Hi Folks,
Sorry for this, I'm absolutely sure it's already been posted somewhere, but I can't find it :stoopid::
Where is the bet place to tap into the 12 volt and accessory power supply for some pillar mount gauges?
Cheers,
RG

Just a guess

Ciggie lighter 12V port ????

anywere off that should be fine methinks but I have NFI not my thing

Just a guess

Ciggie lighter 12V port ????

anywere off that should be fine methinks but I have NFI not my thing

Thanks mate, I was kinda hoping someone could refer me to a junction box for the accessory line under the dash, and maybe a good connection point (unused fuse slot etc. ) in the engine bay. There's got to be dozens of people here who've had this need in the past , surely?

Aaww c'mon guys!!.. help me out here:pleasesign:. I know I can crawl under the dash with a probe randomly selecting things that come on with the ignition switch, but theres gotta be spare connections in the junction box and for bluetooth , sunroofs etc. that people must know of. Does anyone know if there's a live terminal block behind the blanking plate for the factory bluetooth switch? I want to to hook these up tonight :bouncin:, and can't work out form the grainy pictures in the workshop manual where a "robust" conection point is

Aaww c'mon guys!!.. help me out here:pleasesign:. I know I can crawl under the dash with a probe randomly selecting things that come on with the ignition switch, but theres gotta be spare connections in the junction box and for bluetooth , sunroofs etc. that people must know of. Does anyone know if there's a live terminal block behind the blanking plate for the factory bluetooth switch? I want to to hook these up tonight :bouncin:, and can't work out form the grainy pictures in the workshop manual where a "robust" conection point is

Well, this is exactly what I ended up having to do! After the deafening silence on this topic.
Spent an entire evening probing and trying to decipher the junction box electronics which led to a failed attempt at locating a postivley switched headlight circuit (looks like the switch to ground via the ECU or something).
I gave up and simply wired the gauges into the accessory and constant 12V from the ignition switch. If anybody want to know more, post a question
Cheers,
RG

I think you may have been a pioneer in this one Goldy

I think you may have been a pioneer in this one Goldy

yeah..i think that the deafening silence that you refer too,probably is due to the fact ,that perhaps,no one has yet needed to go looking for the sort of power supply that you were after.....the cig lighter is the easy swicthed point but doesnt get you your constant power....

what i want is a ignition on power on point under the bonnet to run my d.r.l led strips...ive got it hooked into the fuse box but it is on with the acc...??

Well, this is exactly what I ended up having to do! After the deafening silence on this topic.
Spent an entire evening probing and trying to decipher the junction box electronics which led to a failed attempt at locating a postivley switched headlight circuit (looks like the switch to ground via the ECU or something).
I gave up and simply wired the gauges into the accessory and constant 12V from the ignition switch. If anybody want to know more, post a question
Cheers,
RG

This may be a stupid question, but aren't all mitsubishis negative/ground switched?

yeah..i think that the deafening silence that you refer too,probably is due to the fact ,that perhaps,no one has yet needed to go looking for the sort of power supply that you were after.....the cig lighter is the easy swicthed point but doesnt get you your constant power....

what i want is a ignition on power on point under the bonnet to run my d.r.l led strips...ive got it hooked into the fuse box but it is on with the acc...??

Ah .. I see........ I guess I figured with all the modding going on here , there would have been a bit more activity in the electrical system.
For Future reference :
If you undo the steering column cover (two bottom screws , and two behind the steering wheel (rotate wheel to get to them)), then you 'll have easy access to the ignition, central locking , headlight and wiper connectors (they are all on the left hand side of the wheel)
You'll find two connection blocks together , one on top of the other, the lower one on mine is blue and white which distinguishes it from all the rest as the ignition block. There are two wires on this block of interest.

1. The Accessory power line (Blue with Black stripe)
2. The Constant 12V power line (Blue with Yellow Stripe - Not the Red one like you would expect of course.....)

Disconnect this (single push button facing the steering column where you can't see it) and try you ignition , if it doesn't work

You can either fiddle with the terminal block and work the brass connectors out of the block then crip your wires into the exisitng terminals, or , do what I did , which is to splice ans solder your wires into a stripped section of the factory wires.
If you are going to do it the second way, remember that this is your ignition and accessory circuit.... do as close to a professional job of splicing them as you can , or you wil lbe sorry later.
Just in case someone is not familiar with a good way to do this (it's not as hard as it sounds) :
1. Strip back the outer insulation sheath of the wire bundle, and carefully strip a section of the factory wire about the width of your finger
2. work a probe or small jewellers screwdriver through the wires and split them into two bundles with a hole in the middle
3. tin these wires and the wires you want to insert
4. thread your wires throught the split in the factory wire and then divide the end of your wire (poking out through the other side of the factory wire split into two and wrap it back around the outside and around the factory wire
5. solder all sides of the join tidily and wrap the individual wires with insulation tape (heat shrink would be better, but involves cutting the factory wire, which I didn't want to do),
6. re-wrap the outer insulation sheath firmly back down over the bundle

at this point you've got your Constant Positive and Accesory Positive , you still need a ground which can obviously be any connection point on the chassis. I found a good and easily accessible one on the form of a bolt on the right hand side of the centre console,. Just undo the three screws underneath the bottom dash cover below the steering column ( you will also need to undo the two screws connecting the bonnet latch and remove this) and you'll find the bolt behind this, right beside the console down low.

I took the three wire and connected them to a new screw down terminal block , so that if I decide to connect something else besides the guages later, I have an easilly accessible connection point.

Now I'm hunting for a spare TCL or Foglight switch so I can connect the guages to this in the sunroof switch blanking plate on the dash

BTW, if anybody wants to know how to construct these pillar mount pods, post and I'll write it up.
Basically I bought a new pillar cover from MMAL spares (only $19 believe it or not) and carefully cut the shape of two individual universal mount Pods into it , got the gauges and pods ultra cheap from crazysales.com.au
total cost of whole project including guages = $70
Much riciness ensues.......

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4592/guagelights.jpg


Cheers,
RG

This may be a stupid question, but aren't all mitsubishis negative/ground switched?

Certainly not all, the Accessory circuit was positively switched. You aren't getting mixed up with whether the car chassis is positive or negative are you , which is a different thing? The chassis is indeed negatively grounded

Could have used the phone point under the console, has power, acc and earth, pretty sure the 380 has one of these of a fassion under there

Could have used the phone point under the console, has power, acc and earth, pretty sure the 380 has one of these of a fassion under there

Do you know which one is earth? I may use that as an earth point for my AV system.

Edit: Actually, forget I asked. Probably black.

Could have used the phone point under the console, has power, acc and earth, pretty sure the 380 has one of these of a fassion under there

Oh NOW people pipe in with the input I needed 4 days ago :roll: :happy:

I certainly didn't find this connector on my adventures in dashland, but it might be behind the panel where the Fog lamp and TCL switches are, as I didn't remove that

Oh NOW people pipe in with the input I needed 4 days ago :roll: :happy:

I certainly didn't find this connector on my adventures in dashland, but it might be behind the panel where the Fog lamp and TCL switches are, as I didn't remove that

It should be, if its there, under the panel of the gear surround. Just forward of the gear selector.

It should be, if its there, under the panel of the gear surround. Just forward of the gear selector.

ah well, in that case I'll console myself with the fact that I would have had to extend gauge cables to reach this far from the pillar.
Just got price for a spare foglight switch - $70!!, Won't be doing that. Apparently the 380 seems to be such a good car that no-one ever prangs them in (in Victoria anyway) as I can never find a wrecker in this state with any 380's at all.
I don't suppose I could encourage a few victorian members to drive a little more recklessly... ...?