I've been running a MagSafe-compatible phone mount/charger on a ProClip USA mount for a couple of years and really enjoying it, but I always had a cable dangling from it to the 12v outlet. It worked great, but that cable always bugged me.
Yesterday's project was to finally do something about it.
My first idea was to wire a small female barrel connector behind the glove box that I could plug the charger into since all it needs is 12 volts. Unfortunately Scosche chose a very tiny and uncommon barrel connector size, so I gave up on spending weeks ordering tiny barrel connectors only to find out they're the wrong size. Idea #2 was to simply cut the connector off of the wire and splice it into a 12 volt source directly. This would have been the cleanest, but I wanted to preserve the charger's wire in case I want to move it to another vehicle in the future without splicing the original connector back on.
I finally settled on just installing a hidden 12v socket behind the glove box, allowing me to plug in the whole original adapter and avoid making any permanent modifications to the charger.
To ensure it would only be powered when the car is on, I used a fuse tap off of the windshield wiper circuit. Thanks to this post by Intuit, I made sure to install it in such a way that the additional circuit's fuse is in series with the original wiper fuse. This ensures that the wiring to the fuse box will never see more current than the original fuse is rated for.
Once I had everything mounted and zip-tied to my satisfaction I wrapped the base of the phone charger's adapter in 3M fabric friction tape to make it fit very snugly in the socket and minimize the chance of it vibrating loose back there.
The end result is the same charger mount I already loved, now with no dangling wire or occupied 12v socket! Some interior trim tools from Harbor Freight made hiding the wire a breeze.
Yesterday's project was to finally do something about it.
My first idea was to wire a small female barrel connector behind the glove box that I could plug the charger into since all it needs is 12 volts. Unfortunately Scosche chose a very tiny and uncommon barrel connector size, so I gave up on spending weeks ordering tiny barrel connectors only to find out they're the wrong size. Idea #2 was to simply cut the connector off of the wire and splice it into a 12 volt source directly. This would have been the cleanest, but I wanted to preserve the charger's wire in case I want to move it to another vehicle in the future without splicing the original connector back on.
I finally settled on just installing a hidden 12v socket behind the glove box, allowing me to plug in the whole original adapter and avoid making any permanent modifications to the charger.
To ensure it would only be powered when the car is on, I used a fuse tap off of the windshield wiper circuit. Thanks to this post by Intuit, I made sure to install it in such a way that the additional circuit's fuse is in series with the original wiper fuse. This ensures that the wiring to the fuse box will never see more current than the original fuse is rated for.
Once I had everything mounted and zip-tied to my satisfaction I wrapped the base of the phone charger's adapter in 3M fabric friction tape to make it fit very snugly in the socket and minimize the chance of it vibrating loose back there.
The end result is the same charger mount I already loved, now with no dangling wire or occupied 12v socket! Some interior trim tools from Harbor Freight made hiding the wire a breeze.
