cig lighter -> USB/voltmeter install

charwest

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inspired by a similar thread i planned to replace one of the two dash cigarette lighter powerpoints with an aftermarket voltmeter / USB 3.0 x2 option.

for a similar thread that maintains factory harness go here:

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/12v-to-usb-swap-with-pics.3368/#post-183720

first i bought this. decent reviews on amazon. aluminum black faceplate, usb x 2 (in our XL we only have one up front) and a voltmeter digital readout in blue LED that matches the other dash lights.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07FXH5ZZK?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

then i removed the panel. this was much harder than i expected.

to do this first pop open the panel under the steering wheel by pulling it forward from the top. it hinges at the bottom.


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second pry up the upper inner corners of the two small plastic fascia pieces in each side of the powerpoint fascia. the trick here to avoid breaking things is make sure the upper inner corners are only ever pulled straight out. the rest you have some leeway with. that is bc there are some plastic pins in those areas that can break. i broke one although it doesn’t seem to affect the reinstall.

Two videos which were helpful for me in explaining how to remove panels are referenced in the thread I mentioned above.

then remove the two 7mm hex head screws and pull the powerpoint fascia out and down. this was also hard and i felt i might break it. i did not but was a little scary.




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from there use something small to push in the grey tabs to release the harness from each of the two powerpoints.

MAKE SURE YOUR POWER IS OFF HERE. i cut the wire right at the harness and peeled the grey foam back a couple inches and stripped the wire. on the left side the purple wire is positive and black is negative. it’s different colors in the right but you can tell what is what by looking at the harness and the socket.

Then remove the metal cig socket assembly. I admit I had no interest in preserving this so I just broke off the two small black plastic tabs which held it in, and it slides out the back leaving this:

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Then there are a couple plastic tabs which keep the plastic ring/cap assembly in which I pressed in with a screwdriver and pulled that out the front.

The new socket fits in with a nice fit. No play. Here’s the view from the back:

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I then cut the included spade attachments and wires for the new socket short and soldered them in. The socket came with a fuse in-line with the positive wire but I cut that off. Hopefully won’t be an issue, but I’m assuming nothing I plug into two USBs will be a power problem, and the PowerPoint has its own fuse anyways which will protect me from a short circuit from faulty cheap Asian electronic import stuff I am installing! (Knock on wood). I didn’t want the fuse in there bc it’s a huge pain to get all the panels off to access it compared to the real fuses.

The fascia hole it fits in does not have a lot of clearance so the previous thread used a bicycle headset spacer to seat between the fascia and the notched plastic nut which holds it in place. We have no bicycle store here but it seemed pretty close and I wasn’t sure that would be necessary. Just since I had it anyways, I cut the rubber USB plug cap which came with the socket and used the ring portion as a thin spacer which I mounted behind the fascia. It worked well. It sits flat and flush up front except for a thin circumferential gap that you can’t see unless you get down close. If you didn’t like that you could put the rubber ring in front of the fascia I guess and use something else as a spacer. Although I’m not sure a spacer is absolutely necessary, and you could also bevel the notched nut a little and then definitely wouldn’t need a spacer.

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All installed. It works well for me, only a few hundred miles on it. I have a cheap 12v socket voltmeter in the other side you can see here but ignore that. When compared to my multimeter it reads accurately. If someone else does this project with the same socket, maybe they could measure the mA draw of this device? That function no longer works on my multimeter.

I’m assuming it’s next to nothing but I’m sure folks might want to be sure given it will draw down battery current when the car is off until the powerpoints are turned off (although forscan can adjust this interval).

0FB3687C-4652-4EF5-8EC6-46592FCC3308.jpeg


Now that I’ve driven it around for a few hours I learned the volts during driving are all over the place. My peak alternator voltage seems to run around 14.6v but based on mysterious electronic algorithms I don’t understand the engine running voltage ranges from 13.0 to 14.6, regardless of rpm or accessories running. Not sure why or whether it matters, but don’t be like me and stress about the alternator not working now that you can see real-time voltage.

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AverageWhiteGuy

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What your experiencing is called burden voltage... When a battery isn't under load, it tends to read a higher voltage. A more expensive battery meter could correlate voltage to amp load, akin to showing wattage provided. Some more sophisticated battery meters, like the ones inside of cell phones.. use complex algorithms to look at battery type, voltage, current, ambient temperature, and battery cycle count to determine the actual amp hours capacity, as the battery slowly decays.

Example chip;
https://www.ti.com/product/BQ2013H
 
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