12 volt Socket

[Tin Man]

Can anyone advise where Caterham fit this as I would like to fit mine in the same position. 

Many thanks

[Jonathan Kay]

What are you going to plug in to it? If I were fitting one again it would have a built-in USB socket or two as well as the cigar lighter socket.

Jonathan

 

[Tin Man]

Hi Jonathan

I was thinking of fitting a socket with two 5v USB connections to power my sat nav and for charging mobile phones.

John

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jonathan Kay]

Agreed: much better than a separate adaptor. Remember to check the USB current ratings against your devices.

Jonathan

[K7 VCT]

The late model cars have it fitted in the cover over the fuse/relay box under the dash.

My car is 2014 factory built.

 

 

[Tin Man]

Mine's a 1999 K-Series, no cover over the fuse box. I do have a spare space to add a 5 amp fuse. Just need to decide where to locate the socket. 

John

[pugwash]

My 2012 supersport came with the wiring for this on the loom in the bootspace.  You do occasionally see a 7 of that era with the socket mounted in the rear bulkhead given that wiring.  Seemed nuts to me as the body sticks into the boot and would be bound to get knocked about and the wires potentially pulled off.  Mine is actually mounted on the passenger side on the bulkhead in the hole the steering column goes through on a lh car and then straight to the battery via a fuse.  This recommended by CC as the alternative position.

[Wodybode]

If you look under the bonnet at the engine side of the bulkhead there will only be a few spaces available to fit a socket anyway. I can't remember the size of the hole required but I think it's a standard size whether you fit a USB or cig lighter socket so you could always easily change it in the future. I fitted a double USB in the passenger side slightly to the left and a bit lower than the fuse/relay board above the passengers knees. The only problem with it is that it has a tiny blue LED power light which can be a bit distracting at night so I need to dab a spot of paint on it to dim it down.

[Paul Deslandes]

Probably of little concern to most 7 owners, but some of the hard wired USB adapters' internal electronics generate and radiate considerable radio frequency noise.  I recently installed one on a boat and initially it wiped out the marine VHF when an iPad USB charger cable was plugged in.  It also severely affected a broadcast FM receiver if the telescopic antenna was anywhere near the charger cable.

If this affects any kit on your car, try the following cures.

1. Ensure that the supply wires to the adapter, +12V and ground, are twisted tightly together over their length
2. Add a split ferrite core to the input twisted pair as close as possible to the charger socket.
3. Add a second similar ferrite to the charger cable, again close to the charger. 

Adding a second turn of the cables through the ferrites will improve things further.  This means that the hole through the ferrite must be large enough to accommodate twice the diameter of the cable.

Many commercially available mains charger cables have ferrite chokes moulded in and is the familiar cylindrical lump at one end of the cable

In my case doing the above cured the marine VHF problem but only partly but significantly improved broadcast FM reception.  The next step might be to add some ceramic decoupling capacitors to the input terminals.

Paul

[BigCol]

pugwash said: My 2012 supersport came with the wiring for this on the loom in the bootspace.  You do occasionally see a 7 of that era with the socket mounted in the rear bulkhead given that wiring.  Seemed nuts to me as the body sticks into the boot and would be bound to get knocked about and the wires potentially pulled off.

My 2013 version too...  my 12V socket is on the rear bulkhead but I set it low enough so the rear is on the boot floor and I have a bit of pipe trimmed as a protective cover too - so any boot contents don't cause an issue.

[Jonathan Kay]

Probably of little concern to most 7 owners, but some of the hard wired USB adapters' internal electronics generate and radiate considerable radio frequency noise. 

Paul: Any idea how common this is, or why hard wired adaptors could be worse than plug-in? As I think you're implying most 7s don't have radios to spot the effect...

Jonathan

[Paul Deslandes]

JK

no they don't but I know that some use their various devices to play music over headphones and may have problems if they listen to FM radio.  My HTC phone has an FM tuner that can be used if a headset is plugged in, acting as an  antenna.

I don't know whether the plug-in chargers emit noise but I suspect that they do and will test one when I'm next on the boat.  Adding the ferrite chokes serves to decouple the noise from the input and output cables which is where it's being radiated from, rather than from within the case, to any significant degree at least.

Paul

[Tin Man]

Hi Jonathan

I have checked my devices an they are 5 volt. Surprisingly, my phone adaptors vary between 1  & 2.5 amp  and my sat nav is 1.5 amp. Furthermore, I know nothing about electrics therefore will it be ok to plug a 1.5 amp device in to a 2.5 amp USB socket?

Regards

John

[Jonathan Kay]

It's safe to plug any USB device into any socket. If the current rating of the socket is lower than that of the device then charging will be slow. In a few combinations the device will decide not to charge at all.

... will it be ok to plug a 1.5 amp device in to a 2.5 amp USB socket?

Should be fine.

Jonathan

[Tin Man]

Thanks Jonathan

[john milner]

Mine is on the left side of the bulkhead, underneath the dashboard and behind the battery. I have a lead with four cigar lighter sockets on the end which are attached to the tunnel top with double sided tape underneath the dash. Very rare that I use more than one socket so for me not much to be gained by upgrading to USB just yet.

[Wrightpayne]

My first 12v socket was fitted into a void in the heater (plastic one with 7 on the front) and since removing it 6 years ago I've been without. I purchased a Sutars surface mounted socket and have been pondering where it fit it.

Sutars socket https://boatlamps.co.uk/products/sutars-low-voltage-socket-outlet-surface

Looking at Tazio's car I spotted his was tie wrapped to the wiper motor bracket which got me thinking....

Initial placement looked promising but how to fix it? Self tappers would be very close to the wiper motor so made up a metal strip using a B&Q metal bracket fitted with 2 rivnuts to 'clamp' the socket to the wiper motor mount through two of the large holes in the bracket.

Pics below - just need to connect it up now - fused of course!

[Roger Ford]

I just fitted something like this in my boot to charge my camera and other stuff. I was going to fit a conventional round socket, but couldn't find anywhere to mount it, so I got this, stuck it to the bulkhead between the chassis rails and attached the trailing leads with cable ties.