Td5 D2 electrics - Foot-well lights.

Always liked the idea of fitting some courtesy lights into the front footwells. Yet at the same time thinking what's the point? Aren't they all just a bit Blingy? There is just something warm and welcoming about them on dark winter nights. Open the door and its saying "Come on, get in, let's go!"

So I began to think about how to go about fitting them into the D2. They were never offered as a factory option. The concept seemed easy enough, decide what light fittings to use, where best to fit them and then wire them into the existing courtesy light circuit.

A few years ago I was fixing the common problem of a leaky sunroof and whilst the headlining was removed, the opportunity to study and connect into the courtesy light wiring was taken and although I wasn't fitting the foot-well lights at that time, I had the foresight to run a supply cable from the front courtesy lamp down the A-pillar and into the RH foot-well.

I felt at the time that this was the only way to ensure the BCU would command their function just the same as it does with the fitted interior lamps. An alternative supply source could be the under dash fuse box, but whether that could supply the BCU control signal was questionable plus I was reluctant to dig-in there.

Rheostat Dashboard Dimmer.

Whilst looking through the 'Interior Illumination' electrical circuit diagrams in Rave I discovered that some non-Uk models (typically NAS V8's) were fitted with a dash-board light dimmer control mounted onto the instrument binnacle. I had always wondered what that blanked-off plate on the binnacle was for, even the D1's I owned had the same space blanked over.

Photo from the web showing the fitted Rheostat thumb-wheel control.

I decided to source the 'Rheostat' control and use it to control the footwell lighting. The Rheostat later ended up controlling the brightness of the footwell, door puddle and marker lamps. Fitting the Rheostat was just an extra 'add-on' and the circuit will work well without it. In the few years it has been set-up I cannot recall once needing to adjust it after its initial set-up.

The Rheostat body is screw mounted to the inside of the Binnacle.

Having sourced the Rheostat online from the Americas, I set about planning how to wire it up and incorporate it into the circuit. Rave helped a lot, but once again, you just can't beat a hand drawn schematic!

Initial wiring diagram for the three footwell lights and the Rheostat control.

Basically, the Rheostat receives the 12v supply line voltage from the fitted Courtesy light and can vary it before passing it onto the LEDs. Initially, this schematic just had the supply lines from the Rheostat going direct to the foot-well LEDs as is shown above. Later on I added the 'puddle' and 'marker ' LEDs and had to re-draw the schematic.

Mounting the Rheostat.

The instrument binnacle on every D2 (D1?) has the mounting for the Rheostat moulded into its lower left-hand panel. 95% of them will be blanked over as the Rheostat was only fitted in certain world markets. It is a simple task to modify it by cutting out the blanked rectangular hole. The mounting lugs for the two screws are moulded to the inside surface of the binnacle.

Foot-Well lights.

Made the decision to go with some small compact LED strips that could be surface mounted out of sight under the dashboard.

As well as fitting one into each front foot-well, the decision was made to mount one into the rear foot-well. In the end a single LED strip was mounted on the downward facing panel of the rear console and its supply wire routed along the centre console into the front footwell area.

Initially this rear strip was just fixed in place with some good old gaffer tape, but after a year or so I got around to permanently attaching it to the inside of the rear console....... with more gaffer tape! (See: Hx52 - rear console )

I choose to fit 'red' LED strips, but they are available in a wide range of colours and even with variable colour outputs. 


Fitting the Front Footwell LEDs

Both of the front footwells have blanking plates fitted under the dashboard fascia that offer plenty of space to mount the lights onto.

The passenger side has a handy rectangular cut-out hole that seems to suggest some sort of light fitting was once fitted there. Maybe this panel pattern is a relic from the D1? The pre-cut hole looks like a light fitting of the type used in the glove box would fit?

This panel is just foam-backed thick cardboard and has a degree of flexibility to it. I elected not to surface mount the LED strip and simply attached it with two wire loops pushed through the surface..

The Driver's side panel is smaller and made from a thin plastic. It also houses the socket for the diagnostic reader and it is attached to the dash/fascia inner frame. There is a moulded ridge on it that offers a perfect front facing surface to mount the LED strip onto. 

Throughout the install I was determined to fit them in positions where the light source could not be seen from the normal seated position. Glad to say I achieved this and they have worked flawlessly for over two years now.

( photo of the lights working)

TD5 D2 Seats - Removal

So eventually, the time came to remove the manual cloth seats in Hx and replace them with the electric leather heated ones..

Switching over to electric leather seats has been a long on-going process, but by breaking it down into sections it is easily accomplished. Physically removing each seat should take no more then 20 minutes. It's a bit surprising how easy they detach and by far the hardest part is physically moving the awkward 'dead' weights out of the body-shell...

Front Seat Removal.

There are four Torx headed E14 bolts holding each front seat in place. Don't be tempted to use anything other then a E14 Torx socket to loosen the bolt heads. An 11mm multi-point socket will fit onto the Torx head, but it will easily chew any stubborn bolts....

(1) - Start by fully disconnecting and isolating the battery. (see '5'). Ensure that the seat back is fully upright and not reclined at all. This position will help greatly when moving the seat out of the door aperture.

(2) - Remove the seat belt anchor bolt from the outer side of the seat. The belt will hang free, but make a note of the spacer arrangements on the bolt fitting. The bolt has a standard 17mm head.

(3) - Remove the lower seat frame plastic trim plate. This will allow easy access to the mounting bolts. 

(4) - Shift the seat fully backwards on its rails to allow easier access to the two front mounting bolts and remove them fully. Then shift the seat fully forward to gain easy access to the two rear mounting bolts and remove them.

The torque wrench setting is 45Nm and they should all free up easily. Three of the bolts are 40mm long and are secured into the body-shell floor-pan. The fourth bolt is slightly longer at 45mm and is secured through the floor-pan by an external 17mm nut and washer accessible from below. A good clean and a  squirt of WD or penetrating oil on the nut will help shift the inevitable crud build-up and it should free up easily. The Torx bolt-head can be locked against the seat frame once the nut begins to turn the bolt.

(5) - With the seat base now free, it should be easy to rock the whole seat backwards to rest upon the rear seat structure. This will allow access to the underneath of the seat frame in order to release any wiring loom connectors that are attached to the seat. 

Every D2 Discovery will have a brown female 5-pin connector that is part of the fitted vehicle loom whether it is used or not. Every D2 will also have a yellow twin wire connector under each seat. This is the connection for the seat-belt pre-tensioner and it MUST be treated with respect. 

Seat-Belt Pre-tensioner connection under each front seat.

The seat-belt pre-tensioners are often overlooked in  importance and ability to trip the SRS Airbag deployment. The SRS system constantly monitors the wiring and resistance value by pulsing small electrical signals through the wiring. Any sudden spike caused by 'live' disconnection or connection could easily fire the explosive charges and deploy the airbags. Quite a shock indeed! 

Isolating the battery before removing the yellow connector is therefore essential. Rave's advice even then is to wait ten minutes after battery isolation before removing the connector. 

I watched a few online videos about seat-belt pre-tensioners and the precautions needed in their handling and quickly decided to take no chances!

(6) - With the seat fully disconnected, it can be removed from the door aperture. The seats do not weigh that much but it is difficult to get a good balanced grip on them. An assistant at this stage would be handy. There is also the option of removal through the back door IF the rear seats have already been removed!

(7) - Refitting is the reversal of the above. Should the SRS warning lamp light up on the dash, you will know where to go looking, just remember to isolate the battery beforehand!

Seat Frame Mounting Points.

Once the lower seat frame plastic trim plates are removed the frame fixings are easily accessible.

Lh/Rh Seat frame front outer mountings. The fitted carpet has the cut-out sections already in place..

..Here are the front inner mountings, again with the pre-cut carpet..


This is the rear outer mounting. The bolt passes through the floor-pan and is secured below by a 17mm nut. This is the most awkward fixing to undo.


Under Seat Loom Connectors.

Every D2 Discovery will have a bright yellow Seat-Belt Pre-Tensioner connector as well as a 5-pin female brown connector fitted as standard.

Whether the brown connector is actually attached or not depends on the individual vehicle trim level. Other connectors may be present again dependent on trim levels. For example, the audio power amplifier and multi-CD changer were installed under the seats and if the seats are electric there will be even more connectors and looms present..

Rave has an extensive electrical library that can be used to identify the functions of these loom connections.

In the case of HX, the brown connector is unused, but it will soon come into play when the electric seats are installed. I wrote a lot more about this brown 5-pin connector and its matching 'plug' in other blogs. See 'Hx52 - Electric Leather.

The original un-used brown connector under each front seat on Hx.

Seat Frame Corrosion.

The pressed steel panels that form the seat base are spot welded together and coated with black paint.

One of the front seat mountings that was to be installed showed some corrosion around a rear mounting point. The paintwork could be seen to be bubbling and it easily scraped away to reveal a nasty patch of corrosion... 

This is the extent of the corrosion on the rear outer mounting of the RH front seat. This mounting is the one that is secured from below the floor-pan. I am at a loss to explain why this is so corroded. The seat frames removed from Hx were free of corrosion in the same area so I can only assume something has happened to the donor car down there in the past. My first thought was towards flooding!

After I had scraped and sanded away the surface corrosion, I treated the area with some 'Hammerite Kurust' corrosion converter.

Once applied, it quickly begins to chemically convert any corroded metal to a more stable condition and effectively halts the corrosion process. To be fully effective it must be over coated with a protective topcoat otherwise given time the corrosion will return.

Kurust has the colour and texture of milk when first applied. It then quickly turns the treated surface to a vibrant blue colour before drying with a black sheen.  There is hardly any vapor given off during the process..

The two photos above show the results of using the Kurust on the seat frame corrosion. The blue tone is the reaction underway and it quickly dries to a black sheen like finish. After three hours it is safe to overcoat as recommended.

Rear Seat Removal.

Front (2) and Rear (4) views of the locating bolts for the rear seats.

The Rear passenger seats have a 60/40 split arrangement and each segment is secured to the floor-pan by four Torx star-bolts. For some reason, they are not the same as the bolts that secure the front seats. A T50 drive bit is required to remove them.

Remove the front bolts first by simply folding the carpet back to reveal the sprung hinge fixings. With the seat then folded fully forward, similar access can be had to the rear fixing points.

The central Seat-Belt mounting and anchor points are integral to the rear seat structure and there are no electrical looms to deal with. The back and base panels can be removed to gain access to the seat-belt and central armrest mechanism.

Removal of the rear seats is quick and easy, but it should be noted that the larger section is quite heavy and can be awkward to move out of the body shell.

Third Row 'Dickie' Seats.

Hx was a seven seat D2, but a few years ago the 3rd row seats were removed with the intention of fitting the much more practical storage bins in their place. 

With the recent purchase of the leather interior, I now find myself with a spare set of Dickie seats to play around with. They won't be going back on though.

TD5 D2 Seats - Electric Seat Controls 2

Installing the Seat Controls. 

The electric seat controls for a D2 Discovery are mounted on each side of the Centre Console alongside the 'cubby box'. Their positioning has always seemed a bit 'awkward' to me given the proximity of the nearby seat- belt socket and stalk.

They have a raised lower edge on the face-plate which helps protect the buttons from the seat belt stalks and prevents unintentional operation. There is no 'memory' function to their adjustment. As I mentioned earlier, the actual components of the switches are from the BMW parts bin where they all seem to have been mounted onto their relevant seat bases. Imagine that!, components from a 90's era M5 built into the Discovery!

In an earlier blog, I wrote about my decision to convert the existing 'manual' console in Hx to an 'electric' one by marking and cutting out the mounting aperture for the seat controls.

I started on this task a few months ago, but stalled after a few hours!. The photo below shows the results of that earlier endeavour..

I had marked out the position for the switch mounting-plate using a paper template and then a small cutting wheel was mounted on a Dremmel type tool to cut along the marked out lines. Progress was swift and easily controlled.

So, today when I returned to the task all I needed to do was trim the cuts with a craft knife to remove the panel..

This gave me my first glimpse inside the console and I was able to determine how the wiring loom would route itself from here to go underneath the nearby seat.

I reckon it will be possible to install all the wiring without removing the centre console. However, it may be necessary to loosen the two mounting screws that are in the base of the 'cubby box' just to get some extra wiggle room.

At the moment, the rear section of the centre console has been removed for some modifications and this greatly opened up the available space to work with. With the seat removed there should be ample access to route the cabling.

After cleaning up the cut edges, I offered up the seat control mount plate to the console. As expected, there where issues of clearance..

After much staring and planning, I marked out the areas that needed some more attention and then filed them away with craft files and also a full-sized bastard file..

I placed some white kitchen towel inside the console to help collect all the swarf and filings, but also to provide some visual contrast to highlight the work being done..

I found it easy to control the amount of material being removed and kept checking the fit of the mounting plate after every few strokes. I was careful to look at all the contact points and not just the ones being worked on. In the end, the mounting panel is a tight precise fit onto the centre console..

That set me up to do the same to the right hand electric seat controls. Throughout the process, I was very weary of the brittleness of the mounting lugs and keen not to break any more! When the mounting plate 'popped' into place I decided to leave it there for now and retrieve it when I remove the electric window switch panel as that will allow direct access to the rear of the mounting panel.

Right Hand Electric Seat Control.

Again I used the paper template as before and positioned it mainly by line of sight before taping it down and marking the contact points with a sharp pointed file.

The dots were then joined up with a pencil. At this stage I thought of adjusting the measurements slightly based on the experience with the left hand side, but decided to go with it and trim back the aperture to fit the mounting plate..

I used the same cutting wheel on the Dremmel tool as before, paying attention to the direction of the spinning cut. This seemed to make a difference as the wheel really flowed through the plastic. After a quick clean up, I started to fit the mounting plate to its new aperture. Again I used the craft files and the big Bastard file and soon had the mounting plate fitting snugly in there.

Also visible in the above photo is the inner wall of the Cubby-box and the wiring loom connectors for the electric windows.

I elected not to tap this side home all the way though as I need to sort out the method for attaching the switch box to the back of the mount-plate via those two screw holes that BMW applications use. I already sourced some countersunk bolt screws, but a quick dry run shows it won't be as easy as I hoped. 

Mounting the Switch Pack.

Wrote in the earlier blog about the flimsy attachments for the switch-pack to the rear of the switch mounting plate. Quite a few of these attachment 'lugs' are missing or ineffective on both mounting plates with the result that the mounted switch-packs are not secure and can shift around a bit when mounted to the rear of the mount plates.

This results in the physical operation of the switches feeling loose and insecure, I had already discussed and planned the remedy for this. 

Earlier research found that the switch-packs are actual BMW components and that they use two small screw bolts for their attachment on many 90's era BMW models. As the holes for the screw bolts are present on the switch pack, I opted to modify the Land Rover components to use the same mounting..

Some 10mm M4 hex-head countersunk machine screws were bought and the first task was to use one of them to 'cut' a thread into the blank switch-pack mountings..

I used some moderate hand force to initiate the cutting of the thread. The recess is only plastic and once the initial resistance was overcome, the screw-bolt was able to easily cut the rest of the internal thread. I worked slowly going a half-turn at a time and was surprised at the amount of heat the friction of the thread cutting generated..

A close up view of the newly cut internal thread added to one of the two switch pack locating recesses.

Once the thread cutting was finished, attention turned to drilling and countersinking the holes into the front of the mounting plates..

I made careful measurements and re-checked everything as I knew I only had one chance to get it right. I started with a tiny pilot hole drilled using the Dremmel then used a full- sized countersunk bit to recess the machine screw/bolt head. The mount plate is plastic so it offers little resistance and it should be possible to do this by hand without the overkill of a full sized power drill!.. 

Happy with the fitting. The switch-pack is now firmly mounted to the back of the mount-plate. Once the other side is finished, I will spray the front of the mount plates black just to tone-down the heads of the screw-bolts..

Anyone for Panel Lights..?

Hmm...  wonder if its possible to install some tiny LED panel lights onto those hollow stalks..??.. The idea being to illuminate the switch graphics from behind..?

After working out how to power up some LED panel lights, the biggest problem would be that the original buttons are not translucent beneath the button graphics and so they would not allow any light to pass through.

My earlier theory about them being from the BMW parts bin and that perhaps lighting was fitted to BMW installs has proved fruitless so far. 

Some modification to the button structure would be needed and perhaps the real answer here is to get busy with a 3d printer and make some buttons from scratch!

Installing the Loom.

Having prepared the 'manual' centre console on Hx by cutting out the two seat control mountings, the next job was to fit the seat control looms into the console and route them down under each seat.  

Initially, I did not know how to go about doing this or whether it was possible to do it with the centre console still in place.

Looking online for images soon threw up the following photo of a stripped out interior and it revealed the path taken by the seating loom..

Seats, carpets, centre console and the rear foot-well heating ducts have all been removed. The rear of the seat control switch packs can clearly be seen hanging loose towards the rear seats, but that is not their fitted position.

Have to state that there is no need to strip out the interior to this extent to fit the loom!! 

Initially, I assumed the loom would be routed out of the rear of the console and under the carpets. Seeing the above image showed how the loom takes a much more 'direct' route and emerges from the console directly below the fitted switch location where it then follows the existing factory fitted loom along the recessed 'channel' in the floorpan directly below the joint of the front and rear carpets to emerge above the carpet and into the floorpan below the seat location.

The looms were bought second-hand and I initially overlooked the fact that their cabling had the twists and turns from being fitted moulded into its shape. Think of it like a physical memory. When fitting the loom, the existing twists and turns made sense and even guided the fitting and routing of the loom!

Using the above image as a reference, I poked and prodded around the insides of Hx to get a good idea of where to lay the loom and to see if it was possible to do it without removing the centre console. Pleased to say that it is! Removing the seat will provide all the access that is required and as swapping the seats is the whole intention here, its a win win situation! At this time, I had also removed the rear lower console earlier on to modify the ashtray fitting. I would recommend doing this as well. 

Began fitting the loom by feeding the grey connector into the aperture cut into the side of the centre console and guided it down vertically inside the console and around the fitted internal heating ducts. There is enough space to get fingers in there and 'feel' for the layout in there. The plastic side of the console has a fair bit of flex in it and soon enough the grey connector will emerge below the console side. There is a notch cut into the metal body of the transmission tunnel that guides the loom vertically and it can be found easily.

As I said earlier, the twists and turns present in the second hand loom suddenly make sense in helping to guide the fitting of the loom.

With the seat removed it is easy to lift back the rear carpet joint just enough to reveal the trough and the metal 'hairclip' tie. The loom can be tied down by the clip along with the existing factory fitted loom that will be there as well. The carpet can then be replaced and that's basically all that's needed.

Close up of the 'hairclip'  wrapped around the seat loom.
 

Final image of the fitted seat looms (minus the rear console lower trim and the seat switches). The carpet was replaced and cleaned. The grey connector is the newly fitted seat control loom, the brown connector will supply power to the seat and the heated seat pads while the yellow connector is the standard Pre-Tensioner for the seat belt stalk.

Td5 D2 Interior - Rear Console

Sometime last year, a small LED strip was attached to the rear of the centre console below the fitted ash tray. The intention being to have a rear foot-well courtesy light that would compliment the rear passenger door 'marker' lights installed earlier on the modified rear door speaker grills.

The LED strip is wired into the front foot-well lighting circuit with the supply wiring routed under the centre console and hidden from view.

Once a suitable position was found, the LED strip was attached to the lower rear console surface with two small strips of Gaffer tape. Needless to say, this temporary install quickly became semi-permanent and the only attention needed was to renew the little Gaffer strips whenever they became un-stuck. It was always my intention to mount the LED strip in a more permanent way to the console in order to make it look more factory-fitted.

Research showed that the rear of the console will actually detach from the console body. It is held on by four small screws which are easily accessible despite being tucked away, two on each side between the console and the front seats. I decided to remove the rear console lower cover and install the LED strip permanently by cutting a narrow slot to mount the LED strip behind. 

Furthermore, looking at the seldom used ash tray gave me the idea for a better use of it's mounting place..

Ash-tray unit about to be re-purposed.

The image above shows the removed console on the bench as if looking up from the floorpan of the bodyshell. 

The two cut-outs with rounded corners are for the heater/air-vents into the rear footwells. The narrow slot is the newly cut aperture for the LED strip. The ash-tray mount can readily be seen and the whole ash-tray assembly is a simple push/snap-fit into the console body. Removing the ash-tray unit from the fitted console will give easy access to install any additional wiring inside the console.

Having placed the LED strip and decided it's final position, I wanted to have the install look more factory-fitted then just simply 'stuck-on'!  At this point, I even thought about mounting a switched acrylic-lens light unit not unlike the factory fitted front courtesy lamp (size wise, the glove-box light unit would be more suitable). I decided against this as I couldn't see a need for the foot-well light to be manually switchable and besides the thin-strip format of the LED would look much more contemporary, stylish and 'hidden'.

Measurements were made and positions marked out. It was a simple enough task to cut out the narrow strip to mount the LED behind. I used a combination of a sharp craft knife and a small cutting wheel mounted on a Dremmel type tool. A strip of good old Gaffer secures the strip onto the inside of the console.

This image shows the LED light strip in its fitted position. Should the LED ever develop a fault, all wires and connections will be accessible when fitted by removing the console. At this point, I still have the option of fabricating a clear acrylic strip to mount flush to the outer surface for a 'factory-fitted' look...

ASH-TRAY PANEL MOD.

Decided to remove the ash-tray and replace it with a panel mounted 12v Aux socket with a double USB socket alongside. E-bay was consulted and pretty soon this arrived direct from China for pennies..

They each have rubber covers and the USB socket has a miniature blue LED 'power-on' indicator..

The above unit was supplied with screws and spade terminals to connect everything up. The sockets can be detached from the supplied mounting plate which will allow for more mounting options.

Mounting Panel  -  Front.

I decided to make a custom mount panel that can be fixed in the space created by removing the ash-tray unit. I found a suitable piece of soft panel wood and devised a mounting method using the locking rings from the two sockets to secure a custom made bracket that will clamp the panel to the inside of the rear console.

The wooden panel was marked out and I began making the holes needed for the socket bodies..

Pilot holes where carefully drilled through the wood and a craft knife was used to cut-out the hole. A half-round Bastard file was then used to clean-up and shape the hole..

With two new holes in place, the panel was finally cut out using the craft knife and filed back to fit into the console..

Here's a view of the fitted sockets on the mounted panel. I intend to stain the wooden panel with some wood-stain that should hopefully match the rest of the 'wooden' panel trims. Failing that, a quick spray of Satin Black should do the trick.

Mounting Panel  -  Rear Bracket.

Needed to make a rear mounting bracket to secure the wooden panel to the console. I planned to make use of the existing moulded ridge on the rear of the console that locates the ash-tray unit and to use the locking rings from the sockets to secure it all in place..

A paper template was used to get some idea of the shape/dimension required for the bracket

Decided to use thin metal plate for the bracket and some suitable Aluminium plate was sourced. I used a redundant printing plate that was easy to 'work' using simple hand tools..

The 90deg bends were formed by hand using a vice. All the holes were drilled by hand using the craft file shown above. It was easy then to enlarge the holes in order to remove the central disk...

A final tidy up was done with a half-round Bastard file just to remove all the sharp edges.

The fitted metal bracket in position on the back of the console. It can be seen how the 90deg bend wraps around the moulded ridges on the console.

When fitted it was observed that there was a small gap of a couple of mm between the rear face of the front mounting panel and the rear securing panel..

The gap is easily closed up when securing the sockets with their locking rings, but it's just as easy to fill the gap with a filler plate made from corrugated cardboard..

12v SUPPLY, FUSES AND CIRCUITS.

LIGHTING  -  The LED strip already has a 12v supply wire that connects it to the front foot-well lighting circuit. There is no need to install an in-line fuse, all that's needed is just to tidy the wiring up. I have some small two-way connectors ideal for the job.

AUX SOCKETS  -  All D2 Discovery models are fitted with two 12v sockets. There is the usual 'cigar' socket mounted on the central console forward of the gear levers and then there is the auxiliary socket mounted in the cargo bay on the left-hand trim panel. 

After reading the Owners Handbook section looking for official Land Rover 'advice' on how to use the sockets (!), I had more questions to answer. The handbook states...

"WARNING.... NEVER plug non approved accessories into the power socket - damage to the vehicle's electrical systems could occur. The Aux  power socket can be used to power Land Rover approved accessories that use a maximum of 180 watts..."

There is a handy tip to run the engine during prolonged use of electrical accessories in order to maintain battery charge. There is no direct mention for the capacity of the front cigar socket. I also noted that the two sockets are not on the same circuit and that they have different fuse values.

Decided to delve into the Rave Electrical library to learn more about the two circuits. 

Both sockets have their own circuits and they are both switched live via the ignition key (P1/2). Both are protected on the ignition side via Fuse 26 (10amp) in the under-dash fuse box.

Each circuit is further protected by fuses also mounted in the under-dash fuse box. The 'cigar' socket is protected by a 20Amp (F15) fuse but also has a 1Amp in-line fuse. The 'aux' socket in the rear load space is protected by a 25Amp (F32) fuse but also has a 20Amp in-line fuse. The wiring for the 'aux' socket uses thicker gauge cable to handle the bigger rating.

Ideally, I would like to power the new sockets direct from the battery and thereby avoid any interruption issues via the ignition key. In practise though, connecting into existing circuits will be easier. There are three options..

(1) -  Physically, the nearest suitable 12v circuit to tap into is the 'cigar' socket fitted on the front of the centre console. This will supply 12v (20amp fuse F15) and the circuit is switched live by the ignition switch. In addition, the actual socket has its own 1amp 'in-line' fuse.

(2)  -  An alternate supply source (and even easier to access) will be the heated-seat switch supply. Once again though, it is switched 'live' via the ignition. (Research shows the alarm circuit can switch this circuit 'live' as well) This circuit is protected by a 40 Amp fuse 

(3)  -  The third option is to connect into the rear Aux power socket in the cargo bay, but this route will be less convenient as it requires a lot more work running the cabling. This circuit offers 25 Amp protection.

Whichever route is used, an in-line fuse holder will be incorporated near to the rear of the new USB sockets. I am still unsure what rating to use for the in-line fuse. The stated combined rating for the USB sockets is 3.1Amp at 5v.

USB PROTOCOL  -  All USB connected devices require a 5v supply. The USB socket therefore contains an internal resistor circuit to draw down the 12v input to the required 5v output. Call me paranoid, but I feel I should measure the output of this particular USB socket just to check it is not supplying the full 12v!

Below is a diagram of the internal connections in a standard full-sized USB socket..

Terminals 1 and 4 are the power supply and return lines for the plugged in 'accessory'. Terminals 3 and 2 are used for data transfer. As there is no USB data 'connectivity' on the D2 Disco, I reckon that these terminals are unused. The reverse of the new sockets only have two terminals on each of them.

Attaching some test leads to these internal connectors proved to be too fiddly, so I tested them by connecting a 12v supply to the rear of the socket and plugged in a flexible LED map reading light which worked fine. I then plugged my trusty TomTom in and it also worked. Indeed, if anything, the TomTom seemed to re-charge itself a lot quicker then when using the fitted 'cigar' socket.

PREDICTED USAGE.

Gave some thought to what I figure would be the biggest draw on current. In the past I have used a small travel kettle and even a portable fridge/ice box. Sat-navs, I-pods, cameras and laptops are all low power, but with multiple units in use the combined draw can all add up.

I can see the benefits of having three separate supply lines, regardless of whether they are needed or not! For that reason alone, I plan to connect the new sockets into the heated seat supply line. Let's see how that goes..

Final Fitting.

A 'fly' lead was made up to connect the rear of the sockets to the supply line. A two-way inline connector was used to give that plug and play feel. A new supply line will be routed along the centre console toward the heated seat switches.

I used some spare household two-core flex and stripped back the outer cover to route the wires easier. I used the brown wire for the 12v Supply and the blue cable for the Earth return. These colours were used on the other side of the connector as well.

Spent some time looking through the electrical layout diagrams for the heated seat and window switches. All the info is in Rave and I determined where the nearest factory Earthing point was. Decided that the Aux and USB sockets would get the live (+)12v feed from the RH heated seat switch supply line.  It is the LGW (light green /white) coloured wire connected to C0249-1 which is the heated seat switch connector. An in-line bladed type fuse holder will be incorporated in the supply line.

The nearest Earthing point 'header' C0708 is conveniently situated nearby and C0708-5 is the RH heated seat return path.

Unfortunately, accessibility to C0708 proved to be a bit of an issue! Rave illustrations and descriptions assume that the centre console has already been removed. All of the install work on Hx has been done with the Centre Console in place throughout!

I have no intention of removing the console at this stage so I now had to look for a new 'fresh' alternative Earthing point nearby. A multi-meter was used to investigate continuity between an unlikely screw bolt and the body shell.

The Earthing point used can be seen through the seat control aperture on the side of the console. A handy spare female bolthole connector was used to allow a crimped male spade connector to be easily attached.

Close-up of the new Earth point.

That little screwbolt holds the plastic heating duct to a metal bracket which is then itself bolted to the transmission tunnel, how convenient! Access to the screw head is a bit fiddly but do-able all the same. I was very careful not to drop it down inside the console! 

The connections for the 12v supply line were made with 'Choc-bloc' type connectors, and an inline fuse holder was incorporated as discussed earlier.

Every connection was continuity tested as they were made and they all 'pinged' clear. A 15Amp blue coloured blade type fuse was used in the fuse holder.

I was and still am a bit unsure about what the correct rating should be. The LGW  12v supply line in the vehicle loom has a 20 Amp fuse protection. I plan to use the Aux socket for big draw items like say a 12v kettle, but I also fear a high fuse rating will not protect less power hungry items or indeed the USB socket.

Elected to place a 15Amp fuse in the in-line holder which ended up being positioned inside the console but below the RH seat control switch plate. At this stage I believe that the USB socket has its own 5Amp fuse, but that could just be wishful thinking. 

I tested the supply line by running a tyre inflater as well as the heated seat element without any trouble.

( photo of the finished install )