Adding a Voltmeter and usb socket to E85 Dash

colb

colb

Senior member
 Newport, South Wales UK, the home of Zedshed Cymru
Following an Alternator failing and the new replacement turning out to be duff on one of our Zedshed Cymru members Z4 we had his original alternator refurbished locally and refitted it. Having had these issues we decided to add in a voltmeter to monitor battery state and alternator charging rate as well as including a couple of usb sockets. Found a suitable unit on ebay and fitted it today to the left of the heater direction knob. This requires drilling a hole in the face of the plastic dash then wiring the unit down to the fuse box where and ignition controlled fuse was piggybacked with the live from the volt meter and a ground picked up from one of the lower edge fuse box retaining screws. The unit we fitted did in fact have a on/off switch on its face and could have been wired into the cig lighter and use made of the units on/off switch but decided it was easier to wire to the fuse box despite the requirement to take the glovebox out.
 

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Thats a really professional looking job. Looks like it has 3 USB sockets too which is really handy.
 
You can get either and there are loads of options if you google it.
I have a plug in one with and coiled lead for my iPhone plus a spare USB socket.
 
I have USB-C and USB-A quickcharge sockets in the little panel above the ashtray which I wired into the cigarette lighter power inside the console. Makes it invisible to see, but oh so useful. Powers my Qi charger for my phone. I'll make a photo later.
 
Tncdrew said:
That's so nice and flush fitting. Is that simply a plug-in unit (in the cigarette lighter socket)? Or does that completely replace the cig lighter socket?
Thanks!
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It is a unit I got from Amazon. Remove the cigarette lighter socket and wire this in instead. Comes in a choice of backlit colours. The red in wifey's car shows through even with the lid shut, to remind you to switch it off, as the power supply is a permanent live. As suggested though, you need some other way to run a tyre inflator. I installed a power socket in the boot, wired to the battery.
 
enuff_zed said:
It is a unit I got from Amazon. Remove the cigarette lighter socket and wire this in instead. Comes in a choice of backlit colours. The red in wifey's car shows through even with the lid shut, to remind you to switch it off, as the power supply is a permanent live. As suggested though, you need some other way to run a tyre inflator. I installed a power socket in the boot, wired to the battery.
Click to expand...
Awesome! Thanks for the response, and the link! I like this option. 👍
Cheers!
 
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