Renault Clio

[srhplover]

I have just taken delivery of my HTC battery charger. It cost

 

[Proudest_Monkey]

Buy a new car!

 

[Stucky]

You have checked the socket is working?

If it's a standard 12v cigarette lighter type I can't see why the charger shouldn't work.

 

[man00va]

Check the fuse of the cigarette lighter, if it is close to the end of its life then it will not work well when a larger demand is put on it, such as charging a device.

 

[srhplover]

Thanks for that.
The lighter is indeed working.
It seems that some French manufactured cars of this vintage have different sized sockets to the UK standard; whatever the HTC charger does not charge.
A trip to Halfords to buy a UK spec socket is on the cards methinks, a bit cheaper than a new car!!...Although ? new lighter socket or Porsche 911 GT3?..Hmmmmmmmmm.

 

[Crafty]

yeah check the socket is working, could be a blown fuse.

 

[speedycolzalez]

Thanks for that.
The lighter is indeed working.
It seems that some French manufactured cars of this vintage have different sized sockets to the UK standard; whatever the HTC charger does not charge.
A trip to Halfords to buy a UK spec socket is on the cards methinks, a bit cheaper than a new car!!...Although ? new lighter socket or Porsche 911 GT3?..Hmmmmmmmmm.

Amazingly they do come in different sizes;

Cigarette lighter receptacle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, you learn something new everyday.

Have you tried easing the connectors out a little on the charger?

 

[Stucky]

Another good reason not to buy French cars.

 

[srhplover]

Have you tried easing the connectors out a little on the charger?

Thank you.

After an hour of experimentation I can get the charger to work in the socket when it is in some positions although I doubt the connection would be stable if I was driving. I will try to ease the connectors a tad to see if that helps.

I also noticed that on the ring round the outside of the lighter socket there are some pencil marks. When I line the charger up with those marks I get the connection I mentioned above. It looks like I may not be the first person to have had the problem in the Clio.

 

[wuthton]

My charger fits a treat in the car but it just falls out of the socket in my tractor, genuine HTC car charger are on the small side.

 

[DCFC79]

Amazingly they do come in different sizes;

Cigarette lighter receptacle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, you learn something new everyday.

Have you tried easing the connectors out a little on the charger?

i thought the 12 volt sockets and the connectors were of the same size

 

[billy1561]

Thank you.

After an hour of experimentation I can get the charger to work in the socket when it is in some positions although I doubt the connection would be stable if I was driving. I will try to ease the connectors a tad to see if that helps.

I also noticed that on the ring round the outside of the lighter socket there are some pencil marks. When I line the charger up with those marks I get the connection I mentioned above. It looks like I may not be the first person to have had the problem in the Clio.

Interestingly i have the same issue with my car (mondeo). Time to upgrade to a genuine charger i think instead of the bargain i got on ebay.

 

[mouldt]

I bought a genuine HTC car charger and had the same issue in my renault laguna. Upon further investigation is seems that the charger does not go fully into the socket. Hence you needing to ram it in to get the 'HTC' to light up.

The solution is to get a file and just file away some of the tip of the charging plug. This makes it just that bit narrower so that it can be pushed further into the socket.

Once you do this it should work reliable and not required pushing around to find a 'magic' position.

 

[Tappers]

I bought a genuine HTC car charger and had the same issue in my renault laguna. Upon further investigation is seems that the charger does not go fully into the socket. Hence you needing to ram it in to get the 'HTC' to light up.

The solution is to get a file and just file away some of the tip of the charging plug. This makes it just that bit narrower so that it can be pushed further into the socket.

Once you do this it should work reliable and not required pushing around to find a 'magic' position.

Hi there,

By filing away the tip, do you mean the metal or plastic?
I have the same problem as you with my Megane.....

Thanks
Ben

 

[fletchem]

Wasn't there a historical issue with Renaults having reversed polarity in the cigarette lighter socket at some stage. I am not a sparky, but I am also guessing that with DC this does not make a problem.

 

[SiHa]

Wasn't there a historical issue with Renaults having reversed polarity in the cigarette lighter socket at some stage. I am not a sparky, but I am also guessing that with DC this does not make a problem.

Umm, that would be quite a large problem actually, unless the charger is built with a bridge rectifier in it to cope with accidental polarity reversal.

By filing away the tip, do you mean the metal or plastic?

The plastic, I should think.

 

[aberj6]

I've a 53 plate Clio and just use a charger I got from Amazon for a couple of quid. Works fine