[mike sevel]

'08 E93.
I can plug an aftermarket mini air compressor in to the cigarette lighter port on my Camry and it works well. When I plug in to my E93 port, nicht gut! Is there a separate fuse for the lighter port? Every thing else electrical is gut.
Pls advise.
Mikey

[catcher22]

There is a fuse for the cig lighter. It's a small 20 amp yellow fuse - usually slot #08 in the fuse box.

here you go

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161829

[VWaddict]

Just playing Devil's Advocate here, but not all 12V outlets are "cigarette lighter" outlets...

Cigarette lighters draw lots of amps. So do tire air compressors.

But on my VW's for example, ONE of the "cigarette lighter" outlets had a 20A fuse, and thick gauge wiring behind it... the other (in all other ways identical-looking) outlets was for plugging in phone chargers etc, and had thin-gauge wiring protected by a 5A fuse... So you can guess what happens if you plug the lighter (which I never once used) or an air compressor into the low-current outlet.

Not sure if the BMW's are all high-current outlets or not.

[gjm120]

You can buy an adapter that has clips to attach to your battery (or underhood terminals) on one end and your compressor cigarette lighter plug on the other. Most compressors will pull more amps than cigarette lighters can handle.

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GC017-So...41RZWW71T3YM6M

[gunnerxq]

Just in case you might have over looked this but the car has to be on to supply power to the cigarette lighter.

Edit: Was this the issue?