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Hi all,
This may have been answered elsewhere, I had a bit of a look online, and couldn't find anyone who had a really good accessory power source in their T5, as it turns out the cig lighter and more surprisingly the stereo "accessory" lead has power all the time. Gotta love CAN BUS cars....
I wanted keyed 12V power, and also wanted the new radio to have a true accessory power source rather than the "acc" lead getting constant 12V power via the factory loom. It's only a China radio so not very well documented.
Read about a specific fuse with a tiny wire on Brickyard, and then that some people were using the back of the light switch, but these were either way too small and or only live with the engine actually running.
I did a fair bit of unsuccessful prodding and poking with my multimeter, and short of going to the ignition barrel itself, finally found what appears to be true accessory power in a hefty source.
When you key on and turn off, there is a decent relay noise from below the steering wheel. It also remains on for about 30 seconds after power off. On investigation there is a smaller 40A relay, and a hefty "100" one, and it is from this latter relay I took a source of keyed accessory power. I used this to trip another relay on the cig lighter power, which is always on, and decent sized wire. This "100" relay has a decent build and thus power handling, so the tiny bit I am pinching to run my additional relay is unlikely to cause any problems, but I will monitor it and see how it goes.
Here's a pic of both the fuse, location, and how I soldered onto the correct leg ( number 5 ) to get my accessory power. The relay sits a little proud now obviously but has plenty of connection still and working as per normal. I'm done wiring up all the accessories in my dah now, and have powered USBs and my gauges all set up, just need to stick them all up out of the way so the head unit can slide in, quite a feat in itself!
This may have been answered elsewhere, I had a bit of a look online, and couldn't find anyone who had a really good accessory power source in their T5, as it turns out the cig lighter and more surprisingly the stereo "accessory" lead has power all the time. Gotta love CAN BUS cars....
I wanted keyed 12V power, and also wanted the new radio to have a true accessory power source rather than the "acc" lead getting constant 12V power via the factory loom. It's only a China radio so not very well documented.
Read about a specific fuse with a tiny wire on Brickyard, and then that some people were using the back of the light switch, but these were either way too small and or only live with the engine actually running.
I did a fair bit of unsuccessful prodding and poking with my multimeter, and short of going to the ignition barrel itself, finally found what appears to be true accessory power in a hefty source.
When you key on and turn off, there is a decent relay noise from below the steering wheel. It also remains on for about 30 seconds after power off. On investigation there is a smaller 40A relay, and a hefty "100" one, and it is from this latter relay I took a source of keyed accessory power. I used this to trip another relay on the cig lighter power, which is always on, and decent sized wire. This "100" relay has a decent build and thus power handling, so the tiny bit I am pinching to run my additional relay is unlikely to cause any problems, but I will monitor it and see how it goes.
Here's a pic of both the fuse, location, and how I soldered onto the correct leg ( number 5 ) to get my accessory power. The relay sits a little proud now obviously but has plenty of connection still and working as per normal. I'm done wiring up all the accessories in my dah now, and have powered USBs and my gauges all set up, just need to stick them all up out of the way so the head unit can slide in, quite a feat in itself!
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