Adding to the cigarette lighter
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Adding to the cigarette lighter So i was curious if this is even possible or if its safe. im trying to conceal my GPS charger and my phone charger. *I hate cords all over the place* could i add to another port under the HVAC behind the trim tapped to the power for the one right next to the ash tray?
I get another cig lighter and just plugged my charger into it.. unplugged the extra outlet and hooked up my new outlet.. tapped everything real good and left it behind the dash.
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TECH Enthusiast
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Well i would still like them to be functional, the lady likes to keep her iPhone, so i might take the one with the cig lighter. i was hopping to keep them all functional if i could
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TECH Enthusiast
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From: Moore, Oklahoma
This isn't for everyone (this will be unimpressive for folks with GPS nav in their stereos, etc.) but I just did this on my car and its working great! One could also do this to wire up a USB port or iPhone charger in the car, but there's a catch...
The lighter and power outlet are live all the time (not just when the ignition is on) so you'll need to use a supply with a low draw. Since I didn't want to buy a bunch of supplies, crack them open, (to see how efficient the voltage regulators are) and see what chips they used, I decided to build my own. You could to the same thing by cracking open a store-bought supply and wiring it in.
The route I took is probably overkill and much more expensive to develop, but I just... wanted to do it. So I did. If anyone would like a how-to, please let me know and I can post one. (I also have some of the printed circuit boards left.)
I basicially made a small board to hold a PTN78000WAH switching regulator module, and added a 1.5A fuse & holder to make sure I didn't overload the chip. I tapped the wires sitching out in to the existing lighter wires and connected a USB cable to the white terminal block on top. (The USB cable goes up to a GPS mount stuck to my dash.) The chip also has a pin on it, which someone could hook up to an ignition relay, which shuts off the module (and its draw) entirely but I couldn't measure any draw with my ammeter and went with it anyway. I'm sure it will drain my battery at some period of many many months, but that's not an issue for me.
Here's the inside layout:
Here's a better shot of the printed circuit board I made:
The lighter and power outlet are live all the time (not just when the ignition is on) so you'll need to use a supply with a low draw. Since I didn't want to buy a bunch of supplies, crack them open, (to see how efficient the voltage regulators are) and see what chips they used, I decided to build my own. You could to the same thing by cracking open a store-bought supply and wiring it in.
The route I took is probably overkill and much more expensive to develop, but I just... wanted to do it. So I did. If anyone would like a how-to, please let me know and I can post one. (I also have some of the printed circuit boards left.)
I basicially made a small board to hold a PTN78000WAH switching regulator module, and added a 1.5A fuse & holder to make sure I didn't overload the chip. I tapped the wires sitching out in to the existing lighter wires and connected a USB cable to the white terminal block on top. (The USB cable goes up to a GPS mount stuck to my dash.) The chip also has a pin on it, which someone could hook up to an ignition relay, which shuts off the module (and its draw) entirely but I couldn't measure any draw with my ammeter and went with it anyway. I'm sure it will drain my battery at some period of many many months, but that's not an issue for me.
Here's the inside layout:
Here's a better shot of the printed circuit board I made:
