[Diny]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to make charging devices in the car a little bit more efficient. I would like to be able to charge things up front instead of having to run a long cable or cables to the back of the cabin, where the 12V outlet is.

I can tap the wires from the 12V outlet and run them under the center console pretty easily but then the question becomes what to do. I have a few options but would appreciate some input

1) Is it safe to do as far as draw? The most that I'd be charging at the same time would be a phone, a gopro, and a Garmin GPS unit.

2) Due to availability of items, I'm currently favoring having 2 12V outlets coming out of the front of the center console (right below the door lock switch). I would then be able to use one of those "12v car to USB" modules and call it a day. I like this idea over having anything in the dash, although USB ports coming out of the blank panel on the passenger side would be nice, albeit too much of a pain in the rear.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Diny]

There's a spare switched circuit in the fuse block under the dash. Lots of documentation here.

For power, I had good luck mounting a USB port in the small panel to the right of the steering wheel column down inside of the trinket tray in my old Elise. A friend of mine installed a power port in the front by buying one of the switch panels for cars with driving lights and mounted the power port in the new extra light switch opening.

This might be useful for wiring up the gopro and radar detector, since they'd be mounted up on the windshield and I could run the wires down through the a-pillar.

 

[Diny]

Get a head unit with a usb charger built in like the sony dsx 310 which is what i am using

I have one. It's a Pioneer. But one USB port doesn't charge a phone, a gopro, a radar detector, and a stand alone GPS unit.

 

[Diny]

This thread shows the general process: http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f133/adding-12v-lighter-outlet-79356/.

I thought that tesprit posted pics of his solution but I couldn't find them. I emailed him to ask if he knows where they are.

Thanks. I had found a few discussions but that thread was not among them.

 

[Diny]

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f129/front-power-point-60349/

I added one to the front of the console. I just tapped the rear one and ran the wire forward. Both work but I never use the back one. The front works great for a usb charger (I've moved on from the FM set up in the pics)

Hehe, pretty much the same idea!