rear console power outlet on all the time

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 5:49 am

[edit 11/6/05]I am told this mod has been panned over on MO, so if you are a MO member, then you should know better than modifying your car yourself, and should only ever pay licensed professionals to do anything to your car, and if you try this mod yourself you will end up killing yourself and thousands of innocent nuns and orphans. However, members of GV or other forums should have no problem. But really, as with any mod to your car, if you do it yourself and screw it up, then it's your fault not mine.[/edit]It bugged me that the 12V outlets need the key on to work. Today I figured out how to get the 12V power outlet in the rear console (the one between the front seats) to be on all the time. Turns out that there is a thing in these cars that the service manual calls "Junction Block, Instrument Panel Right" I'll call it JBIPR. The JBIPR is located just above the glove compartment. To get to it, remove the glove compartment, and when you look up inside above it, you'll see this JBIPR. It's held in place with three 10mm screws, two that you can see in the picture, and another one that screws down from the top into that round silver colored pipe. The third one was a hassle to get out, partly because of my lack of dexterity.

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joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 5:56 am

After removing the three 10mm screws, the JBIPR is still sort of held in place by a plastic bump that also plugs into a hole in the silver pipe, but the JPIBR can be freed by hassling it loose, working it back and forth while pushing up near the pipe. When it is freed, it can be reoriented for easier viewing The top of this JBIPR has four relays on it. These relays are for:Heater/blower motorRear Console power outletTail lights110 volt inverter input power

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joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 6:08 am

The three smaller relays are all the same type, and look like this: The way that the circuit works, when 12 V is put across the two silver colored terminals, then the relay closes and the two copper colored terminals are connected. In the power outlet circuit, the relay is closed when the key is turned on. To make the power outlet on all the time, install some sort of jumper wire in place of the relay, to connect the wires that normally run to the copper colored terminals on the relay. I haven't done it yet, but will buy two large flat terminal lugs and crimp them on to an appropriately thick short peiece of wire, and then plug them into the two connector holes where the relay goes. I'll then have a spare relay.The same kind of mod can be made to make the 110 AC inverter be on all the time, but because of the way the wiring is run, the dash switch to trun the 110V on/off is in the control circiuit of the relay, not the load side, so if you bypass the 110V inverter relay with a piece of wire, you will always have 110V on, and the 110V switch will not be able to turn the i110V off. I think this would be bad, and recommend that nobody bypass the 110V inverter relay.For the heater and tail light relay, all I did was verify that if you pull the appropriate relay, then your heater blower motor or tails lights don't work.I'll try to hit a store tomorrow to buy appropriate materials to make a permanent jumper wire, and will post a pic when done

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engine1 · Post by **engine1** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 7:45 am

Seems like a bit of a fire hazard, I would look for a relay that operated in a normally closed fashion, as I asume the OE is a normally open circuit relay??

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 7:57 am

The circuit is still protected by a fuse, which is on the battery side of the relay, so I don't think it would be a fire hazard. If you got a normally closed relay, then starting the car would kill power to the power outlet. What you need is a broken relay that is closed all the time.

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engine1 · Post by **engine1** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 9:12 am

Nice to know there is still a fuse to protect the system. I would use a fusible link type wire to constuct the jumper just in case if it were me!

meathead333 · Post by **meathead333** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 9:58 am

i know nothing of electronics...how easy is this mod? id love to have it!!!!!

ragingfish · Post by **ragingfish** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 12:41 pm

Fantastic info joatmon!Question: though this has partially been answered already, but to clarify, relays provide no overload protection? They simply enable/disable power to the circuit?

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 9:03 pm

In this circuit, the relay is used to to enable the power outlet when the ignition is on, and to disconnect power from it when the ignition is off. The relay does not provide any overlaod protection. The power outlet circuit is protected by the 15A P/Point fuse (at least that's what the wiring diagrams call it) The relay is capable of passing more current than the 15A fuse will allow, which is appropriate design because if there is a short sircuit, you want the cheap fuse to blow instead of the expensive relay. The original design of having the power outlet turn off when ignition is off does provide extra protection by preventing some accessory from draining the battery. I guess by killing power it also prevents some forgotten electrical device from generating heat, which could be a problem, so if you do this mod then you need to make sure that you don't leave anything plugged in that will drain the battery or will generate enough heat to be dangerous. But in general, in this car, relays are used as an electrically controlled switch to enable /disable various things. Overload protection is provided by fuses. Relays are useful for controlling high current loads with low currents. In this car, a lot of things are enabled when the car is running - the power outlets, the 110V converter, the blower motor, etc. Without relays to control power to these things, the ignition switch would have to be capable of supporting probably at least 100A, which would make it really big and expensive, with really big wires.

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 1:31 am

I went to Lowe's (one of a chain of big hardware stores) and bought my supplies, one foot of 14 ga. wire for $0.08 US and one pack of terminal lugs for $1.78 US. $1.96 after tax. The terminal lugs were a pack of five mating pairs of spade type. I only needed two of the male terminals, and about 2 inches of the wire, but could only buy those quantities. Went with 14 ga wire to handle the fuse rating of 15 Amps, and then bought terminal lugs that were designed to accept 14 ga wire and had spade lugs that matched the relay terminals.The terminal lugs I got had plastic insulation that extended to the end of the conductor, so I had to cut off some of the insulation. The picture shows my 2" of wire (stripped), the pack of terminal lugs, the two modified terminal lugs, the completed jumper wire, and the relay that the jumper wire replaced (and also the bits of plastic insulation I had to cut off the two terminal lugs.) (Couldn't find my crimper, used a pair of pliers.)Here is the junction block with the relay removed and then with the jumper installed. I also found that I can remove the glove compartment just fine without unscrewing the one phillips screw that holds the damper, since you can just pop the whole damper thing off and leave it screwed to the glove compartment.So, tools required were:10mm socket and small ratchet for removing the junction blockKnife for cutting insulation off terminal lugsStripper (or knife, teeth, whatever) for stripping wireCrimper (or pliers) for crimping terminal lug onto wireMaterials required2 each spade type terminal lugs2 " (5cm) 14 ga wiretotal cost - $2.00, (with enough materials left over to do a second car free)What this mod does is replace the relay with a piece of wire, so the power to the 12V outlet is available all the time, instead of only when the ignition is on.

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Sub-Vibe-R · Post by **Sub-Vibe-R** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:00 pm

Good topic Joatmon! Great idea.I would not be worried about this mod, as it only bypass a relay. It is exactly like the relay was always closed.

Hawke · Post by **Hawke** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 12:40 am

Don't you also have power to the front aux power and the cigarette lighter as well??

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 12:51 am

EDIT - probably best to not bother with this post, but I'll leave it here in case anyone really needs to do this. At the time, I did it because I have had a need to use the inverter during a power failure, and was reluctant to leave the ignition on for an extended period of time. This is a carryover from my days before electronic ignition, could mess up points/condensor but in these cars that doesn't apply, so when I replace my vibe with another one, I did not do this mod to the new one.

All three have different controls, so this mod only affects the 12V outlet in the console between the seats, and has no effect on the other two.The front (cig lighter) 12V outlet is on a different circuit. It is protected by a 10 A fuse, (the one between the seats is a 15A fuse) I'll have to look at the wiring diagrams again, (which I don't have with me) but I think the cig lighter is turned on by a relay that also powers a bunch of other stuff to, maybe the main ignition relay.The 110V AC outlet is controlled by a relay in the same place as the one that I replaced. However, the circuit for it is different. For that one, the 110V switch by the shifter controls the relay that powers the 110V inverter/converter. (the 110V inverter doesn't have a power switch, it generates 110 anytime there is 12V input) If you just bypass that relay, then the 110V will be on all the time, and the switch will do nothing. Since the 110V inverter will draw current all the time it is on even if you don't have anything plugged in to it, then it poses more risk of draining your battery. So, to have the 110V available and still controlled by the dash switch, you need to cut a wire, the one that provides power to the dash switch, and tie it to a 12V source that is always on. This lets the dash switch still turn the 110V inverter on and off, and when the switch is off, there is no current drain on the system. There are probably many places to tie in to a 12V that is on all the time, but it turns out that this wire also runs through the same junction block as the console power relay. I used the materials I had left over, and this time I made a 12V jumper with an extra wire. This provides me my source of 12V on all the time. I then cut the wire on the back of the junction block that send power to the 110V switch. I used the terminal lugs that i bought earlier to put connectors on all the wires, so if I want to, I can disconnect my jumper wire, put the r12V outlet relay back in, and reconnect the wire for power to the 110V switch, and all's back to normal.The wire that sends power to the 110V switch is on the back of the junction block, there's a cover that snaps on. There are three connectors plugged in to the back, and I was never able to get them disconnected from the junction block. They are in there pretty tight. There must be a slicker way to do this by using the built in jumpering capabilities of this junction block, but I sure couldn't figure it out, especially without being able to even get the connectors disconnected The middle connector has the wire I wanted. Pin 22 (see picture) is where the normal 12V that feeds the 110V switch comes in to the junction block, and pin 17 is the wire that runs to the switch coming out of the junction block. You could cut either wire, I chose the one for pin 17. I crimped a mating pair of terminal lugs (one female and one male) onto the ends of the cut wire. I then made the new jumper , similar to the one a couple of posts up, and included an extra wire in one of the terminals. Need to make sure that the terminal lug on the end of this extra wire is the right gender so that it will connect up to the right one on the cut harness wire. If using the wire for pin 17, the lug must mate with the one on the side that goes into the harness, not the one that goes to the junction block.Connected up the jumper wire to the cut harness wire, installed the rest of the jumper wire where the 12V outlet relay used to be (as described above), put the cover on the back of the junction block, screwed junction block back in and replaced glove compartment.So, now I have my rear console power outlet on all the time, and I also have the 110V dash auxiliary power available all the time (still controlled by the dash switch) , without having to turn ignition on with the key.Costs for this latest mod were the same as for the 12V only mod, because I used the parts left over for that one, didn't have to buy anything. Now that I have done all this, I wonder how long it will be until I stupidly leave something running and drain my battery.

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faygolovinjuggalo · Post by **faygolovinjuggalo** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 5:46 am

Why you guys are crazy..... talk about a fire hazard.... ok here ya go.. I install alarms and remote starters for a living... relays have a purpose.... they will prevent to much amprage draw.... other wish you will burn up switches and all kind of stuff... just for an example... say you add a set of fog lamps... they pull so much power that with out a relay they burn up the power switch.... here is the easy solution to your problem... I have not done this yet but I will just for you guys this weekend... (i need too for my XBOX) chase back the power wire on your invertor. once you find it the rest is simple... cut the wire in half... the side that is hooked to the invertor run to a constant power wire. If you are unsure where one is check this website out. http://www.bulldogsecurity.com they have it listed in the wiring diagram section. just make sure you fuse it. i dont care if it already fused. fuse it again. as close as you can to were you make your connection. a fuse cost like 5 cents.... better than burning **** up.....

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 8:15 am

fay. The purpose of a relay is to provide an electrically controlled switch. In some circuits they are used to control high current loads so that the actual switch dowsn't need to handle the high current. An example of this is the headlight switch. Head lights draw a lot of current, but by using a relay in line, the actual headlight control switch on the steerring column only has to handle a very small control current. This allows the headlight swtich to be a lot smaller, and the wires to the headlight switch can be a lot smaller than they would need to be if they carrried the full headlight current. A relay doesn't provide any overload protection. The contacts of the relay need to handle more current that the circuit is designed to carry. Using a 20A relay in a 20A circuit will set you up to melt the relay. The fuse provides the overload protection. This mod doesn't replace any of the fuses in the circuits.Your proposed mod would run 12V to the inverter all the time, but would bypass the inverter power switch in the dash. You would never be able to turn the inverter off. You'll kill your battery, which is already at a disadvantage. The site you posted identifies a constant 12V from a wire in the ignition harness. I doubt if that cicuit can handle the extra current draw for the inverter.

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 9:12 am

This thread is sound. Bypassing a relay with a straight wire (especially one of the thickness used in the above pictures), is fine.Relays are used to let low-current circuits power high-current circuits, like your headlights. Basically, the relay is a jumper wire that can be turned on and off, all you're doing is getting rid of the switch.

cdFxer · Post by **cdFxer** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 4:16 pm

You are correct. The way you bypassed that relay will not effect the circuits that activate the relay, so no danger other than a dead battery if you leave a load on it all the time. Your upstream over current protection is still place (10A fuse). Good job.Bypassing ALL relays like this is not a good idea. Do your sluething first!You could also modify the relay, but that is a little harder That relay is easily opened...

faygolovinjuggalo · Post by **faygolovinjuggalo** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 12:10 pm

goatmon, you seem pretty smart about 12v electronics... i know exactly what you saying.... but you are missing my point.... you need to leave the relay. it does serve a purpose... maybe what i should have said, or what i meant was to power up the relay to a constant instead of an ingition wire.... and the wiring diagram i post will work just fine.... its the largest wire running on the driver side... I use those wires everyday to power up all kind of ****... remote starters, alarms.... if i can use the wire to power up your starter then it will work to power up an invertor.... infact i have wired up several aftermarket invertors directly to these wires in other vehicles, so the customer didn't have to use the cigarette lighter plug.... like i said i will go out their this weekend and find the exact wires for you all without deleting the relay and make it work with the switch on the dash still....

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:14 pm

fagolovinjuggalo, maybe you didn't understand the mod. There are really two mods going on. the first is replacing one relay with a jumper wire to make the 12V outlet between the seats on all the time. The second one is to run the 12V feeding the inverter power switch to a constant 12V source, so that the inverter can be turned on even when the ignition is off. Since I already had a jumper wire with constant 12V, it was convenient to tap into that 12V jumper to get constant 12V to feed the inverter switch.In these cars, the inverter is under the drivers seat. the power switch in the dash controls a relay located over the glove box. the inverter itself has no power switch, it will be on anytime it has 12V supplied to it. When you said "chase back the power wire on your invertor. once you find it the rest is simple... cut the wire in half... the side that is hooked to the invertor run to a constant power wire. " That sounds like you were going to run a constant 12V to the inverter under the drivers seat. I was trying to caution you that if you do that, you will bypass the inverter control switch in the dash, and you would not be able to turn the inverter off. I don't claim to have the only approach to the problem, but I figured out a way to do it that was relatively easy. Your way may be better. I used the wiring diagrams from the service manual, you may find your wiiring diagrams to be better. It's not a contest.

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:47 pm

Quote, originally posted by faygolovinjuggalo Â»goatmon, you seem pretty smart about 12v electronics... i know exactly what you saying.... but you are missing my point.... you need to leave the relay. it does serve a purpose... maybe what i should have said, or what i meant was to power up the relay to a constant instead of an ingition wire.... and the wiring diagram i post will work just fine.... its the largest wire running on the driver side... I use those wires everyday to power up all kind of ****... remote starters, alarms.... if i can use the wire to power up your starter then it will work to power up an invertor.... infact i have wired up several aftermarket invertors directly to these wires in other vehicles, so the customer didn't have to use the cigarette lighter plug.... like i said i will go out their this weekend and find the exact wires for you all without deleting the relay and make it work with the switch on the dash still....Two projects going on, one, the 12v outlet. Two, the inverter. In the case of the 12v outlet, the relay has NO use if you want it to be constantly powered. All it does is supply power when the key is switched on, and remove it when the key is switched off. The easiest way to make the 12v outlet on all the time is to put a wire in it's place, as Joatmon did.If you power the relay with a constant instead of a switched, you'd actually be burning power by keeping the relay ON all the time. Chances are, you'd probably kill the relay after a while.I have to ask though, what's the point into splicing into the wiring harness with these mods? It's a bunch of extra work for what you can do by simply replacing the relay with a wire. Constant power is already in the relay block, so why bother going clear across the vehicle? The relays mentioned, as far as I know, only control the power going to the switch for the inverter, so you'd still have control over it.I'm not saying you're wrong, but why go the hard way?

cdFxer · Post by **cdFxer** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 5:20 pm

The relay serves a purpose: It prevents the ignition circuits from having to pass all the current the cig lighter/outlet may need. By bypassing it the way joatmon did, there is no harm to ANY circuit in the vehicle. Now if he had ran a wire from one of the coil leads on the relay to the load/contacts on the relay then there would be a problem. He has not. The outlet was protected by a 10A fuse and still is. There is no other contact with the switched circuit that "fired" that relay. Even his added wire for the 110 inverter is safe, as it only switches the tiny amount of current the inverter relay needs to turn on and allow current to flow to the inverter.You would not want the relay on all the time either, not because it would burn it up but because it would be an extra 20~100+ mA draw on your battery!Here is what I back this up with: 5 years as an electronics technician who also installed RF 2way equipment, sirens, lights, etc in police vehicles, fleet vehicles, custom crap for the IL Dept of Nuclear Safety (tax $$ at work, sheesh). Bench tech with 20+ years experience. Maintenance supervisor for the third largest CD plant in the US for 10 years-and we fixed EVERYTHING there, no factory techs were ever called in. Electrician for @ 20 yrs as well. If it has or had an electron flowing through it, Ive probably worked on it. Joatmons mod is sound.

faygolovinjuggalo · Post by **faygolovinjuggalo** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:27 am

ok... well i am just gonna keep my mouth shut... cause yours is totally different than mine.. my plug is right in the dash right below the radio right next to the on off switch. do it how you want.. i was just suggest spending a little bit of extra time to leave the relay but keep it powered up all the time, just for the purpose of being on the safe side.

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:48 am

Once again, we're referring to the 12v outlet in the center console, between the seats, not the one by the radio. As cdFxer said, leaving the relay powered all the time will create a certain amount of power drain. Relays do NOT give you any electrical safety whatsoever.

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:09 am

mine is like that, the switch and AC outlet are behind the shifter. Just that the meat of the inverter is remote, under the drivers seat. Does seem like it would be logical to have it right there by the switch and the outlet, but it's not. I bet your vibe is the same as mine. Maybe it's to cut down on interference or something, only GM knows.

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:32 am

Interference would make sense.. Dunno if it's true, but I think you're pretty dead-on with it. I'm sure inverters can be very "noisy"As for upgrading, I have a 600watt inverter I pulled from my previous car. Planning on installing it and flush-mounting three outlets, one up front, one for the rear seat, and one in the trunk, just for any power needs. It's a Portawattz or some thing from Radio Shack..

cdFxer · Post by **cdFxer** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:54 pm

Hmm, three outlets? Ought to make one heckuva light show inside the go-buggy

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:19 pm

Yeah, really! I had origionally gotten the 600w inverter from my college radio station. We used my previous car in the homecoming parade, hooked up a little Fender portable PA system to it, and blasted the radio station from the back of my car.I figure having the outlets will be useful because I know i'm going to put a few screens in the car at some point. I'm still convincing myself in the back of my head that I really need to hook this car up and go show it..

sloth · Post by **sloth** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 12:29 am

Well I did this mod last night. I have absolutely no idea how you got the bolt out of the top of the pipe. I tried for 20 minutes before I decided I didn't have the right tools for the job. Then I felt around and found I could reach up and pull the relay out without taking it apart. So that's what I did. I knew it was the one next to the big heater relay so I pulled it out and just reached up and kind of blindly plugged in my jumper. Works great. I wish my jumper was in there a little more securely but that will probably be a project for later.Plugged my cell phone in it last night and it was fully charged this morning without any ill effects on the car starting so overall..a complete success.

GMJAP · Post by **GMJAP** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:57 am

Just piping in as an EE to agree that relays offer no safety what-so-ever on load currents. They allow you to switch a higher current path (through the contacts) by using a lower current path (the coil). However, keeping the coil on all the time offers ZERO advantage over simply bypassing the contacts with a wire.Both methods provide a continuous short between the relay contacts. Keeping the coil on just sucks needless current, as already noted.Edited - to fix my bass-ackwards sentence

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:19 am

Quote, originally posted by sloth Â» I have absolutely no idea how you got the bolt out of the top of the pipe. I tried for 20 minutes before I decided I didn't have the right tools for the job. I think I used a tiny 1/4" drive ratchet, can't remember, and when I put it back together, I think I skipped that bolt Quote, originally posted by GMJAP Â»However, simply bypassing the contacts with a wire offers ZERO advantage over keeping the coil on all the time.For me at the time, the jumper had the big advantage of not requiring cutting any wires, which I was reluctant to do to my nice new car. It's also an easily reversible mod, and you get a spare relay out of the deal too.

AKLGT · Post by **AKLGT** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:38 am

this is one of the only things the PT Cruiser had going for it. i installed a 3 set 12 volt plug ins in the bed of my Tundra. i'm tempted to install another in the rear trunk of the LGT now.

binary · Post by **binary** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 11:44 am

Awesome mod... yet another annoyance I can fix myself. Thanks Joatman for the great write up with photos!

GMJAP · Post by **GMJAP** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 12:04 pm

Quote, originally posted by joatmon Â»For me at the time, the jumper had the big advantage of not requiring cutting any wires, which I was reluctant to do to my nice new car. It's also an easily reversible mod, and you get a spare relay out of the deal too. Yeah - I had sentence dyslexia and wrote that backwards. I meant it the other way around, and re-edited my post to fix it. I think your mod is great, and I intend to do it one of these days. I really like the "easily reversible" nature of it.

tnpartsguy · Post by **tnpartsguy** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 3:03 am

What about adding a fuse to your jumper? they make those nifty scotchblock fuse holders....instead of having a loop, add the fuse holder, and you still have 12v all the time in the console, but you also have a little more safety, just in case do overload the circuit.....best of both worlds!?!?!

johnsoax · Post by **johnsoax** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:24 am

Quote, originally posted by tnpartsguy Â»What about adding a fuse to your jumper? they make those nifty scotchblock fuse holders....instead of having a loop, add the fuse holder, and you still have 12v all the time in the console, but you also have a little more safety, just in case do overload the circuit.....best of both worlds!?!?!There is no need. You have the same protection as with the relay in. Nothing has changed except the outlet is now on all the time.(Another EE weighing in that relays offer NO overcurrent protection to a circuit).

Albgixxer · Post by **Albgixxer** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 2:25 am

never mind found it

pomifera · Post by **pomifera** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:36 am

Did the mod for rear console power port on all the time. At PA emissions inspections computer said "not ready to test" on first day and on second day. Put relay back in. Was ready on third day. HUH!??

Gonzo · Post by **Gonzo** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:36 am

My Vibe did not come with the center console power outlet. Does anyone know if it is pre-wire? This way all I have to do is purchase a receptacle and plug it in.

langner91 · Post by **langner91** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 6:29 am

This is GREAT! It worked just as shown on my brand new 2008 Vibe! I still cannot believe they put the wiring in, thre relay in, the fuse in, and don't give you the socket.Now to add a switched socket to the left of my steering column!

zionzr2 · Post by **zionzr2** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 6:40 am

Well I just joined the club!Just finished this mod myself! Pretty Easy. My cost was free as I had all the neccessary parts lying around my tool box.It took me a few moments to persuade the module down so I could see what i was doing.I used a 16ga stranded wire. I'm not worried about loads as all this will be used is to charge a cell phone and that plug is also fuse protected.

tdono42 · Post by **tdono42** » Wed Sep 01, 2010 1:46 am

Hey Joatmon--Just finished reading this great discussion, and was all set to tackle this project when I discovered that my 2008 Vibe doesn't have the power outlet in the rear console between the seats. Double checked the manual and there's no mention of it there either. Do you have a solution for someone who wants to make the power outlet/cigarette lighter by the shifter and climate controls to be "on" all the time? I just want to charge my phone overnight when needed, and don't understand why this outlet only works when the key is turned on. Can you help? Or steer me in the right direction? Thanks, Thomas

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:54 am

there's a useful index of mods thread at http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=25918 and the first one in th index is how to add a power outlet to the 2005-2008 Vibes' center console, that thread is http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=13711rewiring the lighter outlet in the dash is more involved, it could be done but I never bothered. I like the one under the lid better for overnight charging anyway, lets you keep the device out of sight from smash and grabbers

JohnnieMo · Post by **JohnnieMo** » Sun Jul 07, 2013 7:17 pm

For anyone looking to try this on a 2009 vibe, dont bother. I tried and nothing is the same. I think I might just run a direct line from the battery. I can't seem to find a better place to tap in.

Fyi I am trying to add a new rear power port that has constant power.

John

cythraul · Post by **cythraul** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 11:47 am

I'm wondering what wire gauge you guys are using. If this circuit is breaked at 15A, then at 12V 14AWG would be required. The jumper replacing the relay should be of that gauge.. Tho, the wires to the harness at the console 12V socket looks like 18AWG max... so I'm confused.

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:24 am

cythraul wrote:I'm wondering what wire gauge you guys are using.

I used stranded 14 gauge wire. I'd like to be able to say that it was because I had calculated that 14 gauge was necessary for a 15A circuit, but honestly, I used 14 gauge because I had a spool of it laying around, left over from an invisible dog fence install.

But it's better to err on the big side, to use a thicker wire than necessary, instead of using one not thick enough, so even if the factory wires are 18's, might be better to use 14 for the jumper anyway

rear console power outlet on all the time

rear console power outlet on all the time

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (engine1)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (ragingfish)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (Sub-Vibe-R)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (Hawke)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (faygolovinjuggalo)

Re: (cdFxer)

Re: (faygolovinjuggalo)

Re: (faygolovinjuggalo)

Re: (joatmon)

Re: (faygolovinjuggalo)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: (faygolovinjuggalo)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (tnpartsguy)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (johnsoax)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (joatmon)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time (tdono42)

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time

Re: rear console power outlet on all the time