SmokeySS

iTrader: (7)

Ravelco.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

The part your missing is that the 85-86 terminals go through a small coil. It is like a resistor and only allows a tiny amount of current through. The cig lighter, by contrast, is a huge circuit and pulls big current. There is no where near enough current to heat up the lighter.

True, but there is so much current needed some may flow through the relay enough to trigger it. This is my educated guess. I may be wrong, but it's worth trying.

There is also no way to prevent a wrecker or flat bed from towing the vehicle. That would be considered a hard core thief. Best defense against that is Lojack or some other type of tracking device. I think some thiefs will drop off the car after stealing it if they suspect a lojack and then wait to see if it is recovered. After a certain amount of time, they'll take away to be stripped or whatever. There are a few different traacking devices, you need to see what your city uses. Plus some can be tracked by the owner through cell phone towers and costs a lot less.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

The 85/86 circuit in the relay is an electromagnet coil. When current flows through it, it generates a magnetic field which pulls the switch contacts into the closed position - connecting 30 to 87.

A cigarette lighter works much like a dead short in a wire. It passes so much current that the element heats up. The heating causes the retaining clips on the side to bend and release the lighter element so that it pops out.

When you wire the relay coil inline with the lighter (series connection) it acts as a current limiter because of its resistance. Although current still flows, it is reduced and that keeps the lighter element from heating up (or makes it heat up very slowly).

NoTicketsPlease

iTrader: (2)

Okay, now that I understand why it doesnt work, how do I get it to work?

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Quit smoking! I quit 7 weeks, 1 day, 9 hours, and 29 minutes ago - but I'm not stressing!

You could try connecting the relay in parallel with the ground (i.e. tap into the ground wire but don't pass all current through the relay) and add a resistor matching the relay coil resistance inline in the original ground wire. This will cut the total resistance to ground in half and still provide current through the relay coil. Cutting the resistance in half should be enough to let the lighter heat up since there wasn't much resistance to start with. Make sure you get a resistor rated for the proper current flow.

Another alternative is to use something other than the cigarette lighter as your trigger. I've had great results using the dome light switch portion of the dimmer switch. When you turn the dimmer all the way up until it clicks you're actually closing a separate switch unrelated to the dash dimmer. It is a grounding switch that gets input through the gray wire and goes to ground through the black wire. Since most people seldom, if ever, use that dome light feature, you can cut the gray wire and use it for the ground of your relay. When you want to activate the relay just push the dial all the way up until it clicks. You could retain the dome light usage and just tap into the gray wire rather than cutting it but that means your dome lights will turn on when you activate your relay.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

A regular resistor may catch fire if you don't know what your doing. I wouldn't recommend that. Try it my way just to see if it works. If it doesn't, then we can try something else.

What about a little button where the other 12v lighter circuit is under the hand brake?

99blancoSS

iTrader: (115)

Simple way is a ground interupt with the battery. But you lose your pre-sets on the radio. Wiring an interupt to the fuel pump is a good idea as well. In the end if someone wants it bad enough they'll get it or vandalize it. Make sure your insurance covers what you have into it and keep your receipts. Bout all you can do. Keeping a low profile helps a lot as well. Advertise and you'll get attention. I've seen POS cars broken into just to get the change that was seen in the console.

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

You know, one of the interesting things about electricity is that there are certain principles that govern its flow. These laws can be expressed mathematically, they never change, and everything about current flow in a circuit can be calculated without a need to "try it just to see if it works".

In this case, unless the ground wire is small enough to create enough resistance to divide the current flow (which we know it isn't), all current will flow directly to ground through the ground wire and the relay won't trip.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

Ehh, sometimes you have to learn through your mistakes. Trying things is always encouraged. After all, how do you think the priciples of electricity were learned? Georg Simon Ohm just thought it up? No, he experimented.

NoTicketsPlease needs to learn too. Just trying things is like learning from experience. Yes, technically it shouldn't work as resistance will always take the path of least resistance, but it might. Wouldn't it be great if it did work?

ToMMy_DuKeS

leave a "little person" in the car armed with a huge boxing glove to perform an old school "weiner punch" if disturbed...worked in the 80's....j/k,lol

BCKNBLK

iTrader: (3)

hahah who would steal a miata,,, wouldnt wanna mess with that guy haha

Ehatcher

iTrader: (1)

IMO, the only real deterrent is full coverage insurance. If they cant drive the car, they are more than likely going to damage the inside in a rage of fury.

Most of the worthless criminals around here are meth heads and they just want something inside the car that they can pawn for a quick fix anyways. An autolock is a good idea, but it wont stop a broken window and a stolen head unit/damaged dash.

Sad world that we live in.

SteveLS19057

Darn am I glad where I live this isnt an issue, though I do like the idea of setting up a fob system just incase when i go to clubs or whatever, areas where it is an issue.