97 pathfinder rear power socket not working

[Green Pathy]

The rear power socket on my 97 pathfinder does not work. It does not power any device. The socket looks like a cigarette lighter but from what I have researched, it does not serve for that purpose. It is simply a 12 volt power socket for things like accessory emergency lights. Okay so the original socket stopped working a year ago and I'm trying to fix it now. I checked all fuses and they're fine. Checked all cables and they're fine. I used a circuit tester, the one with the red led inside the Handel that lets you know if there's electricity flowing, and there was electricity in the socket.

Whatever, I took it out and bought another one on eBay. It got here and I tried and still nothing works on it. So I took the new one I bought and hooked it up straight to the battery with the cables it came with and the tester shows that there's electricity at the bottom of the socket inside, where it touches the main contact point of any device, but still, IT DOSENT WORK!! won't power any device. So what the heck?? Did they send me a defective unit? But why does it show on the tester that it has electricity?? Please enlighten me. Please help.

[Jake2.4]

I would use a multi meter and make make sure its actually 12 volts at the center, if so then it has to be a bad ground.

[Green Pathy]

I figured it out. Turns out it was a bad design flaw. The power socket had two plastic bumps at the rear underneath the metallic round part of the ground, resulting in that ground contact not having any metal to metal contact. Thus, no ground was being made even though there was electricity flowing through it. I took a dremel and eliminated the plastic bumps, and now there is metal to metal contact on the ground.