Why is the 12V port not in front with the USBs?

[wbhokie]

I didn't try the partition (Didn't realize I could do that until I already had my setup in place), but I have a USB media in the front right port, and this hub in the left port

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XMD7KPU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And in that hub I have another USB drive for dashcam, as well as a cable to charge my phone.

I've used all 3 cables at the same time (Play USB Media, Dashcam recording, and charging phone) with no issues at any time. No crazy wiring required. Of course, to charge a dashcam battery requires the 12V port or hardwire solution.

I do agree with the OP though, I think that the location in general of the 12V is silly. Even if you kept it in the rear port, it is too high up, since most 12V items will interfere with the tray that goes there. It's a dumb location. There should at least be a pass-through, and I get that they have the key card scanner between the two trays but I'm pretty sure it doesn't take up all that space. Worst case, they could have made 2 12V ports. If people can easily mod the car to add more, Tesla could have done it. I can live with the 12V port, I never used that before and don't really need it. I can see how people with radar detectors, and the current power management in the model 3 (for dashcams) has made it a big issue.

I'm just upset that the USB ports don't stay on when the car is off like my Model S. I miss keeping my Phone charged while out of the car. That was a great feature.

 

[thaian207]

Took me about an hour to add a 12v port next to the current usb ports. Best mod ever. If you dont have the confidence or tools take it to a local audio shop

 

[BioSehnsucht]

Improved Multi-12v @ Front of Console Power Tutorial with minimal damage.

No disassembly needed! Requires drilling just 2 small holes inside the Center Console, almost invisible.
Also requires the most basic of soldering skills, nothing difficult.

Prerequisites:
1) Purchase a 12v Power Splitter like THIS ONE (also get a small Philips screwdriver to take the 12v plug apart)
2) Get a 1/4" drill bit, and a small handheld drill (the smaller the better given the small spaces in the console)
3) Get a small soldering iron like THIS one.
4) Optional Items: 4.1 - Battery Pack (backup power for USB computer); 4.2 - Additional 12V USB socket (to power the battery)

Step-By-Step:
A) Make a small hole in the back of the console, under and inside where the current 12v socket is. Don't worry, its hollow inside.
B) Make a small hole in the front of the console towards the back down and to the right
C) Snake a cable between the two holes to use as a drag cable
D) Disassemble the 12v Plug from the Power Splitter
E) Desolder the 2 wires inside (black and red) using the soldering iron
F) Tie the cable to the pull wire from the front of the console and snake it to the back and pull it through
G) Re-Solder the cable to the 12V plug, and put it back together
H) Feed any excess cable inside the console for a neat look

You should not have a clean dual 12v front socket solution in the console, with dual USB 2.4A plugs for the phone chargers (stock or Wireless), and free up BOTH of the original USB ports.

See installation pictures and completed setup HERE
Hope this helps you guys.

P.S. For good measure, as optional items, I also installed a Zendure Passthrough Charging Power Bank, and a Raspberry Pi TeslaCam computer to record the car Video feed and automatically upload it to my NAS via WiFi.

What's the extra USB connector sticking out of the top of the Pi? Do you have some kind of Pi battery pack and that is a way to charge it ?

 

[Zenov]

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.

This is because the last time anyone bought a radar detector was 2008......How about you just drive sanely. I don't think a single person I know has one. Move on dude.

 

[japhule]

Improved Multi-12v @ Front of Console Power Tutorial with minimal damage.

No disassembly needed! Requires drilling just 2 small holes inside the Center Console, almost invisible.
Also requires the most basic of soldering skills, nothing difficult.

Prerequisites:
1) Purchase a 12v Power Splitter like THIS ONE (also get a small Philips screwdriver to take the 12v plug apart)
2) Get a 1/4" drill bit, and a small handheld drill (the smaller the better given the small spaces in the console)
3) Get a small soldering iron like THIS one.
4) Optional Items: 4.1 - Battery Pack (backup power for USB computer); 4.2 - Additional 12V USB socket (to power the battery)

Step-By-Step:
A) Make a small hole in the back of the console, under and inside where the current 12v socket is. Don't worry, its hollow inside.
B) Make a small hole in the front of the console towards the back down and to the right
C) Snake a cable between the two holes to use as a drag cable
D) Disassemble the 12v Plug from the Power Splitter
E) Desolder the 2 wires inside (black and red) using the soldering iron
F) Tie the cable to the pull wire from the front of the console and snake it to the back and pull it through
G) Re-Solder the cable to the 12V plug, and put it back together
H) Feed any excess cable inside the console for a neat look

You should not have a clean dual 12v front socket solution in the console, with dual USB 2.4A plugs for the phone chargers (stock or Wireless), and free up BOTH of the original USB ports.

See installation pictures and completed setup HERE
Hope this helps you guys.

P.S. For good measure, as optional items, I also installed a Zendure Passthrough Charging Power Bank, and a Raspberry Pi TeslaCam computer to record the car Video feed and automatically upload it to my NAS via WiFi.

Nice write up. I've got a similar setup except I just fed the 12v splitter under the side trim and filed down the top left side a bit to fit the cable through to the front.

 

[Knightshade]

This is because the last time anyone bought a radar detector was 2008......How about you just drive sanely. I don't think a single person I know has one. Move on dude.

Weird because there's multiple threads on here alone with hundreds of folks doing hardware installs of them in Teslas, which didn't even exist before 2008, not to mention other cars. There's even entire lines of products made by companies to do exactly this (blendmount for example), plus at least 4 different brands of detectors sold on the market today in 2019.

Maybe you just don't know many people?

Good to know you felt so strongly about your factually wrong thoughts you had to bump a post from almost 9 months ago to express them though!

 

[SemoTech]

What's the extra USB connector sticking out of the top of the Pi? Do you have some kind of Pi battery pack and that is a way to charge it ?

The USB connector was soldered on the Pi so the whole thing can be used as a big USB stick. It’s basically an alternate way to connect to both Data and Power. However since it does stick out a bit from the Tesla USB ports, and crashes due to switched power on the built-in USB, I opted to use two 6” USB cables to connect the Pi to the car for Data, and a Zendure Battery Pack for backup power. It’s working very well like this with no Data corruption and smooth automated uploads to my NAS when I return home.

 

[SemoTech]

Nice write up. I've got a similar setup except I just fed the 12v splitter under the side trim and filed down the top left side a bit to fit the cable through to the front.

Nice, yeah many different ways to do this for sure. Since I enjoy some soldering from time to time it was a fun mod and I did not have to remove the trim at all. It was also surprisingly easy to snake the cable through the inside. The two holes are very small and basically invisible, even if I was to remove the cable. They can also be easily patched.

 

[vickh]

usb hubs work or will I blow a fuse?

 

[Knightshade]

usb hubs work or will I blow a fuse?

Hub works fine.

Also the car doesn't have fuses