Small notch under the rubber bumper, under the metal trim along the console side panel. Remove the side carpet (pulls off) soft trim (just snaps off and on) and the metal trim underneath (7 screws). Run the wire and reassemble.
Why is the 12V port not in front with the USBs?
- Thread starter MXWing
- Start date
Small notch under the rubber bumper, under the metal trim along the console side panel. Remove the side carpet (pulls off) soft trim (just snaps off and on) and the metal trim underneath (7 screws). Run the wire and reassemble.
Not the cleanest job, but I might put some black silicon + felt pieces (or get some shaved beard from my shaver or from my next hair cut) to fill the hole.
The cable is too thick to put on the top corner of the console. It comes out where it is because this is like the only location that doesn't interfere with the normal operation of the console covers.
The cable is too thick to put on the top corner of the console. It comes out where it is because this is like the only location that doesn't interfere with the normal operation of the console covers.
If your wire is thin enough, you can also pull up the cup holder and route the cable through there. That is what I did for my Blackvue, but I'm going to be removing that and running a 12V splitter to the console, so may not be able to route the cable through the same area.
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Knightshade
Well-Known Member
Yup.
This is (so far anyway) the single dumbest design choice I've found on the car as far as hardware (there's more than a few in software...)
And so many ways they could've avoided it.
a 12v in the front with the 2 USB being the simplest.
Or at least a pass through inside the console tunnel.
Enabling the rear USBs for data (or better- 4 USB front ports all data capable) would've been nice- but doesn't fix the whole issue.
If nothing else did it never occur to anybody at Tesla someone might use a radar detector- and how insane it'd be/look to run a 12v cable from the dash/windshield back to the armrest console to do it?
(if I had to pick a second dumbest hardware choice it's probably failure to put blind spot lights in the side mirrors... and it's only below the 12v thing because they can kind of work around it by adding an audio warning to the existing virtually blind spot detection signal of turning the CENTER display line red when you're almost certainly not looking at it.)
This is (so far anyway) the single dumbest design choice I've found on the car as far as hardware (there's more than a few in software...)
And so many ways they could've avoided it.
a 12v in the front with the 2 USB being the simplest.
Or at least a pass through inside the console tunnel.
Enabling the rear USBs for data (or better- 4 USB front ports all data capable) would've been nice- but doesn't fix the whole issue.
If nothing else did it never occur to anybody at Tesla someone might use a radar detector- and how insane it'd be/look to run a 12v cable from the dash/windshield back to the armrest console to do it?
(if I had to pick a second dumbest hardware choice it's probably failure to put blind spot lights in the side mirrors... and it's only below the 12v thing because they can kind of work around it by adding an audio warning to the existing virtually blind spot detection signal of turning the CENTER display line red when you're almost certainly not looking at it.)
Not really sure if any auto manufacturer actually took into account of radar detector in their design choice.
Can't really blame them for this design choice. If you've used the USB music player on the S/X/3 you can tell they never really put much thought into it. They only added it just because. Many standard features don't work and full of bugs esp for the 3 (where's random playback??) They seem to be more focused on music streaming. Don't even get started on the dashcam feature as it's definitely an afterthought, long after they penciled down the designs. It's pretty obvious that the 2 USB ports in the console are merely for the 2 charging stations right on top. They didn't design them for anything else.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
The Lexus this 3 replaced apparently did since there's a nice 12V plug right up front for it.... there's also a second one inside the armrest.
And that was a 2008.
The Acura we still have likewise, and that's a 2005.
Pretty sure I can?
Random USB playback was added in v9.
It's still a pretty terrible interface that still fails to resume and seems to want to reindex every time you get in/out of the car though.
If that were true, which it's clearly not, they wouldn't have bothered wasting $ on adding data connections to them.
They'd have just wired them like the rear ports- power only.
Didn't say you can't. I started it with Can't, not "You can't".
The X has the 12V plug right up front too. So that's designed for radar detector...?
Yea added in v9, not the original firmware. Just like they added dashcam too, so? They didn't design the car with these in mind, consistent to what I stated.
That was true. 2 charging stations (2 holes for the cables), 2 USB ports. How else do you think one can charge 2 phones w/o using the 2 USB ports as charging ports? Even the S/X only has 1 port for the charging cradle but comes with 2 USB data ports up front.
In the Lexus that wasn't a 12V power port up front probably but a cigarette lighter right?
Most cars until recently has the "12V outlet" in easy reach for smokers to light up.Neat trick! I was wondering if there was a slicker way to do this. So to get power to the front (i.e. for a powered hub) just need a way to get into the front compartment without cutting things up terribly. I wonder if there is a similar gap or perhaps you could slightly modify the front compartment's light to open a gap along an edge for the wire to come out.
One thing I have considered is simply finding the appropriate connectors to go from the car's internal USB wiring to regular USB, and back again, to insert a powered hub between the MCU and the front ports, and run the front AND rear ports off of said hub, then perhaps use the trick you discovered to run a couple of extra ports (perhaps in a 3D printed housing to keep them from sliding around) as well.
Similarly, find appropriate connectors to T off (without splicing, using connectors) 12V power from the back of the 12V outlet to run to other things (dashcam, powered hub, whatever). Of course can just get 12V power from the unused 'HITCH' 12V source in VCLeft ...
If the hidden powered hub can be done then together with 12V off the back of the 12V outlet and your cable routing trick then shouldn't actually need to cut anything anywhere.
This is exactly how I did mine. I mounted the hub on the underside of the phone tray to not mess up the felt.
They came with the Blackvue cameras. About 8 of them. Home Depot etc. sell generic clips for wire management as well.
ℬête Noire
Active Member
I'm pretty sure the "pro" move is to tie directly into the electrical system under the passenger side of the frunk cowling and then pass that line through the firewall (not that it's really a firewall anymore) and into cabin, again on the passenger side next to the side of the base of the center console.
There's some DIY dash cam install videos on this.
The upside is this is guaranteed 24/7 power (unless your 12V acid battery dies). Downsides are a bit more work installing and you have to inline your own fuse on the line, for safety.
Comprehensive how to video to add 2 more 12 volt outlets. One by the USB ports and one down below for a dashcam (he also has a video on how to run the wire down to there for a dashcam).
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
Probably depends how a person uses the socket. I can imagine a central location making sense to power tools used for wheel and tyre work. I use it as a high(er) power USB plug but it is less than optimal because I cannot pull out the cable and close the cover without pinching the cable.
I also would have preferred USB 3.0 sockets up front (for our USB-C phones.) Perhaps this is something that can be upgraded in the future.
But there's no reason there isn't 2 of them. I wouldn't go as far as cost cutting, but definitely design oversight.
I imagine you can just drill a hole through the walls between the front ports and the back seat.
ℬête Noire
Active Member
I thought the verdict on this now is "Create two FAT32 partitions on one USB, load one with your music and the other is for the dash cam video"?
NathanielHrnblwr
Member
I haven't decided if I want to put in a 12V up front and solder to the existing 12V wires, or go the Anker route and plug into the 12V and run the 5 port hub up front.
Pros/Cons?
I'm thinking the latter is less intrusive whereas the former is solidly more permanent.
Pros/Cons?
I'm thinking the latter is less intrusive whereas the former is solidly more permanent.
Jedi2155
Model 3 has Arrived.
V9 - need two USB drives for MP3 play & Cam
This guy says this Hub seems to solve the issue of 3 USB ports.
This guy says this Hub seems to solve the issue of 3 USB ports.
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