Afternoon all - my lad has just got a Fiat Panda after his Pug 106 finally bit the dust, well tree actually, however thats another story.

Didn't even think about looking for the lighter socket when he bought it, just took it as there would be one hidden! Concentrating on finding any rust / the state of the engine etc when we bought it!

However, we have two connectors under the plastic near the handbrake, a 3 pin one and a 6 (or is it 8, forgotten already) pin one, none of which get a 12v supply (I have even put the 20A fuse in the fuse box) with the ignition on or off.

After reading this forum and a few other places I guess we are out of luck on getting the cables working, someone mentioned a relay needed putting in the fuse box to power the 12v cable in the console??

We only really want it to stick a dashcam in so I was thinking of piggybacking the lighter socket off of the courtesy light, hides all the cables that way as well.

My question is, after looking at the very thin wires on the back of the light, would that take the lighter socket with a USB adapter in it without burning up?

Apart from that, I am at a loss where else I could plug into without trying to get cables from the fuesbox in the engine bay into the car itself.

Thanks for the advice!

did you try with the ignition on ?

I checked the cables in under the handbrake with and without the ignition on - nothing in either situation.

Normally if the contacts are in the fuse holder from memory F85 under the bonnet then the rest of the wiring is there.

Personally I wouldn't wire from the courtesy light as its operated via the body computer.

Same with the radio although others have done it this way.


A dash cam should only take a few milliamps and would be fairly safe but anything can be plugged in to a cigarette lighter

koalar said:

Normally if the contacts are in the fuse holder from memory F85 under the bonnet then the rest of the wiring is there.

Personally I wouldn't wire from the courtesy light as its operated via the body computer.

Same with the radio although others have done it this way.


A dash cam should only take a few milliamps and would be fairly safe but anything can be plugged in to a cigarette lighter

Click to expand...

Thanks - there was no fuse to start with so bought a 20A one and stuck it in F85 earlier. Thats why I hoped to get some voltage there but there is nothing.

In a lot of images I have found online next to F85 have three larger "blocks" which I guess are relays. In this car there are only 2, would that be the problem?

EDIT: The pink"block" with the X on it is missing in my lads car:

Okay ignore me - had one of them "you twonk" feelings so went to double check the fuse I put in.

There doesn't appear to be anything behind the fuse slot, it was just a tight fit that made me think it was in there. I blame the rain, opened up the bonnet, lobbed in the fuse and then jumped inside.

Apologies for asking about it - will have to find a different way of sorting it now!

Your son's car is like ours - no wiring to the fuse slot. I wired in a charger socket to the RHS of the glovebox - there's instructions with pics on this forum which I used. I wired straight from the battery with an inline fuse to protect it.

happyhippy said:

Okay ignore me - had one of them "you twonk" feelings so went to double check the fuse I put in.

There doesn't appear to be anything behind the fuse slot, it was just a tight fit that made me think it was in there. I blame the rain, opened up the bonnet, lobbed in the fuse and then jumped inside.

Apologies for asking about it - will have to find a different way of sorting it now!

Click to expand...

Yep have to sort a different way.

Fairly easy if you don't mine it being permanently on

Just add to the battery with a separate fuse and cable tie to the loom.

Remember if you don't want to melt your wire before the 20 amp fuse blows will require fairly thick wire. 12 gauge wire is about as thin as you can go.

Don't mind it always on as its handy for the parking mode.

Thanks all and apologies for being a complete spanner!

happyhippy said:

Don't mind it always on as its handy for the parking mode.

Thanks all and apologies for being a complete spanner!

Click to expand...

No apology needed. FWIW, I followed this guide when I fitted the socket to our Panda. Ended up with a nice tidy job. Only thing to be careful with is removing the airbag switch before taking the glovebox out. I managed to snap one of the connectors off by being hamfisted.

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/223881-fiat-panda-active-eco-12v-power-point-aux-socket.html

Cheguava said:

No apology needed. FWIW, I followed this guide when I fitted the socket to our Panda. Ended up with a nice tidy job. Only thing to be careful with is removing the airbag switch before taking the glovebox out. I managed to snap one of the connectors off by being hamfisted.

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/223881-fiat-panda-active-eco-12v-power-point-aux-socket.html

Click to expand...

Thats quite a good way of doing it - typically I have just finished doing it a different way. All I really needed was a couple of USB sockets - one for the dashcam and one for phone charging if needed.

Remembered I had one of these hooked up in the shed to a small battery / solar panel to listen to a stereo:



Piggybacked the positive wire off of the stereo fuse in the fuse box next to the steering wheel. Chopped the lighter plug off the end of the dashcam cable, soldered on a USB plug, connected all next the fusebox and hid the cable in the door rubbers / ceiling cover.

Just need an extension USB cable to connect to the second outlet to make it easier to get to from the centre console area.

Thanks for all the hints and tips - two days of messing about and spending 7 quid on a lighter socket I didn't need in the end.