I needed a couple of accessory power outlets. One for my phone and Satnav (a 2x USB unit), and one for my tyre pump (12v cigarette type). So one USB unit on the driver's side and one 12v cigarette type on the passenger's side was the order of the day.
The ideal place for these is bolted to the underside of the dash' trays, just by each side of the tunnel and tucked in behind the air vents. This keeps them within easy reach but out of the way of anything... I didn't want these on the dash front as they would spoil the look...
So why do I want to do this? I wanted to do this because I didn't want to lug around a phone ‘Juice Pack’ [which I don’t have] when at shows or when running low and can’t top up without having the accessories circuit active i.e. key in and ign on.
How: Power is from a couple of unused dash loom spurs (L18, and L20) via their individual 3 and 10 Amp fuses. And I’ve wired up to toggle between a 12v switched ign feed and a 12v live feed… And yes, I could’ve wired them up directly to a 12v live feed, but that would've been too easy; and no, I can’t blame the resident garage Imp on this one as I’ve been pondering this mod’ for a while…
Specifically, I opted for a Single Pole Dual Throw (SPDT) switch to control the 12v [cigarette type] accessory outlet from two separate power sources. But… [there’s always a but], what I needed to do was kinda’ reverse of how an SPDT switch is usually wired up… i.e. Instead of one power feed energising two separate accessories (depending on the switch position (I or II)), I’d be feeding a single accessory from two independent 12v power feeds. (12v live and 12v switched)
The way I see it is like this… Theoretically, it shouldn’t matter which way the power and load are wired up as, in this case, 12v is 12v no matter which direction it's flowing. My wire-up configuration is essentially the same as the proper way to wire up an SPDT switch but reversed.
All in all, this was a relatively straightforward modification and one that will be very useful.
