2002 Suburban cigarette lighter. Anyone know this?

[Russell Ashley]

I have had my 02 Suburban for over ten years and never knew this before. It has a flip up door at the bottom of the dash that covers three power outlets, except the right one isn't meant to be a power outlet, it's a lighter plug. This one is fused with a fifteen amp fuse and the two power outlets to the left are fused with thirty amp fuses. My Suburban has computerized heat/a/c. If you blow the lighter plug fuse the rear a/c will only blow hot air while the front vents blow cool. This is because the motor that operates the air door in the rear a/c unit uses the same fifteen amp fuse as the lighter. Another thing you wouldn't expect the lighter fuse to affect is the diagnostic connector under he dash. A tester won't connect if the lighter fuse is blown.
I found this out recently when a friend plugged something in to the lighter plug and blew the fuse. I had a lighter element so I stuck it in the lighter hole to prevent making the same mistake again.

The owner's manual does show the right hole to be for a lighter but you kind of have to look for it.