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Creating a 'power point' 900

Hello everyone,

I had the idea about possibly converting the cigarette lighter into a "power point" - with constant 12V power instead of ACC (ignition) power. It's on all of my other cars and I miss it on the Volvo - it's not too nice on recharable batteries in cell phones/iPods either.

Would this be at all doable? Has anyone else done it?

Thanks
--
'93 Volvo 945 w/128K miles








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    Creating a 'power point' 900

    Thanks for all of your comments everyone. I'll take a look at all of the wiring tomorrow and see what I can figure out without a wiring diagram. When I installed my aftermarket radio things didn't seem to out of the ordinary. I had ACC power and constant 12V power wires.

    I was thinking of possibly tapping from the radio but am not sure if thats a good idea. I definitely would not want to ruin my radio ($$) - does anybody familliar with 900 series wiring know if that would be safe, possibly with adding an inline fuse from the radio 12V constant tap to the cig lighter? If it was safe I think that would be the easiest thing - I just don't want even a remote chance of "blowing up" my radio.

    Thanks again
    --
    '93 Volvo 945 w/128K miles








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    Creating a 'power point' 900

    It's a handy modification. But remember to unplug things. I've had to loan my neighbour (not a "car guy") my battery charger twice when he went away for a weekend and left something plugged in. So, BMW 540's have constant power to the lighter socket.
    --
    Bob (son's 81-244GL B21F/M46, dtr's 83-244DL B23F/M46, my 94-944 B230FD and 89 745 (LT-1 V8); hobbycar 77 MGB, and a few old motorcycles)








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    Creating a 'power point' 900

    The PO had added an outlet by using the glovebox light circuit. It is hot all the time, doesn't see a lot of use (this was a 240), and is nearby to the dash. It's at least worth considering. He may have added an extra fuse in-line as well.








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    Creating a 'power point' 900

    Sure, why not. All you have to do is tap an always-hot area of the fuse box, or another accessory on a circuit with enough power to supply whatever it is that you will be running.

    However, before you go cutting wires anywhere, make sure that you know what you're doing with the old lighter setup and that it doesn't also feed something else. The 900 series had some odd wiring behind the lighter and stereo. I don't recall if the lighter power circuit also feeds any other accessories (directly from the same wires) but it might. So you may choose to route a new positive wire to the lighter instead of terminating or re-using the existing one. THat would be my recommendation anyway.

    Don't have wiring diagrams (they're still in boxes from moving) but the project itself should be really straightforward once you ID the circuit you're going to use.

    --------------
    Chris Herbst
    Scottsdale, AZ







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