12V to USB swap with pics

pboggini

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Adding this to the DIY section since it's probably a better place for it. I posted:

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/replaced-12v-outlet-with-usb.3306/

when I installed the first USB ports in my truck replacing the drivers 12V outlet. Today, I decided to move that one to the passenger side and install a new one on the drivers that has 2x2.1 ports and a voltage display. I decided to take a few pictures which hopefully make this easier for someone doing this for the first time.

As mentioned before, I bought this USB outlet first:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Waterproof-Dual-USB-Charger-Socket-Outlet-3-1-amp-Panel-Mount-Jack-Motorcycle/121459789583?_trkparms=aid=1110001&algo=SPLICE.SIM&ao=1&asc=20131231084308&meid=a61d7bb83f45436aabd98fb8d236b125&pid=100010&rk=6&rkt=12&sd=122045952660&itm=121459789583&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109

After installation, I decided to buy this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-24V-Ca...var=413537903137&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

I also went to Mike's Bikes in Palo Alto and picked up a couple of 1-1/8" 5mm headset spacers. You can use 10mm if you like but it looks like 5mm is just enough such that I didn't have to do any filing on the tabs on the nut holding it in. They fit perfectly!

Armed with all of this, I disassembled it all again and then replaced the second 12V, put the 2x2.1 w/ Voltage on the drivers side and the 1A/2A on the passenger side.

Steps:

1) Pull open the fuse box cover, the handle is in the first pic entitled fuse-box-handle. Once open, it looks like the pic entitled fuse-box-open.

2) Pry the driver's side panel next to the outlet starting in the spot illustrated in pic drivers-panel-first-pry. What I found worked great was then holding that part with my hand and then sliding the plastic tire iron down towards the bottom which helped pop out the tabs on that side. I then pried on the other side as illustrated in drivers-panel-second-pry and the panel just popped out.

3) Open the glove box and then pry the other panel in the mirror image using the bike tire iron.

4) Unscrew the 2x7mm screws and then use the tire iron to pry the main panel out as seen in the video here:



5) Once the panel is out, remove the connectors for the power to the 12V outlets per the same video.

6) Next, remove the 12V outlets from the panel. To me, this was the biggest pain 'cause I didn't want to be too rough and scratch anything. What worked was using a large flat head screw driver on the tabs while pushing on the back of the outlet. I would get one side mostly out and then if I could get the tire iron in there, I could pry it out enough to get the entire tab outside. The second tab was somewhat tough due to the pressure (kind of reminded me of when we'd penny a door shut:)) but prying and pushing resulted in them coming out.

7) Now you can install the ports of your choice with one headset spacer per side between the panel and the nut. My locksmith cousin told me that there are some "mortis" spacers that he said looked a lot like the headset spacers. For me, getting the spacers from the bike shop was simple. See the USB-spacer-nut picture for how I put them in.

8) Tighten the nut down with it lined up and you are set. As you can see from the pics, I made some small jumper harnesses out of 14ga wire and some spade connectors. I think if I could have found 1/8" connectors I wouldn't have had to cut the male spacers in half but I went with what I had and they fit very well.

9) After installing the panel, I found that the two side panels went in super easy if I lined up the tabs and then used my fist to lightly tap on the top part near where I did the first pry. They would just pop right in.

10) The three assembled pics show the back, front and with it installed in the truck.

Hope this more detailed set of steps and pic's help someone.

fuse-box-handle.JPG


fuse-box-open.JPG


drivers-panel-first-pry.JPG


drivers-panel-second-pry.JPG


USB-spacer-nut.JPG


assembled-back.JPG


assembled-front.JPG


assembled-installed.JPG
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pboggini

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Never wanting to leave well enough alone, I kept looking for a connector that would plug into the factory harness so that I could eliminate the 1/4" spade connectors that were cut in half to 1/8" and pushed into the harness. While it's probably fine, I really wanted to have the connector but after striking out asking some parts folk I decided to try and utilize the plug riveted on the back of the 12V outlet.

The first attempt, I cut the metal part of the outlet and then drilled the rivet from that side. That proved to be the wrong approach but I was able to eventually get the connector off, cut up the plate that attaches to the ground, replace the rivet with a #6 x 1/2" brass screw and nut to hold in the + connector. Since they would interfere, I ended up having to file one side of the nut way down to make sure there is clearance.

For the second one, i drilled from the connector side and that proved to be the right move. The only question left is, what do I use as a "potting element" to seal up the part where the solder joints are? Anyone have any suggestions? See the last pic for where I want to put that.

Here is the process:

1) Drill out the rivet from the connector side using a 1/8" drill bit, see first pic.
2) In my case, one lip snapped off so I had to pry the second lip with a flat head screw driver, see second pic.
3) Once the rivet is out, you can pull the connector from the 12V outlet. See pic 3.
4) Next, you need to cut the plate that is part of the ground so that it's just small enough to fit and can have a wire soldered to it. I used wire cutters. See pic's 4 and 5.
5) Get a #6 x 1/2" machine screw (I chose brass) and a nut. Put the + connector back in paying attention to the indentation and then put the screw in thru the front of the connector and tighten the nut. I filed one side of the nut down as far as I could and filed the rest of the ground connector to get the most space in between. See pic 6.
6) Solder a piece of red 14ga wire to the side of the nut not filed. Solder a piece of black 14ga wire to the ground. Reassemble.
7) Take a 1/2" PVC connector for conduit and cut about 1/4" off one side, slide it over the wires and push it onto the connector. It fits perfectly. See pic 7
8) Seal it all up with some sort of potting substance that I've not yet identified. Current choices seem to be:

A) Hot Glue which seems like it would be super easy to do. Not sure if the melting point will be between about 150-200F to survive hot summer temps and below 380F or the melting point of the 63/37 solder I used.
B) Some sort of epoxy. Seems like a good idea, no idea what epoxy would work.
C) Some super secret special substance that mimics what I've seen on the back of Ford electronic ignition modules.

drilling.JPG


post-drilling.JPG


connector-off.JPG


ground-removed.JPG


ground-modified.JPG


connectors-modified.JPG


finished-connector.JPG
 
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pboggini

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Answering my own question here. I asked around a bunch and finally found a place called Anchor Electronics in Santa Clara, CA. One of the guys who works there named Orville is an EE and a veteran of Quement Electronics. He suggested I use this:

https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals...ting+compound&qid=1561774604&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Those of you, long time, South Bay Area residents will remember Quement Electronics as the place to go to get the cool electronics stuff "back in the day". It wasn't just the place to get stuff, it was the place to talk to folks who knew their stuff and could offer up some very sage advice. These places seem to be very, very rare these days.:-(

Orville took interest in the project and told me that I needed to do something about the holes in the connector because the potting compound would run out if I didn't somehow seal it all up. He suggested a silicone of some sort and cotton balls to help provide some extra strength for the larger holes. I ended up doing just that. I had some silicone in the garage and a cotton ball so I sealed up the holes and then mixed and filled the cavity with the MG epoxy. A little bit did seep thru on one of the holes on one of the connectors but since I noticed it a couple of hours after, I was able to scrape it off. Also, this stuff found its way past the very tight fitting negative spade connector on both so I needed to scrape that off but it came off easily.

Other than that, it all looks great. I'm attaching the final pic of them as I'll install them a bit later this afternoon as that will allow for the 24 hours of cure time the instructions suggest.

finished-sealed-connector.JPG
 

charwest

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i like this project a lot and would like to follow in your footsteps- probably with a dual USB fast charger with voltmeter option.

the one thing i cant quite figure out from your excellent post series is what the wiring and harness looks like behind the fascia.

i would rather not do a jiggly connection with a cut spade connector, and risk it wiggling out while we bounce around corrugations offroad. what is the wire and harness like back there? im thinking i would like to just cut the wires, solder in my own solid spade connections, but is there something stopping me from doing that?
 
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pboggini

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i like this project a lot and would like to follow in your footsteps- probably with a dual USB fast charger with voltmeter option.

the one thing i cant quite figure out from your excellent post series is what the wiring and harness looks like behind the fascia.

i would rather not do a jiggly connection with a cut spade connector, and risk it wiggling out while we bounce around corrugations offroad. what is the wire and harness like back there? im thinking i would like to just cut the wires, solder in my own solid spade connections, but is there something stopping me from doing that?
Sorry for the delay, just had time to pull it apart again and take some pics. The TL;DR is that I do use water tight spade connectors plugged into the back of the USB sockets but they are crimped to the wire that's then soldered to the connector that snaps into the harness.

I wanted to make sure I didn't have to cut into the vehicle harness so that if I wanted to put the 12V sockets back in it would be easy. Here are the pics:

IMG_1556.jpg


IMG_1557.jpg
 


charwest

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Sorry for the delay, just had time to pull it apart again and take some pics. The TL;DR is that I do use water tight spade connectors plugged into the back of the USB sockets but they are crimped to the wire that's then soldered to the connector that snaps into the harness.

I wanted to make sure I didn't have to cut into the vehicle harness so that if I wanted to put the 12V sockets back in it would be easy. Here are the pics:

IMG_1556.jpg


IMG_1557.jpg
awesome. that’s super helpful

it looks like there is enough slack to cut and solder. if i need to replace the factory socket i’ll do it again.

thank you!! great project idea.
 
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pboggini

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awesome. that’s super helpful

it looks like there is enough slack to cut and solder. if i need to replace the factory socket i’ll do it again.

thank you!! great project idea.
Yea there is but I really didn't want to cut the factory socket on the harness side. A friend of mine who is a Ford parts dude is the one who suggested I see if I could disassemble the existing 12V sockets so I have to credit him with the idea. Good luck!
 

charwest

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for dummies/newbies like me, who got stumped about how to get the fascia off without feeling like i was breaking anything, this video on youtube was very helpful, starting at around one minute to pull the lateral fascia, and 4:20 to pull the actual cig lighter fascia

 
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Fawnbuster

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i plan to swatch my fascia out today for the light force one and install my tow pro elite. On the one Aussie video on YouTube, that gentleman was swapping the fascia and on the passenger side appears to be a Ford OEM USB power plug in that uses the OEM wiring harness, i will see if i can locate one. if anyone has a link to it please post a reply or message me please.

 

charwest

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i plan to swatch my fascia out today for the light force one and install my tow pro elite. On the one Aussie video on YouTube, that gentleman was swapping the fascia and on the passenger side appears to be a Ford OEM USB power plug in that uses the OEM wiring harness, i will see if i can locate one. if anyone has a link to it please post a reply or message me please.

if you can’t find it, it’s pretty easy to pop in a non OEM USB socket. example:

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/cig-lighter-usb-voltmeter-install.9915/

all the work is getting the fascia off which you will have done anyways.

the original poster here’s extra efforts are because he wanted to preserve the factory harness. admirable but maybe not everyone’s priority.
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