The cigarette lighter in my '99 996 provides power all the time, even with no key in the ignition. I've only had the car a few months and think one of the previous owners must have modified it because I believe the '99 models came standard with the lighter tied to the ignition. Anyway I'm sure switching it to ignition triggered must be a fairly simple process but before I start tracing and disconnecting wires I thought I'd check to see if there were simple DIY instructions for this. Thanks

 

It is supposed to supply power all the time - it is meant for a battery tender to be plugged in when not driving for longer periods...

 

You could cut the wires to it, and connect it to the "phone accessory plug" that is located behind the center console. One of the wires to that plug is switched power. That would be adequate current to handle an accessory, such as a cell phone or GPS, but I don't know if it could handle the current of an actual cigarette lighter heating element.

What I did instead was buy an aftermarket dual-socket box to use with my cell phone charger and such. I wired it to the switched side of the "phone accessory plug", and tucked it under the dash on the passenger side. That way, my accessories are out if sight.

 

Some pics of the switched power plug and wiring details here:
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...r-console.html