[cascade]

As some of you know, I travel all the time in the coupe, just messing around and visiting and seeing people, dating and things like that, to the tune o about 15-20,000 miles a year, now, just having some fun. I have just gotten back from a one week, 1,028 mile trip per trip odometer all over Southern California, from Lake Isabella to San Diego and all around.

Thanks very much to the amazing generosity of chadahar, mclare, jonathan white, justinwrock and a very pretty lady from Kern County for making a wonderful trip for me;



These days I ALWAYS - like to try to blog about it here when possible, from the road, and so for ease of travel and for staying in touch, taking pics and not getting lost, I always go everywhere with a Laptop, cellphone, digital camera, and a Garmin Sat Nav, (and now, thanks to justinwrock's help last night) an ipod with a huge music library. My new 10 CD trunk changer just got obsoleted!!! LOLZ


All these things are battery powered and thus need to be used and at times recharged from time to time, and it is great to have them all fully charged up whiole I am out on the road.


But the W126ers from the factory only came with a cigar/cigarette lighter, and I could pull it out, open the ashtray, and could put one recharger or other accessory cord into it at a time.

If the Garmin was put in there, you could not recharge the cell phone, at the same time (for example) as it's only that one power point available to you.


Now that I am home again, and getting ready to go back to So Cal for the meets, and more dates again, this bothered me today.



I needed more powerpoints. It's the 21st century now.....


Before: This looks messy awkward and untidy and you can't see or access the switches below the ashtray, seat heaters, town/country dual note horn switch, etc.

This is what I did. I went and got this 3 powerpoint box, which amazingly fits PERFECTLY in the coin tray, and looks just as though it were factory installed!!!

The modern American police cars have this kind of thing in them, I am told.


I loved the idea of this and it works so nicely!!! This unit has rubber caps over all the 3 power points, for when each are not in use.


I upgraded the fuse to 25 amps from 15 to be safe, here, as all of the power would be from the same source, theoretically you could charge you cell, your girlfriend's cell, and keep your Sat Nav going, and theoretically charge something else in the factory cigar lighter socket, all at the same time, and it still would not look too bad!!.

AFTER: Clean, efficient, organized, Germanic, almost factory look:

Just thought you guys might be interested, that's all.

 

[justinwrock]

Pretty cool Jim.



I need something like that for the wagon. I have a splitter so I can plug my phone and GPS in at the same time.




You getting the hang of the iPod thing?

 

[B71ZZZ]

I don't know if replacing the 15A fuse with a 25A fuse is un update.
I hope the fire extinguisher has a full charge!
By the way, you have a rodent problem...

 

[cascade]

Skunk is the ex wife. She gets to ride along sometimes, her job is to buff off the dashboard dust with her tail.

 

[90 w126 420 se]

skunk? ? ?

reminds me of one brutally freezing winter, driving along the countryside with the now ex, when we came across this poor skunk in the middle of the road...

i stopped, picked the shivering and nearly frozen creature and gave it to the wife

"what will i do with it?" she asked

"until we get to a vet, put it between your legs and warm it" i replied

"but it stinks" she said

i responded : "then hold it's nose! ! !"

))

 

[500SEC_AMG]

OK don't look, I said don't look but there is a skunk in your friggen car. OK serious I think it's really cool that you use your ride all the time, I am the same way, how can you not, you know that feeling that you get when you return to your car in a parking lot and there is your ride looking so different, bold and aggressive. I love So Cal, Del Mar is like a second home and the people are great, I want to move their so bad. If anyone is in the Newspaper business and wants to hire a kill photographer call me.
I am in love with my car and just driving 10 min to work I get such a kick out of it. But getting to the point if anyone wants to house swap for a month I live in Canada's capital near lakes and ski Hills. 2 hrs from Montreal and 4 hrs from Toronto.

 

[mclare]

I would suggest direct wiring a power wire of 12 ga with a 25 amp fuse block wired direct to the battery and go through the grommet under the battery tray and up under the knee panel. Since the device is right there, you can wire it directly there. I would also run a separate ground too since you are doing it anyway.

This is what I did to power all of my extra devices: DVD/NAV/SAT and Illuminated Sills, Front and Rear IR Cams, Future RADAR Detector and whatever else I may install.

 

[bondavi]

+1 on this.

No fun to fry your internal wiring and HAVING to dig into the dash to repair. Remember Mclare's "leaf" incident - I wouldn't risk my OEM wiring to anything more than its designed for. Running more current through lower gauge wire creates heat, which will melt the insulation and make all kinds of fun possible. Your car's too grand for that drama.

A stereo shop should do it fairly reasonably.

Note: You NEVER know what you'll need the 3rd socket for.

I would suggest direct wiring a power wire of 12 ga with a 25 amp fuse block wired direct to the battery and go through the grommet under the battery tray and up under the knee panel. Since the device is right there, you can wire it directly there. I would also run a separate ground too since you are doing it anyway.

 

[SIMONVW126]

i needed this. thanks cascade! it's def an option worth looking into

 

[cascade]

I put a penny in a fuse box?

Good point on the fuses, mclare/bondavi. Thanks fellas, that will be attended to right away.


I am utterly unqualified to reverse engineer anything the Mercedes Benz engineers did or might have done

 

[AzimuthAviation]

Sometimes those lighter sockets in the rear doors come into good use for us in the sedan crowd

 

[Chadahar]

There's one in the rear ashtray on the coupes as well.

PENNY IN A FUSE???
Just so you don't use a 22 bullet in a vehicle fuse block(round fuses) or you'll shoot yourself in a very private part or parts like the hunter in Michigan did.

 

[AxelWulff]

PENNY IN A FUSE???
Just so you don't use a 22 bullet in a vehicle fuse block(round fuses) or you'll shoot yourself in a very private part or parts like the hunter in Michigan did.

Ah, yes, the Darwin Award Honorable Mention recipient (didn't kill himself doing something stupid so he couldn't receive an award, but he castrated himself thereby removing himself from the gene pool ).