I have a wireless charging holder on my left vent and prefer that to the cubby hole as my iPhone gets too hot and shuts down. I also like to glance at the phone occasionally I use(d) the wireless adapter CPLAY2air and it works quite well except for ABRP where the voice clips and it restarts frequently so I'm trying to migrate to a wired USB connection using a magnetic cable connection at the iPhone. Works great except for looks/routing of the cable at the cubby hole. Has anyone explored around there and possible installed a USB cable leading out from the cubby to the cabin? I don't mind drilling a hole but I'm sort of the chicken kind, plus I want to keep the Kona original for I5 upgrade.
I had a similar thing for installing a GPS mount that I wanted to do more cleanly the second time around. There's another USB outlet under the "flying bridge", and if a wire comes out of that and immediately ducks around the plastic toward the front of the car, it can easily go under the dash and route to wherever you need it. Pulling dash panels for access isn't hard, just use a non-marring tool for prying and a straight-arm pull with your body braced so you don't pull something off at a crazy angle and break tabs. In the case of my GPS I fed up to the blank center speaker panel in my SEL, mounted the holder with a single screw through that, and slotted a small access in the edge for the wire to come out next to the mount. The larest use of my in-phone-cubby USB slot was to play some muscle-car startup soundtracks from "media", to make people laugh. _H*
Hi, can I ask how you detach the blank center speaker panel? I could not find any "gap" or slot to allow me to pry it open without damaging the edges. In my previous Kona I had installed a clock and a voltmeter on the panel but ran the wires along the gap below the windscreen. For my current Kona, I would prefer to run the wires underneath that center speaker panel, if only I know how to detach it.
Thanks KiwiMe. I did some exploring. I would still have to drill a hole in the cubby. Have to think hard on that Considering going the Android route instead, maybe.
I simply got a thin tool under one of the front corners and started lifting. If you don't have suitable plastic wedgie-things, try a dull knife or putty knife to get it started. If you accept the idea that any car interior is going to get a little banged up over time, a minor bit of edge marring will simply show that work got done there. NBD. _H*
Following the instructions given by Hobbit, I managed to remove the blank center speaker panel. I attach here images of the panel and the dashboard, in case anyone is interested to use this for their cable access. There are a total of 9 sturdy clips on the panel.
Found a solution I can live with at Amazon. Flat USB cable extension and a USB cable with magnetic connection to iPhone12. Surface mounted, but that's ok as the Kona will hopefully get an I5 upgrade sometime-ish.