We exchanged emails with a customer who installed our 12-volt lights in his car for the Christmas season. The discussion touched on quite a few questions that we hear so we thought sharing the email thread might help other folks as well.
Here was the first question:
Question
The cigarette lighter male end looks to be extremely long and space consuming and space in that area of mycar is very limited. Is there anyway I could hook it up to one of these and connect it to a cigarette port USB charger?Here is what I'm thinking: USB A Male to 12V Car Cigarette Lighter Socket Female Converter
Here's a photo:
My response:
I THINK that this product might work with our lights but since we have no experience, I'm really unsure about how to answer your question.Our lights have a .1 amp current draw so it should be sufficient.I cannot with great confidence answer your question.
In a couple of weeks we received this email:
Hey just a heads up, it works. Something to pass on to your customers in case they're like me. Lights work great, thanks again!That’s the other main reason I did it, I didn’t want to have to plug it and unplug it every time I turned my car on and off, respectively. I fished the wire under the center console through the shifter, underneath the glovebox, underneath the weatherstrip and trim past the A pillar and into the B pillar. From there I fished the wire through the weatherstrip in the crease or the rear passenger door and reinforced that section with heavy duty electrical tape to protect it from opening and closing door. Wrapped it around the roof bars after that. Except for that small piece of wire running to the roof bar, made for a near clean and hidden install. And the best part is when its time to take them down, I can store the end that connects to lights in the trim and tuck it away until next year instead of having to rewire everything again.
Thank you, likewise Merry Christmas to you as well.
Here are photos of the complete project:
