| Author | Post |
|---|
Graham Bichard
Member
|
Posted: Wednesday September 26th, 2007 10:04 am |
|
Another day, another question!
Has anyone fitted a power socket into their MPI? I'm toying with the idea, so I can use a Sat Nav/phone charger/portable DVD player (most important this one, for my son!)
I was wondering where you had mounted it (in the glove box perhaps, out of sight. Would the wires for any device fit through the gap around the lid?). Where did you run the wires? Did you take a direct feed from the battery (suitable fused)? What size fuse do you use?
Another (possible) job for the winter! (So far I've talked a good job, and made a lovely list of things to do - now I've just got to get around to completing/crossing them off!!!)
Cheers
Last edited on Wednesday September 26th, 2007 11:08 am by Graham Bichard |
hawaiianblue
Member
|
Posted: Wednesday September 26th, 2007 04:27 pm |
|
I beleive Vehicle wiring products sell a plastic mounting plinth for fitting a cigarette light socket under a dash, this would be the simplest option. Along with a connection to the permanent live at the back of the ignition switch with an inline fuse.
For mine i made a small console from an old early 90's mini radio housing, it holds a cigar lighter, and oil pressure gauge and a couple of switches.
It's not really worth trying to fit it in the blanking space for the choke cable as some do, as the plastic bung there actualy holds one of the mounting brackets for the switch panel, when people fit the socket there they just remove the bracket, so the switches are loose.
|
DaveShreeve
Administrator
|
Posted: Wednesday September 26th, 2007 09:29 pm |
|
| My Wood and Pickett has one mounted under the lower dash rail by the A post on the drivers side. Mounted in a leather covered hand made piece of bent aluminium - unless your doing something special with the interior I'd look for a socket supplied with a simple mounting bracket. More centrally may be an idea especially if one requirement is child amusement. I'd suggest a new fused feed direct from the starter solenoid, messing in the column wiring is a pain for no gain, not the brake switch live feed as mine was fitted originally!
|
Graham Bichard
Member
|
Posted: Thursday September 27th, 2007 01:16 pm |
|
hawaiianblue, it hadn't even occured to me (dur!) to put the socket where the choke cable blanking plug is! That would be the ideal place for it - kind of a factory look! There must be a way of making a small metal bracket able to support the socket and the remaining switches? Vehicle wiring products - do they have a website?
Dave, I agree I wouldn't choose the steering column as my first choice for taking a feed from. On your car does the power get taken from the starter solenoid now? I presume there are plenty of grommets in the bulkhead for feeding the cable through! What rating fuse do you have in the car?
|
taffy1967
Member
|
Posted: Thursday September 27th, 2007 04:59 pm |
|
Here's Vehicle Wiring Products website: -
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/
|
DaveShreeve
Administrator
|
Posted: Thursday September 27th, 2007 10:29 pm |
|
Graham Bichard wrote: Dave, I agree I wouldn't choose the steering column as my first choice for taking a feed from. On your car does the power get taken from the starter solenoid now? I presume there are plenty of grommets in the bulkhead for feeding the cable through! What rating fuse do you have in the car?
Yes. A simple ring terminal on 27 amp cable using an in line fuse holder as close to the solenoid as possible whilst keeping things tidy. The wiring follows the loom along the offside wing and goes through the bulkhead with the main loom. This was originally fused at 20 amp to provide a temporary power source for the heated front screen. Now on more normal duties the fuse has been reduced to 10 amp. You can basically fuse at whatever you like, to suit your needs, as long as the fuse is less than the capability of the cable. As a permanently live feed you need to be sure the fuse will blow rather than the wiring burning out.
|
Graham Bichard
Member
|
Posted: Friday September 28th, 2007 10:48 am |
|
Cheers Taffy, thats exactly what I'm looking for.
hawaiianblue - have you tried to get the blanking plug out? Is it easy (i.e. without causing damage - does it 'pop out', or go into and out the back of the dash?)
Cheers Dave. Out of interest did you have the heated screen on an MPI? And if so, why did you get rid of it?
|
hawaiianblue
Member
|
Posted: Friday September 28th, 2007 07:01 pm |
|
Graham Bichard wrote: Cheers Taffy, thats exactly what I'm looking for.
hawaiianblue - have you tried to get the blanking plug out? Is it easy (i.e. without causing damage - does it 'pop out', or go into and out the back of the dash?)
Cheers Dave. Out of interest did you have the heated screen on an MPI? And if so, why did you get rid of it?
To remove the plug, you have to take the switch panel out of the dash, which means dropping the heater and undoing those fiddly nuts that retain the panel. Then, the plug has the panel retaining bracket fitted over it with a spring clip to retain it. Pull the clip off and it all comes apart.
I think the problem with fitting the socket here, is you'll have to drill the hole out to accomdate it, which doesnt leave you with much metal to weld the retaining bracket too. Plugging things in and out and working the switches does actually put a lot of repetative force on the panel so i think you'd end up taking it out after a couple of years to redo it.
You might get away with using a Hella socket, rather than a cigar lighter one.
The reason i said pick the power up from the steering column is that it means running less cable than going to the starter. The cable from the ignition switch only runs there anyway, so you're simply duplicating a cable thats already in place. The starter switch also has a heavy enough cable to run anything you'd want to run through a lighter socket. Also you get the option of choosing if you want the socket permanent live (good for draining the battery over night) or only live with the ignition, depending which side of the switch you picked up from.
Running from the starter isnt wrong though, just in my opinion it means more cable and just as much if not more work.
|
DaveShreeve
Administrator
|
Posted: Friday September 28th, 2007 08:13 pm |
|
Graham Bichard wrote: Cheers Dave. Out of interest did you have the heated screen on an MPI? And if so, why did you get rid of it?
No, it's in a British Open and is still there. The feed from the socket was a temporary arrangement untill a switch and timed relay were sorted out.
http://www.minicooper.org/ministoecosse2007/photo_galleries/rc/IMG_1752.JPG
|
Graham Bichard
Member
|
Posted: Monday October 8th, 2007 11:32 am |
|
| Dave, just out of interest where did you wire the screen into eventually? And what sort of power drain does it take?
|
DaveShreeve
Administrator
|
Posted: Monday October 8th, 2007 06:46 pm |
|
| Screen pulls in the region of 15-20 amps. Alternator was upgraded to 70 amp and power is taken direct from the battery using the stud on the starter solenoid. Power is switched by a standard mini 'yellow' relay but controlled by a Range Rover control relay which includes a timer and an oil pressure sensor, linked to oil pressure warning light, so that it can't be energised without the engine running.
|
Current time is 11:39 pm | |
|
