[vblanche]

Hi,

Basically, I'd like to run - inside the central console - an USB cable (power "feeding" cable for my Tomtom 820 sat nav, see pic below) from the central armrest 12v socket to the dashboard and exit somewhere near the windscreen (where I attach the sat nav when in use), maybe the central air vent or alike.

anyone has done that?

any suggestion?

thanks
vincent



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[NightVisitant]

may I ask why you are not using the 12V socket in front of the gear lever?

[magic77]

very easy the trim around center console is very soft and you should be able to get cable nicely tucked inside there then under the steering wheel trim the bottom panel pops off with just couple of screws. Then catcht he wire with few cable ties and reattach panel. Then just tuck it in behind the door seal and you done.

I have wired few cars like this in past. Currently in my E90 I have swapped out the ash tray for the full size tray but with the lid and just used the plug from the cig plug underneath to hard wire my charging cable leaving the armrest free other things and rest completly hidden.

[vblanche]

Originally Posted by NightVisitant

may I ask why you are not using the 12V socket in front of the gear lever?

in my car E91, the socket is inside the centre armrest, similar as on this pic:


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[vblanche]

Thanks.

Originally Posted by magic77

very easy the trim around center console is very soft

just to clarify: do you mean the part No 1 or 2 in this pic:


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What about going through where I circled in green?



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many thanks.
vince

[vblanche]

Originally Posted by magic77

Currently in my E90 I have swapped out the ash tray for the full size tray but with the lid and just used the plug from the cig plug underneath to hard wire my charging cable leaving the armrest free other things and rest completly hidden.

Sorry, here I don't completely understand. any pic?

many thanks again.
vince

[onetwentie]

Vince

You can route the cable from underneath the whole centre armrest console, where you've circled green but actually over the carpet.

Taking the centre console is not the easiest join the world and there are quite a few cables and connectors hidden underneath, but for what you want to do you should be able to do it without actually uprooting the whole console.

The whole thing is bolted down by four bolts, two at the back and two to the front by the sides of the gear selector. But to get to the bolts you first have to remove a fair bit of trim.

There is a DIY on here for a custom dash retrofit and part of that shows you what to do..

Let me know if you decide to go ahead with it and I'll dig it out for you mate.

[vblanche]

Thank you,

Originally Posted by onetwentie

I'll dig it out for you mate.

please do...this one maybe: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86705

Thanks
vince

[BanziBarn]

Originally Posted by vblanche

in my car E91, the socket is inside the centre armrest, similar as on this pic:


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Does this allow you to stream music via bluetooth?

[vblanche]

Originally Posted by BanziBarn

Does this allow you to stream music via bluetooth?

well, I don't know , I just used this pic to show the 12v socket thing, not to show the bluetooth adapter in this particular case.
sorry

[BanziBarn]

Originally Posted by vblanche

well, I don't know , I just used this pic to show the 12v socket thing, not to show the bluetooth adapter in this particular case.
sorry

Ah, yes, didn't read your post properly. Soz.

[gIzzE]

If you pull up the leather gaiter around the gear stick you will see two thick wires on the left, one is brown and the other is green/yellow.

This is ground and 12v switched.

You want to buy a cheap ciggy lighter extension from halfords, cut the male end off and crimp the bare wires to these two wires above.

You then tuck that behind the climate.
I ran the cable from the dash under teh trim panel that is a speaker cover on L7 systems , behind the radio and plugged it into my new ciggy lighter behind the radio.

All very neat.

[vblanche]

Thanks, gIzzE, all very neat indeed.

Do you mean that you "hijacked" the cable feeding the armrest 12v socket? would the armrest socket still be feeded?

Originally Posted by gIzzE

I ran the cable from the dash under teh trim panel that is a speaker cover on L7 systems , behind the radio and plugged it into my new ciggy lighter behind the radio.

how easy it that? I need to open this speaker cover, take out the radio, drop the usb cable into the top of the dashboard inside, and try to grab it from the radio compartiment, is that what you did?

thanks
vince

[gIzzE]

Yeah still works.


It is really easy, the dash panel just pulls up and off.

The radio is easy to remove.
You pull the trim off from around the climate and then undo the two screws holding the stereo in.
















You then have loads of room to pull cables through etc.

[vblanche]

ok, thanks. I have my double DIN radio to install so, I already followed your tutorial to try to install it. Now, i recently got a 12v permanent line installed, so I will very soon setup my pioneer radio and in the same time I'll setup this cable for the sat nav.

One more question:
what would you recommend to use to connect this 2nd 12v socket to the bare wires as you just suggested?

Originally Posted by gIzzE

You want to buy a cheap ciggy lighter extension from halfords, cut the male end off and crimp the bare wires to these two wires above.

or maybe I could just have a ciggy lighter extension running from the armrest under the console until the radio compartiment? (I don't mind having the armrest socket "monopolised" while the sat nav is used...I don't smoke)
but I guess I'm back to the problem illustrated by the green circle:

Originally Posted by vblanche

[gIzzE]

Just buy a couple of cable crimps, they are around 20p each.

Makes the install far easier.

[NickP]

Also worth looking at the possibility of running the cable straight from the fuse box, as per here:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...light=hardwire

[vblanche]

Originally Posted by NickP

Also worth looking at the possibility of running the cable straight from the fuse box, as per here:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...light=hardwire

indeed very interesting...need to find the right fuse?

[NickP]

Originally Posted by vblanche

indeed very interesting...need to find the right fuse?

I used fuse 29, which is one for the heated seats and is switchable, so its only on with the ignition....

[vblanche]

Thanks Nick, I will check if my fuse 29 is free but I have heated seats aftermarket installed...but if it's free, that would be nice.

[onetwentie]

Hi Vince

Here is the link I was referring to. It's very detailed and the guy that wrote this tutorial is a very talented and skilled guy indeed!

http://home.comcast.net/~Booster/idr...e_retrofit.pdf