Rear USB charging ports instead of ash trays

[1999gmc]

I have a crew cab 1999 K2500 OBS and am sick of my kids needing run cords up front to charge their phones or tablet while we're driving. I never use my ash trays in the back doors. So I bought 2 USB charging ports, grabbed some plastic, and painted them to match the interior, There is already power at the power window switch so I powered them from there. The only thing is if you put the window lock on from the master switch it kills power to this also. This should work on Suburbans also.

 

[Will L.]

That's a great idea, and well executed.

 

[schiker]

Yeah, seems like there can't be enough outlets these days especially if you have kids.

The only thing is if you put the window lock on from the master switch it kills power to this also.

That might be a neat little feature if you want them to get off devices.

 

[btfarm]

Very good idea!

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Wouldn't work for me, my windows are ALWAYS locked. My 2 year old would never leave the switch alone if I left it unlocked.

 

[1999gmc]

Wouldn't work for me, my windows are ALWAYS locked. My 2 year old would never leave the switch alone if I left it unlocked.

My youngest is strapped in her carseat in the center rear seat so it's not a problem. She can't reach the switches.

 

[Will L.]

Wouldn't work for me, my windows are ALWAYS locked. My 2 year old would never leave the switch alone if I left it unlocked.

When my youngest was doing that, and his older brother was allowed to use his window (both in the back seat of my 99 3500 ccsw) I got tired of locking and unlocking. I ended up disconnecting the switch, but left it in place.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

My youngest is strapped in her carseat in the center rear seat so it's not a problem. She can't reach the switches.

My oldest sits behind me, the 7 week old in the middle, then momma can sit on the other side of them.

 

[Burning oil]

I like that. More pics.

 

[1999gmc]

Wouldn't work for me, my windows are ALWAYS locked. My 2 year old would never leave the switch alone if I left it unlocked.

Hey just thought of something. When I was looking to do this, I was originally going to wire it to the courtesy light in the door. They have 12 volts all the time. You would just need to run a ground. I put LEDS in all of my interior lights, so I knew the circuit would be fine running it. But opted to do it this way so that the power was off when the key was off. So really, you could run it off the courtesy light and if you wanted, could put a switch next to it to shut it off, or just leave it on all the time. I doubt that little LED would kill the battery. Actually, when I was looking at buying these I think I saw some that didn't have a light. They wouldn't draw anything unless it was plugged in. Then you would still have control of the window lock.

 

[WarWagon]

Rather have it go off with the IGN. These USB adapters are not well made with the cheapest low grade components available and could burn the car down.

 

[Steve83]

Their internal wiring isn't heavy enough to draw the power required to start a fire, so they're at least as safe as any stock component in the truck.

Instead of mounting it in the moving door, why not on the back of the front seat, the back of the floor console, or in the rear bench seat? Wiring would be slightly easier because you could run a new fused/switched wire under the carpet. I put mine in the dash beside a new switch to control when it has power (switchable from OFF to KEY to BATT).

.

You could put the master switch on the dash, then run the wire back to an outlet with its own switch(es). This one is particularly well-suited to cars because it has a heavy wire whose cigar plug can be cut off.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IL1DJCQ/?tag=jhuntlink-20

 

[Ed HD]

I like it. I have plans for something similar in my next rig...

 

[handcannon]

A few years back I had the whole interior out of my pickup doing powered mirrors (didn't have any wiring for any kind of mirrors), and general cleaning. Since I had everything out, down to bare metal, I decided to add an accessory socket to each side of the rear extended cab. The socket was put in facing downwards under the arm rest/ash tray. I put them in upside down to keep dust, and other garbage, from dropping into the socket. Adding these sockets has proven to be very handy.

Don

 

[1999gmc]

Instead of mounting it in the moving door, why not on the back of the front seat, the back of the floor console, or in the rear bench seat? Wiring would be slightly easier because you could run a new fused/switched wire under the carpet. I put mine in the dash beside a new switch to control when it has power (switchable from OFF to KEY to BATT).

Because power and ground were 4" away in each door and if for some reason I would want to cut power to them I can just flip the window lock switch. You can mount them wherever you want, these work great for us mounted in the doors because most trips are longer ones heading to campgrounds or going to visit Grandparents. I don't like cutting holes and having switches all over my truck. So this worked awesome because it can be put back to stock if someone ever wanted too.

 

[Steve83]

Power & ground are even closer at the alternator output - that doesn't make it a good place for a USB outlet. I wasn't asking where I could mount mine - you made yours the topic of this discussion. And no one suggested switches "all over the truck" - a switch on the dash, and another at the socket are logical. If you notice, the switches I added are in removable/replaceable dash panels, so mine is a few seconds from returning to stock, too.

 

[1999gmc]

Hey, if you think it's easier running a fused power under the carpet, great! But being the windows are already fused and these draw hardly anything it's pretty pointless to run a separate fused wire. Unless you are mounting them somewhere else. I was going to mount them at the bottom of the rear seat. There is a hole that you would have to drill out to make it fit, but then I was thinking they'd hit it with their foot and snap the USB cable off. And yes I did make mine the point of discussion. And I also never said this was the only place they could be mounted. The point of the thread was to add an accessory to our trucks that is on new cars. Where I mounted mine seems to work good.