Thread: Rear Ashtray now a Power Station

Ive done exactly the same thing. I've just got a 12V accessory cable that comes out from under the hand brake and plugs straight into the socket in the front of the car.

Watch out for kids leaving their usb cables plugged in, and then standing on them as they leave the car. I'm going to have to rebuild mine at some stage.

I've recently done the same thing (looks like the same accessory board) with my P38A. I cut off the cigarette lighter plug as it didn't work reliably in the socket and ran the cable under the console to the front where I picked up a cable I had put in some years back. That cable goes to an under bonnet fuse block so the accessory board is not ignition switched.

With the ashtray lid closed, one cannot see the accessory board.

EDIT: I forgot to say, for P38A owners, no cutting of the ashtray or console is necessary. The power unit just drops in when the ashtray is removed.

Yes - good call on the kids potentially trashing it. I was thinking of maybe fixing some netting to the area below it to capture and excess/unused cable.

p38a - that's more what I was thinking - as in getting rid of the cig lighter plug all together and hard wiring to either its connection or through to the fusebox as you have done.

Q: if you bypass the ignintion (switching) do you risk leaving things in that could drain the battery?

Cheers.

I wired mine up off the secondary battery, so live all the time. This was intentional, we don't have kids.
But I wonder if you could do as I did for my front sockets where I have a 3 position switch, this has a relay so I have On-always(second bat) - off - On with ignition (2nd battery, but doesn't really matter).
The reasoning being that we generally want them with the ignition, but we might also want the override to leave things charging.
The rear is primarily for passengers to do charging (so on all the time is OK) or the little waeco cooler (again on all the time).
The only problem is that the waeco cooler pulls way too much for use overnight, it's for travelling only, maybe I'll prod a mate and get it to have a timeout after say 2 hours and cut the power.

Originally Posted by 2000Man

Yes - good call on the kids potentially trashing it. I was thinking of maybe fixing some netting to the area below it to capture and excess/unused cable.

p38a - that's more what I was thinking - as in getting rid of the cig lighter plug all together and hard wiring to either its connection or through to the fusebox as you have done.

Q: if you bypass the ignintion (switching) do you risk leaving things in that could drain the battery?

Cheers.

The short answer is yes. If you have kids in the back i would not suggest having it powered up all the time in case they leave there items plugged in.

I wouldn't wire that into the existing lighter circuit. Potential to pull a lot of amps through four 12v sockets.

Run better, fused cable to the battery/engine bay fuse box.

If you want it ignition switched, try the unused connector (trans interlock circuit, purple wire from memory) under the steering column to trigger a relay.

I've got a Narva set of two USBs and two cigarete plugs plugged into my cigarette lighter. One cigarette plug has a voltage meter in it and the USBs are running my Ipod and a phone charger. It all works fine - no problems. I just velcroed it to the panel in front of the gearsticks.

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Originally Posted by ballbag

I wouldn't wire that into the existing lighter circuit. Potential to pull a lot of amps through four 12v sockets.

Run better, fused cable to the battery/engine bay fuse box.

If you want it ignition switched, try the unused connector (trans interlock circuit, purple wire from memory) under the steering column to trigger a relay.

I think the circuit is capable of 10A. It's just being used to power a few ipods/iPads etc for the kids, which are 1 or 2A each. For my purposes it's okay, but wouldn't want to run a fridge off it.

And thanks, I always wondered what that spare connector was for. I use it for a few miscellaneous items like handsfree and engine saver.