Cigarette Lighter Splitter

[micmak]

Hi Guys,
I vaguely remember seeing a thread about his before, but I can't find it now so here is a new thread on the subject:
Anyone ever install one of these? https://www.amazon.com/VOLADOR-3-Socket-Cigarette-Splitter-Devices-Black/dp/B01D5WRL9C I want to wire it directly to the wires under the console that feed the existing cigarette lighter, just to keep it all looking stock. Then I’ll hide the splitter either in the glove box or behind the kneepad. I want this for the dash cam, and the GPS. Any advice on additional steps I should take? Will the existing wiring and circuit handle this with two devices plugged in at the same time? Is there a better splitter that I should consider or has anyone used this particular one?

Thanks.

.....Mike.....

[Bitsyncmaster]

I bought a wired cigarette lighter socket and wired it to the key on power for my GPS. I leave it in the glove box and found a "pipe" cap cover to keep metal out of it when it's not used. That unit you show should work the same. You can wire it to existing lighter wires if you want power always.

[micmak]

I bought a wired cigarette lighter socket and wired it to the key on power for my GPS. I leave it in the glove box and found a "pipe" cap cover to keep metal out of it when it's not used. That unit you show should work the same. You can wire it to existing lighter wires if you want power always.

Hi Dave, Thanks for your comments. You brought to mind a thought that I hadn't considered: power-always-on. I would want it to power off when I remove the key. I guess I would need to run a new feed from a different fuse in that case, or find some other power source that the key/ignition controls. I guess I am less worried about that and more concerned about getting a good unit that I can depend on. I don't want it to overheat. I don't mind paying a little more for a reputable unit made by a well known company that will not cause a fire. With so many fires that seem to have happened recently, I guess I am a little paranoid. Also with overheating in mind, is there any danger to having the GPS and the dash cam on at the same time? Will it put a strain on anything?

......Mike......

[Jonathan]

Here's another thought Mike... since your car is a stick shift AND you would want the power to your splitter to be switched on and off with the ignition, you could tie into the PRND21 illumination wire that's present but unused on your car instead of tying into the cigar lighter power.

The shifter illumination wire is powered only when the key is turned in the ignition as opposed to the cigar lighter power which is always on regardless of key position. That same always on power source for the cigar lighter is what also goes to the radio to keep the settings when the car is turned off and same too for the memory of the console clock when the car is off.

I would suspect the current draw would be fine on this illumination wiring as it is the same gauge thickness as all of the rest of the wiring in the car. Assuming the fuse you put in the block is adequate for running your gadgets. You might also want to just do a visual of that length of wiring under the centre console if only for a sanity check to see for certain it didn't get pinched or frayed over the years since it would have never been used on your standard transmission car. It is still there on standard trans cars, but is normally taped off and back and out of the way.

[micmak]

Here's another thought Mike... since your car is a stick shift AND you would want the power to your splitter to be switched on and off with the ignition, you could tie into the PRND21 illumination wire that's present but unused on your car instead of tying into the cigar lighter power.

The shifter illumination wire is powered only when the key is turned in the ignition as opposed to the cigar lighter power which is always on regardless of key position. That same always on power source for the cigar lighter is what also goes to the radio to keep the settings when the car is turned off and same too for the memory of the console clock when the car is off.

I would suspect the current draw would be fine on this illumination wiring as it is the same gauge thickness as all of the rest of the wiring in the car. Assuming the fuse you put in the block is adequate for running your gadgets. You might also want to just do a visual of that length of wiring under the centre console if only for a sanity check to see for certain it didn't get pinched or frayed over the years since it would have never been used on your standard transmission car. It is still there on standard trans cars, but is normally taped off and back and out of the way.

I wasn't aware of that wire Jonathan. Yeah, that is an option alright. Any wire that is live only with the ignition will work, obviously. I have the console out at the moment for other stuff, so I should be able to figure it out easily.

.....Mike....

[Bitsyncmaster]

Your GPS and dash cam current draw would be pretty low. I would guess under one amp each and probably less if the battery in the units are charged.

[Jonathan]

Here's a picture of the shifter illumination wiring on an automatic:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?10336-Assorted-helpful-technical-photos&p=165448&viewfull=1#post165448

It is from this area on the wiring diagram. You can see how the purple wiring goes to the "always on" portions.

47404

If you need some help with it, just let me know and I can meander my way over to your neck of the woods at some point and give you a hand.

[David T]

Here's a picture of the shifter illumination wiring on an automatic:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?10336-Assorted-helpful-technical-photos&p=165448&viewfull=1#post165448

It is from this area on the wiring diagram. You can see how the purple wiring goes to the "always on" portions.

47404

If you need some help with it, just let me know and I can meander my way over to your neck of the woods at some point and give you a hand.

Find another wire to feed it. If you blow the fuse you will lose all of your splitter accessories AND your illumination. Depending on the load you may want to add another relay so it is only powered with the key on but you can feed it directly from the battery (through fuses of course!).

[micmak]

Here's a picture of the shifter illumination wiring on an automatic:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?10336-Assorted-helpful-technical-photos&p=165448&viewfull=1#post165448

It is from this area on the wiring diagram. You can see how the purple wiring goes to the "always on" portions.

47404


Find another wire to feed it. If you blow the fuse you will lose all of your splitter accessories AND your illumination. Depending on the load you may want to add another relay so it is only powered with the key on but you can feed it directly from the battery (through fuses of course!).

Hi Dave, I dunno if the likelihood of blowing a fuse is THAT great. As Dave M said, there is not much of a draw really. My car is a 5 speed so that illumination is irrelevant. Having said all that, I think I would probably tap into the live feed going to the radio as it is closer to where I want the splitter to reside and it is live only when the key is on.

Jonathan, thanks for the offer, but I will be fine. I will gradually chip away at this over the Winter months as I am doing other stuff also. I have the console out at the moment redoing my armrest compartment, and I have a little plan to rectify the console curl at the front of the console, and a few other little things here and there. So I am not in any screaming rush to get this done right away as the car will not be back on the road again until the Spring. I just wanted to bounce this off you guys and see if I was overlooking anything.

Thanks Guys.

......Mike......

[David T]

All kinds of things can wind up in those sockets like coins, pens and such and they WILL blow the fuses. Take the proper precautions. Tripling up the # of sockets only increases the possibility of bad things happening. Give it it's own circuit so you still can have other things function.

[Dangermouse]

I will note that the device that the OP linked to will have a fuse in the part that plugs into the cigarette lighter - or at least it should have.

I had a dual splitter similar to it that got a penny inserted and blew the fuse. It was inside a sliding cover on the side of the plug. IIRC

[Josh]

Find another wire to feed it. If you blow the fuse you will lose all of your splitter accessories AND your illumination. Depending on the load you may want to add another relay so it is only powered with the key on but you can feed it directly from the battery (through fuses of course!).

i hope no one takes this advice.
You should not drive your car too cause you may get in an accident.
If you are worried about this circuit you have bigger things to worry about in a 35 year old lucas wired car.

[micmak]

I will note that the device that the OP linked to will have a fuse in the part that plugs into the cigarette lighter - or at least it should have.
I had a dual splitter similar to it that got a penny inserted and blew the fuse. It was inside a sliding cover on the side of the plug. IIRC


i hope no one takes this advice.
You should not drive your car too cause you may get in an accident.
If you are worried about this circuit you have bigger things to worry about in a 35 year old lucas wired car.

Ha ha thanks Josh. How’s that V8 going btw? It’s Shecky here. I call myself micmak on DMCTalk!

Dermot, you might be right about the fuse, but I was planning on chopping off that plug and wiring it directly to a hot wire on the car. I can easily put an inline fuse in it anyway.

Thanks Guys.

……Mike……

[Dangermouse]

An in-line fuse is probably the safest solution.

However I just realized something - does your dash cam have any motion detection options? I know some can be set to to start recording if someone comes close to your car (I recall an owners video of passers-by stopping and looking at his car and some of the funny things they said)

If so, you would want to always powered, rather than linked to the key position.

[micmak]

An in-line fuse is probably the safest solution.

However I just realized something - does your dash cam have any motion detection options? I know some can be set to to start recording if someone comes close to your car (I recall an owners video of passers-by stopping and looking at his car and some of the funny things they said)

If so, you would want to always powered, rather than linked to the key position.

Yeah I did consider that, Dermot. I am reluctant to set it up that way because I am not too comfortable leaving it powered on or in standby mode, for the sake of the battery. Anyway, aside from that, I rarely park the car anywhere that I cannot see it. I am not too concerned about anyone touching the car. It might be funny to hear some of the comments, but it is not interesting enough to me to set it up that way. But thanks for pointing that out.

......Mike......

[Chris4099]

I've installed several dash cams before. I highly recommend getting one that runs directly on 12v. Most run via a USB port which means the plug on them has a power supply inside it. This requires you use that plug or design your own 12v to 5v power supply. If you get one that runs directly on 12v, then you can skip the plug all together and easily wire in. BlackVue are very popular, nice, and run directly off 12v (but expensive). Then it's just a simple matter of running a pair of wires down behind the pillar trim to your prefered switched 12v source. Put an extra in-line fuse to at that point as well for extra safety. Both my Tesla and MINI Cooper are wired like this with my cigarette lighter left untouched.

BlackVue also makes a battery saver. You wire this inline with the dashcam and connect to a constant 12v source. It will then power the camera continuously until the battery voltage drops to a set point (hopefully above the amount required to still start the car). At that point it cuts power. So this lets you get 24/7 motion detection and recording without risking a dead battery. I personally didn't care for 24/7 recording so I never tried one of these before.

[micmak]

I've installed several dash cams before. I highly recommend getting one that runs directly on 12v. Most run via a USB port which means the plug on them has a power supply inside it. This requires you use that plug or design your own 12v to 5v power supply. If you get one that runs directly on 12v, then you can skip the plug all together and easily wire in. BlackVue are very popular, nice, and run directly off 12v (but expensive). Then it's just a simple matter of running a pair of wires down behind the pillar trim to your prefered switched 12v source. Put an extra in-line fuse to at that point as well for extra safety. Both my Tesla and MINI Cooper are wired like this with my cigarette lighter left untouched.

BlackVue also makes a battery saver. You wire this inline with the dashcam and connect to a constant 12v source. It will then power the camera continuously until the battery voltage drops to a set point (hopefully above the amount required to still start the car). At that point it cuts power. So this lets you get 24/7 motion detection and recording without risking a dead battery. I personally didn't care for 24/7 recording so I never tried one of these before.

Hi Chris,
I don’t think I have ever seen a dash cam that runs directly on a 12 volt supply. I just checked out BlackVue. Nice stuff. A bit pricey though. But even if I had a 12 V dashcam, I would still need a cigarette lighter splitter to handle the GPS. The dash cam I will be getting is the same one as I have in my regular daily driver. I am happy with it and it is not expensive. I will hide all the wiring as you described. The BlackVue battery saver sounds interesting. I might look into that.
Thanks for your tips and comments.
……Mike……