Faulty socket or something else?

In my car i have both an in car camera and GPS camera Detector.

I just plugged them both into the lighter socket as i normally do and my camera just popped (sparks flew out of it and it started to smoke)

I unplugged everything and just tested the camera on its on in the socket, it keeps turning on and off, so its either damaged or its the socket.

Now my question is, if this had blown the fuse then surely the camera would not be powered when i plug it in, but it seems to still draw power.

Does anyone know what this could be? as it still drawing power i am assuming its not the fuse, could it just be a fault with the lighter socket or possibly a short in the wiring?

Anyone know what i should check or how to check?

alpesh26 said:

It sounds like the camera is damaged. I'd try plugging in a phone charger or something else to the cig lighter socket (something that wasnt connected when things went bang)You could try finding the wires to the cig socket and connect up a multimeter and see if you get a fluctuation in the voltage.

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Hi, well i have checked the fuse and its fine and i have tested using my iphone and charger, again all seems fine.

I bought a battery/alternator tester to check the current and to see if any of these could be the culprit.

NHN said:

Sounds like a camera/loom issue to me if standard phone charger works fine, maybe something shorted on the loom or when inserted into the socket, not allot can do tbh if socket is ok, apart from claiming warranty if camera is under or buying another or maybe alternative.

The 12v socket shouldnt short across given location of the -/+

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Think i have figured out the problem.

I basically mixed up the power adapters for the camera dvr and speed camera detector.

So the camera overloaded and blew and the speed detector does not draw enough power to boot up, a quick change of the cables and the speed camera detector now works fine, however the damage to the camera is permanent.

Although i don't think it helped that i plugged it all in befor starting the engine, could have been a power surge aswell.

Anyway got my battery tester and the light came up as yellow, so looks like my battery is low, also the alternator showed up as yellow which does not sound good either.