I have a car battery charger that plugs into a cigarette lighter. However, I lost the directins & don't know if the charger itself is charged. Also, How do I use the charger if the car battery is dead. thank you,

Some of these Jump start that Walmart & Ebay & other places sell the jump start that have a cigarette lighter plug in.
If you could borrow a Jump Start and buy you a cigarette light adapter that has male plugs on both sides then plug it into the jump start cigarette lighter socket then plug it into your cigarette lighter but you need to make sure your lighter socket works & doesn't have a blown fuse.
You will be able to jump start it but it will take a good charge in the Jump start you borrowed or bought .Take the palm of your hand & hit the hood real hard multiple times Or take a hair dryer out there & blow underneath the hood.

The lighter in a Chevy Lumina can get lost easily if you routinely pull it from the socket to plug in electronic devices like GPS systems, cell phone chargers and laptops. If so, you need to replace it.

Just plug it into the wall only. Put charger on like 10 amps for like an hour. And yes batteries can give off a flammable gas. Just hook the charger up to the car first then plug it it

a cigarette lighter is rarely on its own fuse, test the plug with a cell phone charger or some other device that plugs into the lighterplug, if it works the cigarette plug is ok, and the actual lighter itself is bad, most auto stores sell replacements

The best way to do this is to put battery voltage back into the system through the cigarette lighter. You can buy a battery charger at an auto parts store or walmart that is designed to charge the battery through the cigarette lighter. It will have a plug on it that insert right into the cigarette lighter. Let it charge a little, and try the button again. It will pop right open.

You have to charge the battery through the cigarette lighter. Go to an auto parts store or walmart and there you can buy a car charger that will plug into the cigarette lighter. Once the battery charges a little, you can pop the bonnet. Once you have access to the battery, you can use a heavy duty battery charger or replace the battery.

You mean there seems to be no power to the vehicle's lighter unit outlet.

This lighter unit outlet is normally wired through its own fuse so check the fuse panel in the car for a blown fuse. If blown it must be replaced with a fuse of the correct amperage. The owner's manual will show you where the fuse is located.

Before you check the fuse just check the cigarette lighter outlet with another plug-in device if you have one such as a portable 12 volt tire compressor or a 12 volt plug-in auxiliary light. It could be that if you are using a charger from the outlet, the charger plug or wiring may be faulty rather than the car's power outlet itself. (These outlets don't usually give trouble unless the wiring has been messed with or the outlet itself has been damaged or abused).

If no device works from the lighter power outlet check the fuse as it may be blown.

Sean
Voluntary contributor.

In my personal opinion, electrical current recharging, unattended for a long period of time, backflowing through a circuit not designed for it with the proper fuses and protection, is asking for trouble. Wouldnt it be better to disconnect the battery, and have it fully charged when you get back? The downside is that you will lose radio code and check engine history, but if the check engine light is not on, you havent lost much.

if lighter works, it usually means your charger plug in is not making contact with the center contact in the socket

I assume that you tried the cigarette lighter itself and didnt rely solely that the charger was working properly. When you tightened the ring on caseing did you see that the wire connected on the back of the lighter was properly attatched, sometimes a good connection loosens up especially if caseing was found to be loose.. Well assuming it was properly connected you could test the circuit with either a multimeter or 12 volt test light if power is found at connection then you problem is definetly the cigarette lighter assembly itself.. I hope this was helpful...Let me know I would appreciate it