12V socket hidden, where to get power?

[roop_the_loop]

Hi All,

The 'cigarette lighter' socket in my E-class is hidden under a sliding cover in the centre console - see this picture, where the red circle roughly indicates the location:

Looks great, of course, but not very helpful if you want to keep something plugged in permanently. I guess the thinking at the Merc design department was that since the car has a satnav and phone cradle you don't need to plug in anything, but they clearly forgot about... radar detectors!

So my question-slash-general-wondering is, how to provide power for the said gadget? I suppose I could bring a permanently wired-in power cable through from somewhere, but I don't want to drill any holes in the interior panels or have any unsightly cables hanging loose anywhere, and in any case I'm not sure I would know how to do all that (and don't want to spend a fortune taking it to some car audio workshop etc.). Using the rear seat cigarette lighter for this is no good either, as it's also hidden inside the ashtray and in any case it wouldn't look very tidy to have the cable trailing across the console.

Has anyone found a neat solution to this, or otherwise have any clever suggestions they'd care to make? Any ideas welcome!

 

[Boxbrownie]

or otherwise have any clever suggestions they'd care to make? Any ideas welcome!

Yes, don't break the law!


But other than that I suppose you could take the power from the RVM roof lighting.

 

[sixpack]

Hi

My 211 has a cig lighter socket in the rear of the centre console, for rear seat passengers use. I,d imagine the 212 has too. Peter

 

[ianstaley]

you know if your caught with a radar detector in france they take your car.... And it is a fineable with points offence here and most other EU countries. Just use poi's that is legal as all you are doing is adding a GPS position.

 

[roop_the_loop]

Ignore the 'radar detector' bit

My bad, I knew I shouldn't have mentioned that the gadget I'm trying to plug in is a radar detector; inevitably the discussion is now starting to centre on the legality of detectors... :-( IMHO we luckily live in a country where detectors are legal, and as long as speed traps exist (and at least where I live there's been a huge surge in mobile traps in recent months) I feel I have the right to defend myself with one. There.

But having said all that, please ignore all of the above and forget that this has anything to do with detectors - just practical suggestions on the power socket issue, please?

 

[eman]

i am not 100% on this but i think mine has a 12v socket in the glove box aswell.along with the socket for the audio hook up.

 

[Boxbrownie]

My bad, I knew I shouldn't have mentioned that the gadget I'm trying to plug in is a radar detector; inevitably the discussion is now starting to centre on the legality of detectors... :-( IMHO we luckily live in a country where detectors are legal, and as long as speed traps exist (and at least where I live there's been a huge surge in mobile traps in recent months) I feel I have the right to defend myself with one. There.

But having said all that, please ignore all of the above and forget that this has anything to do with detectors - just practical suggestions on the power socket issue, please?

You may (or may not) have noticed my comment was light hearted.

But my comment about taking the power from the RVM consol was serious....

 

[television]

I would lift the console cover and join a cable to the rear of the cigar lighter and run it where you want to. I run cables from under the dash around the screen between the glass and the covers, or up behind the dash.

I have just done this on my CL for the DAB and active antenna
If the device is 5volt then put the cigar plug in a plastic box under the dash and take the output where you want to

 

[Ricardo_e220]

Is there a fusebox on the drivers side dash, I have a tap fuse thing for my tomtom. Sure it's permanent live but doesn't seem to cause a problem

I also ended up running one from the rear console area as the front one seems to knock the fuse out as there wasn't much room and I need a no damage element to the car due tithe lease arrangement

 

[television]

It does need a switched socket to avoid the battery going flat

 

[Ricardo_e220]

True but mine does 35 k per year and I have unplugged it if going away, a charger cable not plugged in will be using less than the alarm system I assume

 

[television]

The member want to hard wire it all to avoid having plugs on show

 

[whitenemesis]

Even hard wired in one can unplug the unit from the power lead. So no drain

 

[television]

Even hard wired in one can unplug the unit from the power lead. So no drain

It rather defeats the whole thing, I never have things stuck in the cigar lighter, and never any wires over the dash, all hard wired and switched then you can never forget and all out of sight

 

[whitenemesis]

It rather defeats the whole thing, I never have things stuck in the cigar lighter, and never any wires over the dash, all hard wired and switched then you can never forget and all out of sight

You miss the point. You said leaving the device connected to a permanent live (fuse in this case) would drain the battery. I said one can (and probably should for security reasons) unplug the device from its power cable. That power cable is still hidden and connected to the fused live supply. With no device connected there would be no drain.

 

[television]

You miss the point. You said leaving the device connected to a permanent live (fuse in this case) would drain the battery. I said one can (and probably should for security reasons) unplug the device from its power cable. That power cable is still hidden and connected to the fused live supply. With no device connected there would be no drain.

I am missing no point thank you,you are, if wired from the rear of the cigar lighter it is switched and dead when the car is turned off. One always fits an inline fuse to anything hard wired of a suitable rating for the object in hand

 

[whitenemesis]

It does need a switched socket to avoid the battery going flat

True but mine does 35 k per year and I have unplugged it if going away, a charger cable not plugged in will be using less than the alarm system I assume

Is there a fusebox on the drivers side dash, I have a tap fuse thing for my tomtom. Sure it's permanent live but doesn't seem to cause a problem

I also ended up running one from the rear console area as the front one seems to knock the fuse out as there wasn't much room and I need a no damage element to the car due tithe lease arrangement

The member want to hard wire it all to avoid having plugs on show

Even hard wired in one can unplug the unit from the power lead. So no drain

Above the post train in question.

Connecting to a permanent live will not drain the battery if the device is unplugged from the, still connected to the permanent live, power adapter when not in use, car parked.

 

[television]

Are you having a bad day go and annoy someone else, I stand by all i have said,,, Further more my reply was to the OP and not to you.

I think I am in a position to know better than you

 

[whitenemesis]

Are you having a bad day go and annoy someone else, I stand by all i have said,,, Further more my reply was to the OP and not to you.

I think I am in a position to know better than you

Oh dear. I do hope you are deliberately being hard of understanding. Why do you always have to get upset and become defensive? Chill out!

 

[television]

Oh dear. I do hope you are deliberately being hard of understanding. Why do you always have to get upset and become defensive? Chill out!

I get sick and tired of you constant twisting things when you have not got a clue about what is going on. All of my cars are wired the way the OP asked and all part of my lives work

And again I am out of the post