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hcr
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2024
Posts: 111
Location: Austin TX
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 Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 7:39 am Post subject: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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I’d like to replace the dash cig. lighter with a USB port
Suggestions for gaining access to rear of cover plate appreciated.
Charles |
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OB Bus
Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2003
Posts: 2709
Location: Ocean Beach - San Diego
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| Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 8:03 am Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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Amazon cigarette lighter adapter to 2 USBs. Cheap & easy. No wiring.
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Larry in OB
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!
69 Westfalia and 2002 Eurovan Camper.
People deserve the Government they voted for. |
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Saturn
Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2019
Posts: 247
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 11:05 am Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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| OB Bus wrote: |
| Amazon cigarette lighter adapter to 2 USBs. Cheap & easy. No wiring. |
Definitely concur with OB Bus on the cigarette lighter adapter approach. This is one I recently picked up to provide a charging port in one of my 1960s Volvos: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BQHHYCSC Retaining the cigarette lighter allows it to be utilized if needing to power something like an air pump or other electronic devices.
Another consideration is to see if there is a drop-in USB charger for one of the empty rocker switch locations just above your cigarette lighter. Just did a preliminary search on Amazon and there are products like this, but not sure if its the same dimensions as the blank in your 2002 Eurovan. (Searched: USB Power port Passat https://www.amazon.com/Passat-Sharan-Charger-Charging-Adpater/dp/B0D7BQKTGB/)
Another option is if you have the floor mounted cup holder, there is enough room to install a charger(s) into that location. This is what I did on my 1993 Eurovan: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10077859#10077859 In the center dash is where I retrofitted a USB port into one of the rocker switch blanks, though that one was originally meant for a Toyota product.
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[email protected]
Samba Member
Joined: January 03, 2010
Posts: 322
Location: Amesbury, MA
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| Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 4:03 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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I did this with my 2001 weekender with a
Blue Sea dual USB
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2001 eurovn weekender 207k fresh batteries |
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[email protected]
Samba Member
Joined: January 03, 2010
Posts: 322
Location: Amesbury, MA
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| Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 4:04 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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Sorry about the dog hairs but it is a dog car
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2001 eurovn weekender 207k fresh batteries |
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hcr
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2024
Posts: 111
Location: Austin TX
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| Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 4:09 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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Dogs rule!
Does cover plate pop off, did you wire to existing fuse, access wiring from underneath dash?
Thanks
C |
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[email protected]
Samba Member
Joined: January 03, 2010
Posts: 322
Location: Amesbury, MA
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| Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 5:03 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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just used existing wiring for cigerette ligher, so I assume there is a fuse there
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2001 eurovn weekender 207k fresh batteries |
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paddygarcia
Samba Member
Joined: January 01, 2020
Posts: 128
Location: VA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 7:59 am Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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| [email protected] wrote: |
| just used existing wiring for cigerette ligher, so I assume there is a fuse there |
Same here. Fuse 22 for radio and cigarette lighter. The weekender has a power point in the rear so there's always one to use if you really need it, but a lot of new stuff that used to have cigarette plugs is now USB powered. |
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hmbrgrs
Samba Member
Joined: September 03, 2021
Posts: 50
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 11:05 am Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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my weekender has four other 12v sockets - one at each end of the rear bench seat down by the floor, one in the back, and the one behind the driver’s seat formerly for the cooler. are they not all like that?
i swapped out my lighter socket for a single usb connected to my carplay head unit, and replaced the tiny useless cubby next to it with one of those uniwerks powerpod things - just used snap-on splices to the original lighter wires, took 5 minutes. many of the plug-in adapters have a little parasitic drain, so a switchable one is nice. leaves me with three usb, four 12v, plus all the ports on my ecoflow battery, and a pocket-sized power bank to walk off with. cords live in the ashtray… anyway, never miss that cigarette lighter. |
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hcr
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2024
Posts: 111
Location: Austin TX
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 4:41 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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| hmbrgrs wrote: |
i swapped out my lighter socket for a single usb connected to my carplay head unit, and replaced the tiny useless cubby next to it with one of those uniwerks powerpod things - just used snap-on splices to the original lighter wires, took 5 minutes. many of the plug-in adapters have a little parasitic drain, so a switchable one is nice. leaves me with three usb, four 12v, plus all the ports on my ecoflow battery, and a pocket-sized power bank to walk off with. cords live in the ashtray… anyway, never miss that cigarette lighter. |
How did you get cigarette lighter out of dash?
Looks like if it rotates 90* CW it would pull out, but I can’t figure out what keeps it from rotating.
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hmbrgrs
Samba Member
Joined: September 03, 2021
Posts: 50
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 6:44 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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| unplug the connector, then the metal tube and bezel pull straight out if you pry up on the little tabs that clip it in. it was a long time ago, so i don’t recall the exact step by step, but seem to recall it pops straight out without twisting. i remember thinking it was a lot simpler than i expected. |
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hcr
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2024
Posts: 111
Location: Austin TX
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| Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2024 12:26 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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No one ever accused me of being fast…
Got lighter out undamaged and installed usb port
The usb port to right is for apple car play
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jjvincent
Samba Member
Joined: January 11, 2016
Posts: 1422
Location: Bethlehem, PA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 5:19 am Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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| OB Bus wrote: |
| Amazon cigarette lighter adapter to 2 USBs. Cheap & easy. No wiring. |
Why would you want to do that? It's way too simple and fast to do. You should know better, with VW's, take a simple thing to do and make it overly complex. I went the simple route and bought three of them. One for the dash and two for the rear ports. Then all 4 of us had a choice of 6 USB ports. |
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Saturn
Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2019
Posts: 247
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 11:02 am Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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| jjvincent wrote: |
| Why would you want to do that? It's way too simple and fast to do. You should know better, with VW's, take a simple thing to do and make it overly complex. I went the simple route and bought three of them. One for the dash and two for the rear ports. Then all 4 of us had a choice of 6 USB ports. |
While I was one of the people advocating using the simple approach to adding charging ports, there is something to be said about hard wiring these into place. One of the benefits of wiring in a charging port is being able to choose when they are active. In my 1993 Weekender & 1995 EVC, the USB ports have a relay which is triggered via the ignition switch. This way once the key is in the ignition the ports are active, just like the stereo. The engine does not need to be running or the ignition system turned on for the chargers to to usable. The write up here: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9842502#9842502
My original post to this thread advocates retention of any source of 12V power in the dash. As paddygarcia mentioned, more and more of in-vehicle electronics are USB powered or have battery packs, just requiring a 5V source. Since items like tire pumps or coffee makers/camping appliances usually need 12V to operate on demand, this is why I am advocating the retention of 12V power outlets. On a side note, what I didn't realize is while repairing the dead light bulb in the 1993's cigarette lighter housing, this also provides illumination into the ash tray. Not to say having light there is critical, it could be of interest of retaining that feature if using this spot for storage of small items and not trash. Not sure if this is the same with the 1997-2003 Eurovans with the later dash set up.
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mg50
Samba Member
Joined: August 30, 2022
Posts: 750
Location: Southeast
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| Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 2:45 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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Not to hijack the thread but what radio is that? One of those shallow depth bluetooths that you operate from your iphone?
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hcr
Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2024
Posts: 111
Location: Austin TX
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| Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2024 5:43 am Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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I appreciate the pros and cons on replacing the lighter w/ a dedicated USB port.
For us, the front USB port made the most sense for our uses: phones, tablets etc. |
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Saturn
Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2019
Posts: 247
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 9:13 am Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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| mg50 wrote: |
Not to hijack the thread but what radio is that? One of those shallow depth bluetooths that you operate from your iphone?
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The Alpine stereo (CDE-HD127BT) in the Weekender has a full-sized chassis, it contains a CD player as well as Bluetooth capabilities. It is not a recent unit by any means with March 2012 printed on the chassis tag. My iPhone connects to it just fine, though for longer trips I usually bring one of my old iPads as the source of the music library for the stereo.
The Alpines was already in the Eurovan when I purchased it two years ago, though at the time it was DOA due to a wiring problem (aka "dash smoke event".) After replacing the wiring, tested things out and turned out it works just fine so reinstalled it into the dash. The stereos which have the shallow chassis profile as they omit the CD capability are usually referred to as "media receivers". These are the type I have installed into several of my other cars, though my 1995 EVC also contains a stereo with a CD player. This is post about the wiring and stereo in the Weekender which goes into further detail: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9940822#9940822
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VanGeek
Samba Member
Joined: September 25, 2022
Posts: 351
Location: New England
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| Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2024 8:25 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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| Hey Saturn I have the identical head unit in my weekender. Somewhat updated old skool 1 din but everything works and sounds great IMO. Alpine even makes a plug and play amp for it but mine is loud enough. I see you have the display set as white. My display was set as blue by the PO and matched the dash lighting but too hard to read white is much easier |
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Saturn
Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2019
Posts: 247
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 2:16 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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| VanGeek wrote: |
| Hey Saturn I have the identical head unit in my weekender. Somewhat updated old skool 1 din but everything works and sounds great IMO. Alpine even makes a plug and play amp for it but mine is loud enough. I see you have the display set as white. My display was set as blue by the PO and matched the dash lighting but too hard to read white is much easier |
Retained the Alpine stereo as it worked and has bluetooth. The sound output is more than adequate for what I put through it music-wise. I figure the next upgrade will be something with a screen & backup camera/etc. The one thing I don't really use on the Alpine is the USB charger. It is pretty slow compared to the 3.0 quick chargers found in the latest generation of power ports. Now that I have installed shore power in the Weekender, starting to think about USB ports for around the table area and the back of the van. |
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rstrube
Samba Member
Joined: October 11, 2024
Posts: 54
Location: Kalispell MT
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| Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2024 9:54 pm Post subject: Re: Replace cigarette lighter with USB port- ‘02 EVC |
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Hi @hcr I came across your post and I'm going to be attempting the exact same thing.
You went into detail on removing the lighter socket itself, but you never mentioned how you were able to remove the dash cover plate safely?
Did you just use a small screw driver and pry it off?
Thanks for any information you can provide! |
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