I'll get to the fuse in a minute (skip to last paragraph for actual content) I've got a hardwired ProClip phone holder for my Android! tadah. About 4 years ago when I installed my PLX wideband I needed some decent power supply up front behind the dash somewhere and it had to be switched. I discovered (with a multimeter) that the cigarette lighter power is switched with the accessories. Perfect. Tapped in... yea, ghetto, but I fixed that. Few months ago I switched from my trusty Treo 720p of about 10 years to a Droid 2. Had to get a new proclip device holder so I went for the powered hard wired one. It can deliver up to 2Amps @ 5v. Holy crap! heavy duty. Tapped in right behind the PLX power. It worked... for a while. So I figured it was the taps and I figured I'd go for the acc power that goes to the outlet in the center console. Take dash and console apart again and tap into the center console outlet leads. Yes, I figured out that it's not switched (always powered) but I figured that should be ok... and kept thinking about it for a couple of hours -- heh, it's ProClip and it cost a lot and even though they have a green led on the converter I'm sure they put the smarts in there to disconnect if there wasn't a draw on it. Right? Right? but a dead battery in the morning would be annoying so I disconnected it. Only need to pull the radio trim to get to the converter disconnects. Sure enough. ProClip gets back to me the next day. 50mAh draw if the phone is not plugged in... So it's back to the cigarette lighter leads. This really isn't that big of a deal because after installing my wideband I can remove everything around the radio and the entire center console in less than 5 minutes. lol. This time I soldered everything together. Somewhere along the line I must have shorted it and blown the fuse. (heh, we got to the fuse). You have 3 power outlets. (all fuses in rear distribution panel) 1) in the trunk/rear. Always on (not switched). Fuse #16, 20A 2) in the center console. Always on (not switched). Fuse #9, 20A 3) Cigarette lighter. Switched (factory). Fuse #18, 20A Actually it's selectable! depending on how you put the fuse in it's either switched or not switched. If you look at the row of fuses it's the only one that's out of line with the rest of them. In that position it's switched with the accessories. If you insert it in line with the rest of the fuses it's not switched and always on (didn't verify that). How cool is that! Next thing that needs power behind the dash I'm going to install a distribution box/bar with 4 or 5 sets of terminals with nuts that will take spade type connectors... Half switched, half not switched.
Very cool, Dave. You shoulda asked about fuse 18 though. lol Would have saved you loads of time figuring out the coolness of the fuse position.
Well, I should have looked it up 4 years ago. but I was in there with the gauge controller and display module and a multimeter with wire probes and I know cigarette lighters always have a 20A fuse and voila it went off with the accessories! After I blew the fuse I looked to see which one it was... Heh, I didn't find the hand hold for closing the rear hatch until I had the car for 3 years.
