[sagarpadaki]

I wanted to add a 12V socket in the Hand brake console area of my Tiago for a long time. The 12V socket provided by Tata at the front is designed poorly. USB chargers installed in the socket do not fit snug and there is lot of play. The connection becomes loose when driven over bad roads. Tata provides a more premium looking and working 12V socket on it's premium models like Hexa, Nexon, Harrier. These are designed better and the USB chargers fit snug. Infact, the Tigor came with this socket until mid of 2018 after which they started coming with the same socket used in Tiago and other lower models. Below is the pic taken from official review of Tigor.



The ill designed 12v socket in Tiago. Pic taken from official review.



So, I wanted to replace the stock socket with the improved one and also add a socket to the rear of the handbrake so that the it is more convenient for the rear benchers to charge their devices.



Tools required
1. Trim removal plastic pry sticks. Or a flat head screwdriver with tip wrapped in insulation tape.
2. 5mm diameter flexible plastic conduit, about 1.5meters. Available in any electrical shop. Get the smallest dia available.
3. 1sqmm wire in two colors. One for +12V and another for ground. About 1.5 meters of the wire is needed for the power from fuse box to the handbrake area. For ground, 15 cm length of wire . I used green color for +ve and black color for ground wire. Choose whichever you like.
4. Fuse Tap - Mini
5. 10mm T spanner or 1/4 drive socket set.
6. 4mm heat shrink tube
7. Insulation tape.
8. Spade terminal female( Ask for Horn terminal clips in any 2 wheeler spare outlet), 2 nos
9. Ring terminal with 10mm hole
10. Wire stripper.

Ordered 2 nos of the improved socket from Boodmo.
https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-542454200108-50576109/

Now, the Tiago does not come with the wiring in place for the rear socket, unlike Tigor which got the wiring harness for the rear socket. I heard that Tigor's after a certain timeframe did not come with the harness as well. Here is a simple way to check if your Tigor has the harness. Remove the cover below the steering by holding it at the bottom with both hands and pulling outwards. The fuse box is behind the cover. In the fuse box, check if there is a fuse or a powered fuse slot in the slot marked by red circle in below pic. If yes, you need not read further, just pull the available pigtail connector to the rear of the handbrake and install the socket. The pigtail connector is available on the left side of the gear lever and you need do some hard work to pull that harness to the rear socket area



So I had to use a fuse tap and draw the wiring upto the handbrake area from the fuse box. I preferred to draw the wire through the flexible conduit since it will offer protection against pinching and rubbing.

Removing the useless 12V socket on the console(Optional)

Since I wanted to replace the front console socket as well with the better designed one, had to remove the existing socket. Take a nose plier and clamp the socket at 12 'O' Clock position and tug it outwards. Repeat the process by clamping at 3,6,9 'O' Clock position. Will take some effort but the socket will eventually pop out. Since the nose plier is used to clamp down on the edges they will be damaged. Anyway, I was installing a new one. Before removing the connector, tie it with a thread of good length and keep the thread outside. This will be useful when we fit back the trim panels. Because, during the removal of the trim panels, this connector will go behind and is difficult to retrieve from the small hole for the accessory socket .


Preparing the harness for routing

Start by drawing the +ve wire though the conduit. Since the conduit is corrugated, the wire may get stuck and may not go further upon pushing. So, wrap the tip of the wire with an insulation tape and then guide the wire though the conduit. It will go lot smoother. Leave around 10cm of the wire on either end of the conduit for connections. Once there is the required length of wire at either end of the conduit, tape the end of the conduit and the wire. This will ensure that the wire will not go back in when routing. It was a big pain in the back to get the wire out of the conduit once I had routed it.




Strip about 1 cm of insulation on one end and crimp the horn terminal on one end of the wire and cover the crimp with heat shrink tube/insulated tape. Bend the crimped terminal onto the pipe and wrap the crimped terminal to the pipe with insulation tape. This will help when routing the wire from the fuse box to the hand brake area.

For the ground wire, strip and crimp the ring terminal on one end and horn terminal on the other end. Use heat shrink/ insulation tape over the crimped area.


Routing the wire wrapped in conduit from the fuse box to the handbrake area

Now the plastic trim bits have to be removed. Start by pulling out the trapezium shaped bottle holder cover. There is a thin gap round this section. This can be removed by inserting the trim tool on the front or the back and pulling it up. It is pretty tight so will need some patience. Sitting on the rear bench helps with leverage.



Next loosen the AMT gear lever cover using similar method as above. It is lot easier. Loosen and pull it a bit upwards.



Next loosen the HVAC control panel. This can be pulled out by pulling on the gap created between the gear lever cover and the HVAC panel. No need to pull too hard or too outward. Just enough to put your fingers in the gap created.




Insert the end of the conduit ,where the wire(with spade terminal )is bent and taped onto the conduit, from behind the HVAC panel. Once the conduit is visible in the gap of the AMT cover that was lifted earlier pull and route the conduit by pushing it towards the back of the handbrake. Once it reaches the back area of the handbrake pull the entire length of the conduit out leaving out just a small length on the other side, ie, the HVAC panel side.




Next route the other end of the conduit, containing the wire from ,behind the HVAC panel to under the steering column and to the fuse box.




Join the fuse tap to the end and insert the fuse tap into the fuse slot for the front console socket



Use one of the two 10mm bolts present under the removed rear cover to clamp down the ring terminal of the ground wire.



Refix the loosened trim panels. The HVAC panel has three plastic protrusions at the bottom. Ensure that all these three go in before pushing the panel. I broke one of these protrusions because I did not observe it had got bent when I tried to push back this panel in. Could not see the plastic tab blocking the panel from sliding back in since there was poor lighting. Applied too much force and broke it. Be patient and careful. There are few plastic tabs on the either side of the panel. These have to be aligned with their slots before pushing back the panel. This will take some time. Ensure you have sufficient lighting in your work area when doing this part. Removing the panels is easy. Fitting back is bit difficult. Be patient.

If you have removed the old 12v socket then the pigtail connector would have slid back through the hole when you are wrestling with the panels while putting them back. If you have tied them with a thread as described earlier , just pull the thread and the connector will come out of the hole. Plug the connector to a new 12V socket, align the socket in the hole and push it to lock in place.




Fixing the 12V socket at the rear

The 12v slot next to the handbrake is covered as shown in the pic. Using a flat head screwdriver, cut the tabs and remove the plastic piece.



Pull the +12v and ground wire through this slot and attach them to the base of the 12V socket. The 12V pin on the socket is brass colored and in the center while the ground pin is steel colored and towards the side. Use this as a guide to do right connection.



With the wires attached to the base of the new socket, slide the socket in the slot. It will not go in so smooth and has to be tilted at different angles for it to go in. Once into the slot, rotate the socket and align the 12V written at the top whichever way you want. Slowly press the socket and it will lock into the slot.

This is how the connection will look under the cover. Verify that there is no pinching or twisting of the wires.




Put back the trapezium shape cover pressing it back in the slot. Take care that the corrugated pipe carrying the +12v wire from fuse box does not get pinched or crushed when putting the cover back

The end result

[Eddy]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing.

[nathanjdias]

Neatly done. I had a loaner Nexon from TASS for about a month and the placement of the 12V socket was a real sore.

[kunal031]

nicely executed; will surely enhance interior feel due to good quality sockets and also convenience of charging port at rear.
However i would suggest to use/apply some foam tape on corrugated tubes which you routed through console trims. This will avoid rattles on bad roads in future due to fouling with trims inside.
Also green wire (+ve) of rear charging socket is bare, provide some protection to it.

[Ashtoncastelino]

A sweeet DIY , beautifully explained. The 12V socket as well looks good. Might I ask why didn't you opt for the illuminates 12V socket used in the indicas and few other tata cars.

Found this on Boodmo

https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-assy...ricol-6618284/

Regards
Ashton Castelino

[Reinhard]

Clean install & nice informative thread with step-by-step instructions with finer details. Thanks for sharing. Great that you picked the chrome ringed lids. Tata likes to use random parts often, that probably save them nothing, but suddenly downgrade the cabin feel. For example - my 2019 Nexon has this cheap black plastic cover for that 12V socket, like the one you have shown from Tiago official review. At launch - Nexon had the premium looking chrome ringed cover from Hexa etc.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by kunal031

nicely executed; will surely enhance interior feel due to good quality sockets and also convenience of charging port at rear.
However i would suggest to use/apply some foam tape on corrugated tubes which you routed through console trims. This will avoid rattles on bad roads in future due to fouling with trims inside.
Also green wire (+ve) of rear charging socket is bare, provide some protection to it.

The green wire is not bare. Only the last half feet is not covered in the corrugated conduit. This is because of my miscalculation about how much length of the corrugated pipe I needed to retain. It does not pose a problem since there is nothing sharp or rough in that area that will cause issue to the wire. I cannot pull more of the conduit since it is held down in place by the HVAC panel and AMT cover. I would have to remove the trim again to correct it. But yes, I would have preferred to have a bit more of the green wire covered.

The corrugated pipe will not move around. It take a U bend under the console where the carpet is present. So, no issue of rattles from the pipe.

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

Might I ask why didn't you opt for the illuminates 12V socket used in the indicas and few other tata cars.

https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-assy...ricol-6618284/

The above listing is without illumination.

I wanted proper fitting and working socket than any fancy illumination.

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Clean install & nice informative thread with step-by-step instructions with finer details. Thanks for sharing. Great that you picked the chrome ringed lids. Tata likes to use random parts often, that probably save them nothing, but suddenly downgrade the cabin feel. For example - my 2019 Nexon has this cheap black plastic cover for that 12V socket, like the one you have shown from Tiago official review. At launch - Nexon had the premium looking chrome ringed cover from Hexa etc.

More than downgrading the cabin feel, the old 12V socket does not hold any charger properly in place. A small patch of bad roads will cause the charger to move a bit outwards and thereby losing the connection. This is a big problem if you have a dashcam or are charging a phone on low battery.

I compared the chrome ringed socket with the old socket and the way the chrome ringed socket is constructed is much better on the inside. The Clips that hold the charger in place on the inside are wider thereby clamp the charger tight.

[SuhairZain]

This is awesome. I had just sent a mail last week to Tata complaining about the 12V charger on the Tiago. Now I have an excellent suggestion I can give to the service center to fix the issue.

[Ashtoncastelino]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

The above listing is without illumination.

I wanted proper fitting and working socket than any fancy illumination.

Apologies for the incorrect part number. Below is the correct part number of the 12V socket with Illumination.

Part number :- 270254209922

https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-ciga...ricol-6608559/

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by Ashtoncastelino

Apologies for the incorrect part number. Below is the correct part number of the 12V socket with Illumination.

Part number :- 270254209922

https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-ciga...ricol-6608559/

This will not fit in the hole. There is another pin which protrudes out at the side. Also, overall design is bit different

[Pulse500]

Nice clean solution. Well executed. If you plan to install a dashcam, you will need the front charging port. I still wonder, why car makers still offer poor quality sockets when there are better options available.

I had same issue of unusable front 12V power socket in my XUV500.

(a) no charger, branded or unbranded would fit tightly, it would come loose on rough roads. I really feared poor connections would lead to electrical sparks, could oxidize connectors, melt plastics or cause fire.

(b) if I use any good quality charger (e.g. providing atleast 5V/2A), it would protrude out and the fake-wood lid could not be closed. All branded chargers were longer in length. In fact, the only available car fast charger (e.g. 9V Moto) was even longer and too thick to fit in there.

(c) I needed atleast 2 USB charging ports, one to charge mobile (2A), and other to power my dashcam (1A).


Some 5 years back, I ordered a dual USB DC-DC buck converter board from Aliexpress for US$2.2, that would convert 12V DC (8V to 36V rated) and provide 5V 3A (rated) spread over two USB ports. When I tested the board at home, I found that it would heat up if I draw more than 2A. This board used LM2596 chip, switching frequency 150KHz, so I knew it would generate some heat, but would be way lower than 7805 based analog regulators.

Although the heat was bearable and that the chip itself has in-built thermal protection, I did not want the board to trip often, and wanted to ensure I did not draw more than 2.5A. Luckily for me, although the dashcam came with a 1A charger, when I measured the actual current, it ranged between 450ma (steady state) to 600ma (initial startup current, maybe the camera is charging it's internal capacitors / backup battery).

I opened the central console (the segment that covered part of front central armrest, gearshift, upto the 12V socket) to access the front 12V socket and wiring harness. The 12V socket had a small tail with a white 3 pin connector. Could quickly recognize each of the wires (a) +ve (b) ground (c) illumination. I did not want to remove the original socket to leave some ugly hole there, therefore decided to tap into the +/- wires (removing 3-4 mm of insulation without completely cutting the tail i.e. between the 12V cigarette lighter to the white connector of the wiring harness) with a 12 inch piece of electrical wire and insulating the bare T joint) and keep the original lighter socket as it is. At the end of the tap wire, I put a 2.1x5.5 mm DC female plug, which is same as used for CCTV 12V camera power connections. I built a small crude acrylic case for the board, that had a small hole at back for the input 12V wires, and kept the front side open to access the 2USB ports and provide some ventilation and to check manually if the temperature rises badly. It was easy connecting the DC-DC converter with another 2.1x5.5mm male plug and I could get 2 USB charging ports with upto 2.5A safely.

Everything worked as expected. However, I was not happy with the routing of the 5V power cable to the dashcam, which I mounted on the windshield, near the IRVM. The cable was routed properly till the dashboard, however, had to be drawn from the front and would enter the charger's pigeonhole from front, near the gearshift lever. I wanted the cable to be entirely hidden but did not want to open the dashboard and create some new issue (warranty of vehicle had already expired).

A few days later, I found a better board at Aliexpress and immediately ordered it (Quad USB, 5V 8A, OSKJ printed on the rear side, had a female 2.1x5.5 jack plus screw terminals, cost US$2.88, roughly Rs. 210 with applicable exchange rate in Nov 2018).

As soon as received it, I started working towards a case and also thinking about how to route the dashcam cable better through the dashboard, completely hidden. Finally, I found an opportunity. I had taken the car to NBS Sewri for replacing the clock spring (Horn had stopped working). I started chatting with the technician who was fitting the new clock spring. I showed him the old 2 port and new 4 port charger, the dashcam and told him I wanted to route the dashcam power cable completely hidden. He said it is very easy, he just pulled a couple of trims of the central console upto the ICE, inserted the power cable behind the dash from the left side, and before I could realize anything or peep inside (had just attended a call on mobile), the dashcam's power cable was right there where I wanted. He had already pushed the trims in place. He asked me to test. I swapped the female jack on the tapped cable with a male 2.1x5.5 jack, and wow, the new board was working.

On highway drives, I never ran out of mobile battery charge. However, within city, in case I have a discharged mobile after day's work, I had to keep it connected while driving back home. My new Samsung and Moto phones had chargers that could support 9v/13V fast charging, so I started looking for a universal fast charger board. Greedy me.

In late 2019, I found new boards that met the basic criteria, and ordered immediately (single, dual and quad port QC2.0/3.0 chargers). The single port cost me around $1.9 each, dual port US$3.5 and quad port US$5.1. These DC-DC converter boards run at significantly higher switching frequency than previous board and hardly get warm even when fully loaded.

I cut an Aluminium case from some scrap pieces of 2x1 inch Alu rectangular pipe and installed the new dual port board inside it. Used pieces of Alu-plastic-composite panel boards and cut out ports for USB, DC plug and some ventilation. Finally replaced the old low-frequency quad port charger with this dual port universal fast charger. This new board has per-port voltage and current negotiation feature and works perfectly with the dashcam, Oppo, Samsung, Asus, Moto phones, all using different voltages and protocols (supporting QC2.0/3.0/DCP/FCP/AFC/MTK/SFCP etc protocols) for fast charging. I kept the single port board for rear charger. The 4 port board with a 5 inch wide Aluminium pipe case is not being installed yet, as it doesnt fit in the narrow thin place in the XUV.

I wish vehicle makers actually start using such small efficient multi-protocol charging boards (with a case) in their new vehicles as pluggable optional modules.

[parathmaniraja]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Attachment 2204132

Wow what a neet work. This looks like stock. Kudos to you

[Torq]

Thanks so much Mr. Sagar for the instructable.
I swapped the stock car charger with the one you've mentioned. And, even though it's not going to be used 99% of the time, installed the stock one on the rear. While this seemed quite simple to execute, but routing the wiring was cumbersome part. I had to dismantle almost entire centre console part. Worth it for a clean install IMO.

Edit: we appear to have same type of noodle mat. :-)

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

This will not fit in the hole. There is another pin which protrudes out at the side. Also, overall design is bit different

This is in fact the same design as yours and the one that ashton posted earlier. It's just that the illuminator ring is mounted backwards in the picture.


In the second one they have just added a bulb on the white ring for illumination. In the cars that are designed to have them, there is another lead that powers it when the park lights are turned on. That would have been too much headache