I found that the single cigarette lighter in in my 65 Barracuda was a bit inconvenient for powering modern electronic devices:
- The cigarette lighter was obviously designed for smokers because the outlet is between the steering column and ignition switch. Plugging any charging cord into this outlet meant that I was driving around with the cord resting on my right leg.
- To ensure that smoking is a convenient as possible, the cigarette lighter is always hot (ie, always powered). Leaving a charging cord plugged-in means that there is continuous drain on the battery.
The 12 V receptacle I picked up from the local electronic shop had an integral mounting shoe. The mounting shoe can either be attached to vehicle double-sided tape or a couple of #4 screws. A quick survey of the cabin revealed a couple of mounting screws for the front of console cover. Using some flatbar, I made a mounting bracket to fit my console cover mounting screws so I could then tap a couple of holes for the shoe. Unfortunately, a #4-40 tap is very fragile and broke while I was tapping the 2nd hole. I added a 3rd hole for a #8 screw and had to grind down the head for clearance. After drilling and tapping, I painted the bracket with some gold spray paint, which matched my interior quite well.
My car has a accessory circuit that is only powered when the key in the run or accessory position. The fuse box had a spare accessory tap, from which I ran a 14 AWG wire to my console and protected the new circuit with its own 20 Amp fuse. I thought that I might want to add a 2nd 12 V outlet for the backseat later on so I terminated the new accessory wire with 2 bullet connectors.
I removed the power cord from the 12 V receptacle and soldered-in new power and ground wires. The interior of the receptacle was not designed for #14 wire and was a tight fit. The ground wire from the receptacle was grounded to the console mounting structure while the power wire was connected to the new wire from the fuse box with a bullet connector. Having used the receptacle for several road trips, I see that there is no need to have more than three 12 V outlets, especially if the receptacle has USB ports.
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