Today had a friend in the car trying to charge his cell, but none of the accessory plugs or cigarette lighters stayed on with the key off. Not even the one in the glove box.

Are all of these switched off by design? Is there no way to change that? I know on some cars you can change a fuse position and get the accessory plugs to stay on with the key off.

Thanks,
-Michael

 

I don't know that you can; would be interested if there is something in one of the fuse boxes that would allow you to do that. On my '07 XJ6L I mounted a fused accessory socket in the battery compartment. Granted, you had to put your phone in the trunk to charge it, but there was no problem routing the cord into the trunk and I charged all sorts of stuff back there. Unless someone has a solution, I plan on pulling the one from the XJ6L and putting it into my X350.

 

There is a simple way to convert all the outlets (front and rear) from switched power to constant. Notice the relay has been removed and jumpered. Did this to mine, so much better.

 

The Lighters are controlled by Relay 8 and are activated on Ign 1
The Power points are controlled by Relay 3 and are activated on Ign 2
Relay 3 also supplies ignition power to the front and rear accessory connecters

So depending on what you want you may need to bypass one or both relays

A better way again is to replace the relay with a voltage controlled relay. You can pick these up cheep at an electronics shop or ebay. Set the voltage to disable the relay above 12.2 volts

12.2 is voltage where all the modules go wacky so setting it a bit higher stops you draining the battery to a point that will give you problems. You will also be able to ensure you can start the engine to charge up the battery

Cheers
34by151

 

Thank you Matt and 34by151. Was hoping to avoid changing the cars wiring system, but that is not an irreversible option. I'll take a look and see about jumpering the relay or replacing it with an electronic version.

Thanks!

 

Anyone else have a problem with radio reception declining when something is plugged into the lighters? or, glovebox power source?

 

My radio reception is crap no matter what... really the worst radio I've ever had in a car.

It was so bad I thought my speakers might be damaged and buzzing, but sound is perfect with CDs.

 

Didn't mean to hijack the thread, but mine goes to crap as soon as something is plugged in - iPhone, iPad, anything

 

Sorry, '97 XJ6L.

 

Ive had phones, fm transmitter, DC converter, and usb adapters plugged into the outlets and i havent noticed any radio reception decline.

BTW, credit for the fusebox modifications goes to our very own member, whiteXKR. He's the electrical guru who has designed custom modules, harnesses and instrumentation enhancementsfor the 97-2006 xk8 and xkr. He looked at the x350 electric diagrams i provided and helped find a solution. I trust his advice in this area 100%.

 

Didn't intend to speak poorly of his advice, I see exactly what he did and it's a perfectly functional solution. I just have an OCD thing and hate to see any kind of modification to a factory wiring setup (I know, it's sad, this is what happens when an electrical engineer has OCD...) even though yours is completely reversible.

Using what you did on your car, I think my way to make it a little more refined would be to get a spare relay for R3, pop it open and short pins 3-5 internally, which would enable battery power to the power points all the time (might also label it on the outside as "shorting plug" or similar). Would have to do the same thing with R8 in the front fuse box if I also wanted the cigar lighters to stay on. I like the concept though, I may give that a try!

Ha, all this so my friend can charge his damn phone in my car...