The early US westy's had an old style fuse for the mains hookup on the buddy seat. As it is now redundant I drilled out the fuse bit and replaced it with a 12v socket. Not the best photos but gives you an idea Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
I’ve bought a second hand ashtray off eBay which opens all the way up rather than only opening up 45° like the normal black ones. Will clean it up and cannibalise some cheap usb sockets off Amazon to fit inside. The plan is it looks like a normal ashtray until you open it and there’ll be 2 or 4 ports in it (depending on space!). fingers crossed…! If I don’t post pics within a couple of weeks, it turned out crap!!
I tried that a few years ago, still not finished as I couldn’t find a socket that would fit, might have to see if any smaller ones are available now. Your idea of one that opens up fully will make it much easier to do
I put one of the plastic modern ones in the glovebox. That way you can leave a phone on charge in the glovebox out of sight, no trailing cables and no phone sliding around on the dash.
I don't care what they look like , just that they have no led. Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
longer term that would be ok (and MUCH easier!), but my lad sleeps in the hammock over the front seats so no way of charging phones etc overnight
Maybe not the greatest thing in the world, but I think it’s more fitting than having glowing blue lights on a black plastic block, and that was the brief! The eBay one was shot to pieces so got one from JK in the end. The glue on the back is coming off once the epoxy is fully hardened, but it does have glow in the dark epoxy holding them in, just for the lolz
The trick might be to open up some charger units and desolder and extend the wiring to the sockets. You can also buy short extension cables, with plugs and sockets on each end, or bits intended for PCs with a row of sockets on them. Or buy a bag of sockets.. one of the standard charger wirings is 5 volts (12Vdc to 5v dc module on Amazon or eBay) on one pin, ground on the other end, two middle pins shorted to each other.
View attachment 119639 The mains hook up in the original German version had continental sockets - not very practical so I swapped over some UK spec vintage brown bakelite sockets. Also a Hella type socket as Westy fitted to the dash is here. This is also known as a DIN socket or a ISO4165. I have a USB adapter to plug in here or one of the other locations.
Adding to this, as it's just one question...... the traditional cigarette socket wiring for my van is permanently live, which I have no objection to (it's like that in my car too), but if I wanted to swap it for a double USB socket like this one (which does have a touch on/off button built in) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YJ1KM85?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_CPAAF879S8CVBGVRAJY1 any objections from the collective TLB electrickery brains? Are USB sockets any more likely to cause Clem to burst into flames whilst unattended that a traditional fag lighter socket?
I like my trad ciggy socket, I can plug my tyre pump into it and also one of these for USB charging. Many styles available.
Agreed, but my 'trad' one has been replaced by a modern plastic one anyway so the 'stock look' has gone. I was going to replace it with a vintage looking one that actually had a ciggie lighter, but the hole in the dash is too big. Short of sandwiching a M22 washer painted black to make the hole smaller, I was just exploring other possibilities. Just faffing around really
I doubt mine is the original either, by trad I meant ciggy socket rather than USB, I was just jogging you in case you did the change then found yourself with a flat tyre and nowhere to plug your pump in - Doh!
