Want to route a USB cable from charging cubby to cabin.

  • Thread starter Thread starter hwitten
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hwitten

hwitten

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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*
 
20200907_174339.webp
hobbit said:
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.

_H*
Click to expand...


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.
 
KiwiME said:
If I recall the dashboard ends snap off giving you access to that area.
Click to expand...
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. 20210730_181453.webp 20210730_181513.webp
 
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.
IMG_6105.webp

IMG_6106.webp
 
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