Trying to hardwire something but having a hard time finding a live 12v line that goes live when ignition is turned on.

Anyone know what I can patch into under the steering wheel?

 

Cigar lighter in the console too far away?

 

That's what I ended up doing but the harness barely reached right above the rear view mirror.
To make it clean I had to go from the side of the center console to under the steering wheel to the side of the door and up the trim panel and hide the wires under the headliner

 

Sounds like you were hard wiring a dash cam or something similar? I wired my dash cam the same way and replaced the cig lighter with a USB socket and plugged in a charger (essential to reduce the voltage to avoid cooking the device!). I bought extended USB leads. I also installed one the on the rear window - an even longer routing to get to the console area, but totally concealed wiring.

 

I hardwired my radar detector but was hoping I didn't have to use the 12v in the console as I have plans for an external cigarette plug under the drivers seat for it and didn't want to overload it.

 

I don't think you'll overload the cigar lighter circuit in the console. Those are usually relativley high current (check the fuse) given they are a heating element.

If you don't actually have the cigar lighter at the rear of your console (where the rear vent is), the connector is still inside the console unused and just taped to the harness under the storage bin. So that's ideal as you don't have to cut into the harness or build some sort of adapter. You can just plug it i.

.

 

Wow I didn't know that. I don't have the plug where the vent is so this would be perfect.