Is there any way I can rewire the cigarette lighter to only get power when the car is on? I need to charge my Ipod but I don't want it killing my battery. Thanks.
put a relay triggered off the radio on the hot wire of the plug. pin 85 to ground, pin 86 to the accessory wire coming in to the radio, or some other accessory wire that is + when ignition on. Pin 30 to one side of the cut hot wire to the plug, and pin 87 to the other cut hot wire. When the key is turned on, the relay will make the connections, and voila!
that shoudln't kill your battery though... Maybe a constant draw like that for weeks will but I would think you would be fine even for a couple days at a time. My last car had a weak battery and the lighter (and therefore the radar detectoer) was always on and never had any problems even after two weeks of sitting one time...
i had a radar detecotr that would kill my battery in three days, it sucked, battery was good, the car would go weeks w/o the radar detector then die in 3 days with it... i threw that sucker out the window at 70 one day