[CoryV6Tour]

Being a family car I thought others might be in the same predicament as I was, that being having children who often spend the majority of car rides glued to their iDevices. They certainly do make longer family trips much quieter than I remember mine being.

My previous car I had hard wired a full 12 volt to 110 inverter in the back seat but wanted something a bit slicker and much more ‘stock’ looking. Seeing as every device they own now has a USB to whatever proprietary connector I thought the cleanest looking option would be a flush mount 12 volt to dual USB outlet added somewhere to the rear of the car.

First step was finding a decent quality and looking outlet. There are no shortage of cheap ones and I have purchased many electronics, cables and other such stuff directly from China or Ebay and they are hit and miss at best and downright fire hazards at worst. After a bit of Googling and a bit more money I found a nice looking and IP-66 / CE / FCC / RoHS certified connector. While those acronyms might not mean much to most it just means you're getting at least some level of higher quality that the majority of the ones that will turn up on your internet searches will offer. And were still only talking ~$20.
( http://www.mapleleafgps.com/product_info.php?products_id=74926695 )
Full details are on the manufacturer's site
http://www.polyplanar.com/product/usb-pm-waterproof-dual-port-usb-charger

Ok enough of the preamble now on to the DIY Instructions and photos.

Finished results

Time Required:

• 1 hour

Tools Required:

• Philips screw driver
• A couple trim removal tools
• Drill and 1.5” drill bit
• Electrical tape
• Connectors
• Wire cutters/ stipers

Difficulty Rating:
(1 being something a 5th grader could do, 10 requiring some form of Physics or engineer degree)

• About a 5

Other very important requirements:

• A trusting and understanding wife/husband/partner because you're about to take apart and drill into a brand new car.

Side note worth mentioning:

• If you should ever want to replace the back panel that you drilled the hole in, the part is less than $10.

Sorry for no video should have taken a few clips while I was doing the work. but heres a real quick guide.

1. Using pry tool work your way from the bottom to the top of the back panel of the center console.
2. There will be a wire to disconnect and if you have the rear HVAC vents the tubing just comes apart easily from below the armrest.
3. Once removed you'll need to unscrew two screws holding in the 's' shaped venting tube then remove it.
4. You'll see some sort of sensor and its just below that were I centered and drilled the 1.5" hole.
5. When drilling the hole first start from the inside out just letting the center bit of the drill pierce through.
6. Take this time to have a look and make sure your centered. Measuring is tricky so I just did it by eyeballing it.
   If you're not centered you can adjust your position as the larger hole will cover up the adjustment.
7. Once you're happy with the location switch to drilling from the outside in this makes a much cleaner hole to work with.
8. Slide the USB plug and wires into the hole and tighten the retaining nut.
9. If you have the HVAC the 's' pieces of duct work will need to be squashed a bit to get the screws back in.
10. I don't think it is significant enough to drastically affect the airflow but by making the hole as close to the sensor you'll be positing the USB plug where there is the most room. If you don't have HVAC vents then your laughing and have much more room to position the plug were you like.
11. Now back to the center console to wire it up
12. You don't have to fully remove the center console to get at the bottom of the 12 volt receptacle in the armrest but you do have to take the silver 'L' pieces off and release most of the center portion so you can lift it up and get at the wires beneath the armrest.
    See post #77 of this thread for details on console removal, they helped me out. http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=80744&page=6
13. If you want to remove the wire from the 12 volt receptacle there is a retaining clip the backside (facing the rear of the car) that you have to press in as you pull the connector off. Here is a photo of that.
14. I then just tapped into the wires with the tap in connectors, taped it up, tested it then put it all back together.

 

[Mick the Quick]

Awesome. Thanks for providing good content!!

Mick

 

[Will13]

Excellent work!


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[oOKhanhOo]

Thank you for adding DIY content

 

[radiofred]

nice job good write up im going to do it to my coupe

 

[bustanut666]

Nice. Wish there was a video tho. Thanks.

 

[Route 66]

Very impressive, and welcome to the forum! :wave:

 

[JZP]

What a great Idea; I am going to do it!!!!

THANK YOU :thmsup:

 

[ShazZam185]

Nice addition.

 

[jimnfor]

Very cool mod. Nice DIY.

 

[on2]

Very cool! Thanks for the DIY.

If I did this I would probably make it more hidden.

 

[CoryV6Tour]

You could go smaller single slot ones on the lower sides of the rear portion of the console. The only two issues I could see with that would be if the front seats are far back on their tracks it would interfere and if you are in a wintery climate where they use salt don't want them to low where they could get the odd bit of salty slush off the kids boots splashed onto them.

Another slick option I thought of but would require significantly more work in the wire routing department would be to have them located in the fold down center armrest.

Very cool! Thanks for the DIY.

If I did this I would probably make it more hidden.

 

[CoryV6Tour]

Sorry about the no video. We were heading on a road trip and I wanted it in before we left so was bit pressed for time. Even thinking of how I would do the video and make it half decent gave me a great deal more appreciation for those that put up all the great videos, it certainly is a lot more work that one might think. For many jobs I am sure it more than double the time it takes to do the work then there is the editing and post work involved.

Nice. Wish there was a video tho. Thanks.

 

[Kamdog]

Suggestion: if that back part only costs 10 bucks, get it now, while you can, so you will have it later if you need it. It is only 10 bucks.

 

[bustanut666]

Does the new USB port support a iPod with full functions just like the stock USB port?

 

[CoryV6Tour]

The install and unit I described would ONLY provide charging. Would you really want to subject yourself and other passengers to your teenager having control over the music? :dude: :dude: LOL

Joking aside, I would think theoretically this could be done, you would need a different USB port, one that also has the data portions of the cable which you could tap into the front USB port.

Does the new USB port support a iPod with full functions just like the stock USB port?

 

[DevilDogDoc]

You could go smaller single slot ones on the lower sides of the rear portion of the console. The only two issues I could see with that would be if the front seats are far back on their tracks it would interfere and if you are in a wintery climate where they use salt don't want them to low where they could get the odd bit of salty slush off the kids boots splashed onto them.

Another slick option I thought of but would require significantly more work in the wire routing department would be to have them located in the fold down center armrest.

I may go this route with mine being as how my amp is directly behind my back seat it wouldn't be too hard to tap into the wiring...

 

[DevilDogDoc]

Looking at the specs it says that one ports charges at a higher amperage than the other
2.1 vs 1.0. Wonder why?

 

[michael871]

looks familiar i saw something like this on the pilot forums,anyways looks like something on my to do list thxs coryv6

 

[Route 66]

I have one of these plugged into the 12V socket in the center console and I can keep my phone hidden from view in there while it charges.