HOW TO: Rear 12v electrical outlets

[LoneWolf04]

I am writing this because I have seen a few posts over time about people complaining and/or wishing the crew cab had some 12V outlets in the rear so the back passengers could plug in a phone charger or whatever. Well I finally got around to installing some and it came out pretty well.

Parts and tools:
7/8" hole saw, if you dont have one, ACE hardware has one made for wood and plastic for $5
electric drill
16 gauge wire
2 12V outlets from the front of an s10 from under the dash, along with the wiring harness and connectors. These can be had really easily from the junkyard near you.
soldering iron, shrink wrap, and electrical tape
painters tape
ruler or tape measurer
2 part plastic expoy (optional)

Well to start off I don't have pics for all the steps in doing this, but I did take some in the process and ones of the mostly finished product. First, I removed the center console out of the truck and also the cigarette ash tray under the dash. I tied my electrical supply lines into the 12v cigarette lighter in the ash tray. Since I never use that one, I did not see there being a problem with overloading the circuit. After tying into the lines I left enough spare electrical wires to reach where the rear of the center console is. I then wired the factory pigtail to those wires which will allow me to disconnect the rear 12v outlets so they can be removed with the whole center console.

Next, I took that silly little plate out of the center console that is on the rear side of it that is useless and does nothing there, until now. With the piece out I put painters tape over the face of it so I could mark with a sharpie where I was going to start drilling at. In order to line the holes up I used the vertical spines that are on the backside of the piece and copied the lines to the front on the tape. This line lines up where you will be drilling front left to right. Then, I took a ruler to measure the height and made a center mark, which gives you an X mark where to drill.

Use the 7/8" hole saw to drill through the plastic piece, this is where you will be inserting the 12v outlets out of the front of an s10. Once you get done drilling them insert them and connect the factor wiring harness to them. You will end up with something like this.

As you can see in the last photo I left the factory disconnect line on, this is in case I want to remove my center console again I can just unplug the one connector and the 12v outlets will go with the console. Once that is done you can put the plastic piece back into the rear of the center console and connect everything back up and end up with an end result like this.

On a side note, my rear panel was slightly loose so I ended up using a 2 part epoxy to secure it to the console so when you pull lets say a car charger out of the plug, the rear piece will not come with it.

Hope people like this mod, I think it looks very clean and factory. Should have been factory from the start in my opinion. This would also work great in the blazer's as well. Enjoy.

[HenryJ]

Looks GREAT! Thanks for posting. My son would have loved that for charging his Nintendo DS.

[LUVMY02CREW]

Thanks for a great write up and pics. I think it definately looks like it's from the factory.

I always appreciate when folks do a nice write up and pics. Thanks again.

[F9K9]

Thank you for the write-up!

[Serge PETIT]

Thanks for these informations also valuable for my Blazer .

[RebelKid1822]

that looks great! the plastic piece you mounted the plugs in has been missing form my zr5 since i got it. i always woundered what used to be where the hole i have was. now that i kno i am going to see if i can find that piece in a junk yard and do your install. thanks!

[ApproachMedium]

Excellent idea. Gives me thoughts about doing this with my 120V power inverter, instead of 12V outlets, I can put the 120s back there.

[LoneWolf04]

Only thing you have to worry about with 120v outlets is, depending on wattage, have fans and need air circulation. You won't get a lot if any in that location. You would probably end up with heat build-up which could lead to a fire. might be better to add the 12v in the back and if you want to plug the inveter in those you can.

[ApproachMedium]

OK well what I was going to do for now is my 250W inverter fits where the tape deck was, it was going to go there. I was thinking if I can get it inside of the console would be better. I would only be running a laptop and phone chargers off it nothing crazy. But yes it does have a fan so airflow is probably very important. Maybe best I leave it in the tape deck.

[F9K9]

........I would only be running a laptop and phone chargers off it.................

Any particular reason you can't just do this with 12v. I ran my 18.5v Sony laptop for yrs using 12v. I hid the converter inside the console. Picked it up on Ebay.

[ApproachMedium]

Many reasons, like the laptop that I have been using now is a company laptop, and I am not going to invest in a car charger for it. By then they will probably replace it on me. Also when we do railfan trips it can be used for charging the various camera and radio batteries used for all the junk we bring with us.

I have used it for other random things, like during the hurricane last august it stood by to keep my parents small fridge running incase the power went out, I have used it for a small shop vac, charging tools etc.

[Smallblock]

I'm going to do this when I get the extra parts from my dads newly found parts blazer.