Topic

Due to the ever increasing bits of tech that we carry in the car AND the fairly stupid place that they have put the cigarette lighter, I have been looking at putting some extra sockets in the TF.

Ideally I wanted a few extra sockets and a couple of USB sockets too as most tech now takes mini or micro USB to power them.

I wanted something that wasn’t obvious and wanted to keep the existing lighter socket. I have fitted similar in DeepBlue, but that was because the lighter socket has been replaced by the cruise control switch.

When I was in ALDI the other day I spotted this at £3.99.





First of all, I removed the lighter socket so that I could get at the cables.



The loom is very short and you will also need to take the gearstick trim, the ash tray and the handbrake gator off.



So that you can feed the plug and wire from the lighter out through the handbrake hole. This will give you enough cable to play with.



Check which cable is the positive on the socket.



And check which cable is the positive (centre connection) in the adaptor



And mark it.



Feed the adaptor cable up under centre tunnel.



Strip the cable ends



And cut the positive supply to the lighter socket. You might want to remove the fuse first.



Join the positive wire of the adaptor and the positive supply from the loom, twist them together



and crimp them into one end of an inline crimp and crimp it.



Now insert the positive cable from the socket into the other end of the crimp and crimp it.



And do the same with the negatives



You can now put the fuse back in.

The little LED on the adaptor should now be on.

Now feed the socket back through the handbrake hole



and connect back up to the cigarette lighter.



Put all the trim back together.

Now feed the cable under the side panel



Clean the bottom of the adaptor and the area where you are going to stick it to using thinners to remove any grease etc.

I used no more nails type stuff



And stuck it on the floor behind the console. There is a nice groove behind there that it sits in well.





I like this area as it is out of view and you can run the cables down behind the dash.

Well, that’s it folks. You should have all the sockets you will ever need now.

Enjoy.

Another excellent how to guide and a very handy piece of kit in the modern world too. I might just try this one myself some time. Much obliged Clive. Great job.

Electrics - Adding 12V aux sockets.

One of the reasons for doing it is the cigarette lighter is in such a bad place for plugging things into as the cables tend to get in the way of the gearchange and handbrake. Great place for a ciggy lighter though.

It'll come in handy on your touring trips. Going around europe we had wires everywhere, all coming from the cigarette lighter and stereo area. Wires to the satnav, the ipod, the camera battery charger, a mobile phone, mini torches on charge and a usb kettle hanging off the door. We managed, but this would have made life just that wee bit easier.

That is a great job Clive and an excellent location for the sockets Good "how to" as well, thank you

Cheers.

I thought it would come in handy for the hairdryer, kettle, microwave and satnav.

Seriously though, be careful what you plug into these as they aren't rated as highly as the lighter itself.

I bought one of those adaptors from Aldi. Very handy little bit of kit, which you can just plug in temporarily and then use in your other cars when you are forced to take them out.

I did consider fitting it in permanently and did think it would be convenient to place it near the footwell light, glueing it to the lower edge.





Where you fitted it you are obviously more flexible and not as lazy as me.

Nice How To Clive ~ thanks

Next time you drive the car, just look where your left leg pushes up against. I think that would dig in your leg.

It would be safer on the passanger side.

talkingcars wrote: wrote:

It would be safer on the passanger side.

Lateral thinking haha, you gotta love it! So simple but pure genius.

Been to Aldi earlier and picked one of these up..... damn why am I so tempted by bits 'n' bobs!? Grabbed one of those detailing electric toothbrush thingys too.

Mine has velcro on the back and I have it on the passenger side, I have not wired it like you have, not capable so I run the wire down the side of the seat then under the mats, works for me
Mine is for normal car charger things though but runs really well charging Video camera, Satnav, Ipad and charges my phone or Robs, best gadget I have