Did a little project today and thought others might like to see what I did. Since there are 5 of us in the car once or twice a week for 1hr+ I thought 4 USB's would be good.

- Bought two high quality USB ports w/dual 2.1A outlets
- Wired directly to battery w/10am fuse
- Did it this way so we could leave phone / tablet plugged in while parked
- Routed wire under carpet (this was not easy)
- Placed in bottom of center console bin
- One is in place of the OEM 12v
- One is right next to it - this is about the only place it will fit due to the space needed for the wires
- Left enough wire length so bin can be removed easily

 

That is quite a project. It looks nice.

 

Working well so far. One thing I've noticed is the lid doesn't want to stay closed when using a FAT charge cable. I'm thinking of running two cables out the side of the inside bin and under the console at the rear of the passenger seat. That way its a clean look and the bin isn't messy with wires.

 

I'm thinking of doing similar to my car (as I have done in previous, non Jag cars), though not in the central console, there's far too much junk in there! My intention is to modify the ashtray which is not used, to take a couple of USBs. I'll probably buy a spare ashtray when I have time so I can experiment.

 

I really want to keep the clean look so I like to hide wires as much as I can.
Where I put these (in the console) is about the only place they will fit w/o problem.

I too see the ash tray area and for us its wasted space. I'm not quite sure what we are going to do with that yet. For now I just use the APP Waze, open the lid, and set my phone sideways there. Seems to hold the phone ok and the power cable is mostly unseen.

So far these US's are great and since most devices stop pulling power when their battery is charged, there is very little risk in running the cars battery down. On my Ford Ranger I've had 1 wired like this (directly to batt) and it pulls so little power illuminating the blue light that even with the truck parked for for 2 weeks my battery charge is not effected.

The only problem I've had so far are the FAT / heavy duty iPhone lightning cables prevent the lid from fully latching. Next time I work on the Jag I'll re-route the wires or maybe cut a small notch in the top of the bid and firmly attach the wires in place.

 

On my '02, I keep one of these USB/voltmeter doohickeys in the lighter receptacle:




The only thing I don't like is the digits are hard to read in bright daylight.

 

Yeah, in my case we have 5 people in the S-Type on a regular basis so I wanted a permanent install. I also wanted power when ignition is off.

btw, some of those plug in power things are not shielded. Be sure to get a high quality version.

 

If you wanted to utilize the lighter socket for the front passengers, it would be easy to convert the circuit to always have power. This would make for a very simple and clean installation up front.

Look at fig 19.1 here:


http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Auto...x2032002en.pdf


The cigar lighter is in the middle of the page, with the ignition-switched relay to the left. Simply remove that relay (#1 in the Primary Junction Box, outboard of the US passenger's feet) and install a permanent jumper between sockets 30 and 87. Voila, the cigar lighter will always have power from the battery. You can make a nice jumper from a short length of wire and two male spade terminals.

 

Ah.. thanks Karl