MikeB139

I was fed up with the long USB cables from the front or rear of the car to connect to the tablets of my kids.
So I decided to make a 12V outlet in the center console.

Made a bit of a bodge job, because the first hole was to low... *ahum* and I slipped making the second (huge scrape above it).
You can't really see it (used some black masking tape) and frankly: I don't care *hehehe*

To remove the center console I used this writeup which is spot-on: remove center console
I then soldered extra wires to the front lower 12V outlet and put heat shrink tubing over the connections and insulation tape.
To make sure I had enough wire I fully extended the console to the rear and used gaffertape to tape the wire on the air duct.



First hole was to low, but you get the idea.



Because the air duct runs close to the console you also have to drill through one side of it.
Since my first hole was so low it ended up half below the duct and so I couldn't drill through it...
Second try was a succes!

I made a small hole in the air duct, on the opposite side of the drilled hole, to push the wires through (they are snug and won't rattle) and connected the outlet.
Normally I measure thrice now I didn't.

But I'm happy with the end result and all is well. The center console is still moveable and the wires don't pinch or scrape.
I think I'm going to wrap the back of the center console in some black vinyl to make it look nice again, because it's very scratched up.
Totally NOT to hide my mistake

mnewxcv

fyi, the front lower 12v is also tied in with the rear cargo 12v outlet, same fuse. The 12v in the wood trim under the radio is a seperate fuse (cig lighter). Random, but may be of use to someone wanting to do this if they are using multiple devices and want to balance the load.