Cig lighter power to upfitter switch?

[sanman28]

Can I rig my XM radio reciever, that has a cig lighter power cord, so that it will use one of the upfitter switches? Just cut the cig lighter dongle and splice the wire into upfitter?

[Dave]

Yes

[MPTonyT]

Most of the XM units run off of 5v. So cutting the Cig plug off and wiring it to 12v will burn up the XM module. We used to do two different things.....

1. take cig plug apart and solder two wires to the 12v + and -

2. wire a female cig plug to the upfitter switch and plug the male from the XM unit in and tape them together and place behind the dash.

either way will work.

[Austin G]

#2 sounds like a good option, cause then it's still easily removable and such.

[sanman28]

Two of the switches are 30A, one is 15A, and the last one is 10A. If the XM is 5A, could I just pull one of the 4 fuses out and replace with a 5A fuse? If you cant tell, Im not fluent in anything electrical.

[raptorsrock19]

No you cant. The fuse is there to protect the circuit from burning up. If you put a smaller fuse in a hotter wire you will blow that fuse like crazy.

[sanman28]

The cig lighter dongle cannot just be cut off. Found out the hard way. The actual power wire in there is the size of a human hair and is sheathed in clear rubber, then plastic wrap, then mesh wire, then the final rubber outer. There isnt really anything to connect to power. Bummer....now I got no tunes until I get another power adapter.

[RUFFSTUFF]

Along the lines of Infidel's idea... Wire a 12v plug into the power and ground wires for the head unit and tuck it over the head unit in the dash . Don't waste an upfitter relay. That way you can plug any 12v accessory directly into a source of 12v power without risk of damage. That's what I did to install my GPS unit in my Expedition and I did the same in my F250. Works great and looks clean. There's plenty of overhead in the radio fuse to do this.