I'm in the process of hooking up train horns on my truck and I thought of an idea that probably isn't going to work. I would like to use my cigarette lighter as a momentary switch. Since the cigarette lighter is basically a push in/pop out type switch I don't see why this won't work. Now the thing is, I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to wire this up. Is there a way that I can take apart the actual switch on the back side and put a new setup in, where there are two piece of metal (not touching) on a panel and have it so when I push the lighter in, it completes a circuit? Or am I thinking too hard?

I just got home after working 14 hours and my brains a little fried.
Let me know what you guys come up with.

 

here's my thoughts:
the lighter is a solid circuit, thats why it get hot. You have a positive and ground on it. Unplug the leads from the back of it, and plug in your leads on your horn switch circuit....

Unless I'm missing something

 

No you didn't miss anything Pat. The only thing is, if he want's it momentary he's going to have to push the "claws" that catch the cig lighter back out of the way or take it apart and cut them off, otherwise it won't be "momentary". How much juice is flowing through the lighter to operate the horn? I hope not enough to heat the element up. I have used the lighter to ground operate a relay, that way there's no juice flowing through the element, not enough to light a firefly anyway.