Piggy-back/ splice Cig Lighter Circuit - Advice sought...

[The Cone of Silence]

2008 Puma 110

After 210,000kms, I'm installing a pair of very swanky Exmoor Trim heated seats in Monty which draw up to around 5A each. I need to find a switched power source for them and I figured the best place is the existing cigarette lighter circuit in the dash as it has a 20A fuse.

Questions for those with experience/ good ideas:


Is there a better place to find switched power? I do have a Mulgo ExBox fitted but I'm unsure of what's switched power in there and what's not.
What's the best way to piggy back/ splice the +ve cig lighter wire with the two +ve wires from the heated seat loom? Is there a recommended or preferred connector for doing this?
Re the -ve wires from the heated seat loom, I assume they just need to go to a suitable earth point and I can find one of those in my ExBox or even go straight to the battery -ve terminal, am I right?


Appreciate the electrical wisdom, as always.

[jon3950]

The standard heated seats use fuses F22 and F23 in the fuse box under the steering wheel. Do you have power to them?

[The Cone of Silence]

The standard heated seats use fuses F22 and F23 in the fuse box under the steering wheel. Do you have power to them?

I don't have standard heated seats in my 110 Jon, so there's no wiring in place for them. Right now I'm thinking of somehow connecting the two positive wires for the seats (right and left) to the positive wire behind the cigarette lighter on the dash and wondering if this is going to cause me any issues.

The seats each come with their own relays and in-line fuses so I THINK it'll be ok...but I'm not 100% sure

[jon3950]

Yeah, I just wondered if the standard loom had power to those fuse locations and was just missing the wiring out to the seats.

[Xtreme]

I'm not familiar wit such luxuries as heated seats but there seems to be something missing here.
The +ve to the ciggy lighter is active whenever ignition is on accessories.
Wouldn't you need a heavy (load carrying) +ve wire connected to the relay plus a lighter +ve wire from a switch to activate/energise the relay. Thereby being able to switch the heaters on & off - could even have each seat switched separately.

Could still use the fuse that Jon mentioned if power is wired to it.

[The Cone of Silence]

I'm not familiar wit such luxuries as heated seats but there seems to be something missing here.
The +ve to the ciggy lighter is active whenever ignition is on accessories.
Wouldn't you need a heavy (load carrying) +ve wire connected to the relay plus a lighter +ve wire from a switch to activate/energise the relay. Thereby being able to switch the heaters on & off - could even have each seat switched separately.

Could still use the fuse that Jon mentioned if power is wired to it.

Indeed I do - and those wires are all included already with connectors (Relay to switch, Relay to seat, +ve and -ve to Relay). All I need to do is find a switched power source so I can't drain the battery by leaving the buggers switched on. Needs to be able to handle 15A.

[trout1105]

Have you thought of wireing up a new power source from the battery using a relay switched from the ignition instead of potentially overloading the ciggy lighter circuit to power the seats?

[The Cone of Silence]

Have you thought of wireing up a new power source from the battery using a relay switched from the ignition instead of potentially overloading the ciggy lighter circuit to power the seats?

Negative - but keen to explore this. How would I go about making this happen? Instructions for an electrical moron, please!

[towe0609]

the automotive RELAY explained... when you need it and why DIY - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUSxo-CCLR8)

I'm not familiar with the wiring of the heated seats etc so will leave that to others ... but this vid might help explain how a relay is useful here.


Negative - but keen to explore this. How would I go about making this happen? Instructions for an electrical moron, please!

[trout1105]

Negative - but keen to explore this. How would I go about making this happen? Instructions for an electrical moron, please!

You could use one of these spotlight harnesses for the job, They will run a couple of spotlights so they should be more than capable of running 2x 5A seats[thumbsupbig]

Led Hid Wiring Loom Harness Spot Work Driving Light Bar 12V 40A Relay 2 Way 9356307000634 | eBay (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/252222848746?epid=15041939794&hash=item3ab9a73eea:g:1YQAAOSwIkNiO-5Z&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4NxdRd%2BsXfBT%2Fhw05Lzo89Ztw LLIgZWUkX6WsHQIZH4x8yA9Cg1E1e4Oy09J%2FLr%2BTLYeG5J PC85cK7P37DyDVRnWjgq3mraWUCs0GdanGUf8J1WTuELaTljyv fhe7k4VE3FEsLMyaeOOrA08OHCeB5KfSKzRwu%2FGpaFZGhhxG zKQANep5c77fCymTvleIXRREsHKz8M5oDZbqs700G9eUYQhtaP fJk7frG0NQD1%2FZEJ9w1x8w%2BtLA3VwYZDxxBYQ6jt3Bk%2B JrOVXKeefVY9Gd07HC5%2FVgayEIKlFG1rgKtVW%7Ctkp%3ABF BMoNKqzsdg)

[DiscoMick]

Doesn't the X-Box next to the seats already have a power outlet switched by the ignition?
If so, that is right next to the seats and should be easier to pick up.
Alternatively, is there already something in the battery box that is only active when the ignition is switched on?

[The Cone of Silence]

Doesn't the X-Box next to the seats already have a power outlet switched by the ignition?
If so, that is right next to the seats and should be easier to pick up.
Alternatively, is there already something in the battery box that is only active when the ignition is switched on?

That's what I thought too, Mick, so I called Daniel yesterday to ask him. Once he'd finished laughing at the idea of Monty getting heated seats, he said he didn't think there was anything in there which is switched power - he even went to his 2008 110 to check....then he suggested using the Cig Lighter circuit behind the dash as it's 20A. I would love to find an ExBox solution as I need to feed wires through it anyway - the seat switches are going on the cubby box....so if I can avoid wiring going forwards to the dash just to pick up 12v power, that'd be awesome.

I don't know of anything in the battery box which would be switched power.

[The Cone of Silence]

Seats installed, piggy-backing the cig lighter positive wire worked a charm. All working as planned. In-line fuses on the +ve wires for each seat are 7.5A. I used an existing earth inside the Ex Box.

VERY comfy seats!

[MLD]

Rob, i ran a trigger wire off the ignition to a 50amp relay in the X box that supplies +ve to half of a 12 blade fuse box (the 2 x +ve terminal Narva type). Half the fuse box has a constant +ve source for things that are ignition independent and half the fuse box is triggered by the ignition (only gets +ve to the fuse box when the ignition is on). since you have already run a wire from the cig socket that would be ignition switched, you could do what i've done with a spare morning (or afternoon during or before beers).

[The Cone of Silence]

Rob, i ran a trigger wire off the ignition to a 50amp relay in the X box that supplies +ve to half of a 12 blade fuse box (the 2 x +ve terminal Narva type). Half the fuse box has a constant +ve source for things that are ignition independent and half the fuse box is triggered by the ignition (only gets +ve to the fuse box when the ignition is on). since you have already run a wire from the cig socket that would be ignition switched, you could do what i've done with a spare morning (or afternoon during or before beers).

I have almost the same setup but only 4 circuits and all constant, no switched power, so at some point I might get a larger one and replace it and do the ignition thing but the set-up I've got will do for now.

[Tombie]

Indeed I do - and those wires are all included already with connectors (Relay to switch, Relay to seat, +ve and -ve to Relay). All I need to do is find a switched power source so I can't drain the battery by leaving the buggers switched on. Needs to be able to handle 15A.

A switched power trigger (to trigger relays) needs all of about 1a max.

Heck, the stereo acc feed will do the job