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I own a Ford Fiesta 2006 when my car is turned off my cigarette lighter stays on as I only have one I use a 3 way cigarette lighter plug splitter adapter I use one port for the dash cam and one for an fm transmitter. The other one is turned off so no power is going there. The device it self has an on/off button at the bottom so I’m wondering if I can keep it plugged in to the cigarette light and when not in use I can use the on/off button to turn the whole thing completely off, will doing this still use my car battery?

Thanks for your help in advance 😊

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  • Yes, turn it off, then no power draw.
    – Moab
    Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 23:30

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The cigarette lighter is a simplistic design, it feeds from a 12v B+, and is fused.

Just like the outlets in your house, when you don't use an object plugged into the wall, there is still a draw.

The same is true for your vehicle. Some cars have the ability to detect draws from exterior/interior lights, usb and cigarette lighter ports. It's best practice to unplug devices from these interior ports as back-up systems, like those described, DO fail and dead car batteries are never fun.

Just take the extra minute and unplug it!

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I would unplug it overnight or switch it off (seems like you can). If you just away for a few hours it should be fine because these devices usually don't need to much power. There are exceptions like chargers though.

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