Powering a cool box in the boot.
 

Is the cigarette lighter feed in the boot a constant live or on with ignition?

I'd like to power a cool box, but not have it powered constantly so the battery flattens.


Cheers. John.

Cannot say for D3 but on A6 C5 it is permanently live. Easy enough to test though, just try it with ignition off either the actual lighter itself or something like phone charger and you will see.

Permanently live but should in theory turn off if battery gets low so should still start but your luck may vary.

Easy enough to find a switched live as well to control a relay. ;)

Power socket left side of boot in a d3 is live all the time, but like snap says you ought to be able to find a ditched live somewhere in the boot and you could use that via a relay.

It's on my todo list as I still run the kivic one off the socket

I would use one of these:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Latching-r...tem1c4fb1 d89c


Use a push button switch with a tell tale LED in it. The switch can be mounted wherever suits you, but you need to run a four core cable to the unit. Two cores for the switch operation and two for the LED. These only carry a very small signal current so the cable can be thin.

You could supply the unit from an ignition switched circuit.

Wired this way means that when ignition is switched on the relay stays in the OFF position. One push turns the relay ON, another push turns the relay OFF. If the relay is ON and you turn the ignition off the relay will also turn OFF, and will stay OFF when the ignition is turned on again.

The tell tale LED in the push button lets you know what state the relay is in.

The Audi Fridge/coolbox when fitted is connected to power, i would suggest using the same source, as its obviosly the right place to put a fridge coolbox

here is the instructions for retrofitting the audi oem fridge

http://www.audi-resource.com/retrocoolbox.php

Thanks all for the input. I know it's live when I've checked it, just wasn't sure if after x minutes it powered down.

I'll read that link when I get home.

Thanks again.

Please oh please tell me where can I easily find one? :)

The only two I know of are a long way from the boot.
First in the roof electrics above the rear view mirror.
Second is in the left hand fuse box. Open the passenger door and it is at the end of the dash. Forget which fuse but be careful, it takes a few seconds to come hot after ignition switch on and also stays hot for a short while after ignition switch off. The horrible thing fooled me for a while.
I have put one of these in the fuse holder:-



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2305022319...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


Just make sure you put it in the correct way.