size socket a car has. The only safety feature would be the fuse, and the fuse panel is often far enough away from the lighter socket that you may at least melt the wiring leading to it.
 * I am also not aware of how to tell the difference between a J563 socket and a USCAR-4 socket.--Peter K. Sheerin, K6WEB 02:56, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Merge Proposal
This article is substantially the same as Cigar lighter receptacle and I propose this one should be merged into the latter, given the latter's more in-depth treatment. Thoughts? 202.172.106.195 05:51, 12 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I did it. Not sure Cigar lighter receptacle should be the final name though.--agr 16:15, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

How does it pop out?
Would somebody here be able to explain what mechanism makes the lighter pop out when it is heated up?

Bi-metallic strip. I added an explanation to the merged article.--agr 16:15, 25 May 2007 (UTC)