Ignition controlled power tap write-up

[JamminWagon]

All LX's do not have an accessory controlled power source at the stereo harness. The radio is controlled by the car's CANBUS.

Tools:
a) If using push on taps, pliers
b) If doing the wrap tap, knife, electrical tape and tie strap (soldering iron if used)

Now to get to the cig lighter.

1) Remove the rubber pad that is directly infront of the ashtray.
Take something like a thin putty knife to get underneath it and pop it out.
Rememeber which way it comes out because it only goes one way in.

2) Pull off the radio bezel buy grabbing the cubby hole and with an light
upward pressure and pull straight out. It is only held on with clips.

3) Disconnect the AC controls and switches above the radio and put the bezel aside.

4) Then gently pull on the ashtray and it will pop out.

5) Then you can pop off the power connector for the lighter and tap into it.

!!!!!!!!! PULL FUSE #18 FIRST !!!!!!!!!

The wire that you want to tap into is the 16 guage red/orange wire.

There are a couple of ways to tap.

USING SQUEEZE TAPS
You have to be careful and get the correct gauge tap.
If you go too small you can cut the wire or too big it wont "bite" through the insulation.

You can get a tap from RadioShack(p/n 64-3052 $1.99 pkg of 10).


WRAP TAP
Using a knife, cut a ring around the wire so that you can pull the
insulation apart(go slowly so you dont nick the wires too bad).

Then take knife point and carefully poke through the wires making a hole.

Take the wire that you want to run up to the HU
and push it into the hole.
Wrap the excess around closing the hole.
Soldering the connection is the best way to connect the wires but is not required.

Now take electrical tape and wrap the connection, when you wrap the
wire to close the hole make sure that the ends are not poking up so that
it wont poke through the tape. Then what I do is take small tie wrap and
put at the end of the electrical tape that is capable of coming undone to
make sure it stays put.

Now if you have the smoker's group, the cig lighter will have power to it all the time.
If you have the smokers group the change to ignition control is very easy.
In the rear fuse block fuse 18 has 3 slots.
If you look at the pic the one fuse that is down from the others is the way you want it.



Install the radio, ash tray and radio bezel, reinstall fuse 18 and enjoy!!

[mannyhernz]

is this for base system or premium?

[ekaz]

is this for base system or premium?

It is for both systems and all LX's. He's just using the cigarette lighter as a switched power source.

[SRT Brian]

NICE Great wright up!!! Save my life just now lol . Owners manual dosent list Cigarette lighter

[FloridaRT]

Great write up, I used it for my Halos...................

Bob

[prican_2000]

Wow- Great Write Up!!!!!!!


Thanks!

[JamminWagon]

Glad to be of help.

[Taz85268]

The Fuse for my Cigarette Lighter keeps blowing if I use a Cigarette Lighter in it.
I have tried 10A and 15A fuses with the same result.

I pulled ashtray panel out last night and noticed that there appears to be a very small pair of wires going to the 12v receptical.

I would have imagined a lot larger wires.

Does anyone know if there are any other wiring configurations that would put larger wires at the cigarette lighter?

Thanks,
Terry

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

awesome write-up...


but a lot easier way to do this (and keep from cutting factory wiring) and takes under 5 seconds to return to stock is to use this:




this is a mini-fuse add a circuit.. $6 at pep-boys.

you pull fuse #18, insert the car fuse in the bottom circuit, the top circuit is the add on..

you run the wire up to the front of the car along the passenger side under the door strip molding.. (takes about 30 min)

insert the mini add-a-circuit into the stock #18 location and you now have 2 switched circuits there..

I always try to avoid cutting ANY factory wiring if at all possible...

[MuscleMan305]

awesome write-up...


but a lot easier way to do this (and keep from cutting factory wiring) and takes under 5 seconds to return to stock is to use this:




this is a mini-fuse add a circuit.. $6 at pep-boys.

you pull fuse #18, insert the car fuse in the bottom circuit, the top circuit is the add on..

you run the wire up to the front of the car along the passenger side under the door strip molding.. (takes about 30 min)

insert the mini add-a-circuit into the stock #18 location and you now have 2 switched circuits there..

I always try to avoid cutting ANY factory wiring if at all possible...

I can only find this for a 10amp and the fuse currently on there is a yellow 20 amp. I tried 2 discount auto parts and a pep boys. One guy said it doesnt really matter that the wire is rated for 10amps but i can easily swap with a 14guage wire and still insert the 20 amp fuse. Any truth to this??

[JamminWagon]

I can only find this for a 10amp and the fuse currently on there is a yellow 20 amp. I tried 2 discount auto parts and a pep boys. One guy said it doesnt really matter that the wire is rated for 10amps but i can easily swap with a 14guage wire and still insert the 20 amp fuse. Any truth to this??

it doesnt really matter that the wire is rated for 10amps that is how fires can start. Too many amps through a wire, wire burns up, wire hooked to power hits body (ground), nice spark, something catches fire! The wire swap is a good idea, the only thing I would worry about is that the fuse holder itself is "advertised" as 10 amps. Even if you put 0 guage wire on it, it would burn up at whatever amps it can handle. Since the fuse holder probably isnt stamped with it's own rating, I would have to go with 10 amps. I am using the wiring that came with the HU which had both the IGN and the Constant wires with fuses.

[trent]

Thanks a lot, JamminWagon! I just used this trick today to hook up my Air Fuel meter. I could find no other alternative besides disconnecting the gauge manually when I stopped the car. You're a life saver!

[RobAGD]

Something to think about is a little bit of kit that PLCMan is putting together.

Its a 12v switch power supply w/ a optional 5v power supply board ( for powering some external sensors for data logging )

Here is some info on it - Power 12v Switch Bus

-Robert

[ggt4]

I have been looking everywhere for this info................THANKS!!!!!!!!!

[BlueBee 6.1]

This is great, I am looking for a place to provide switched power for the amp I am about to install on and off with the ignition.