Hello All,
Does anybody know if there is a way to make the cigarette lighter outlet or the auxiliary outlet in the rear active when the car is turned off. I want to charge my cell phone when the car is parked.

Thanks

 

Why would you do this? It should charge while the car is running, then unclip it. One night you'll forget, leave it there all night, or worse on a long trip away, and drain the vehicle battery.

 

You'd have to leave a cell phone charging for a long time before it drained a car battery.

 

I would like to see if this can be done as well. BMWs, Porsche and Mercedes have this feature. I can plug in a slow float charger in the cig lighter when the car is not in use which is good.

 

I also would like it to work this way. That's how it worked on my M3. When I turned the car off, I would power down my Garmin that was plugged into the lighter and it would charge.

 

Unfortunately this can not be easily done. The control of this is in the Junction Box electronics and that is basically a computer that is located in the Fuse Block in the passenger foot well.

You could run a new wire from a fuse (using a add a fuse) that is live all the time to one of the cigarette lighter sockets but there is also a problem with that. There is a computer that keeps track of the current draw on all systems in the car when it see something that it should not see it will shut down the circuit. So effectively if you use another fuse that is on all the time and the system sees a draw on that circuit that should not be there it will shut down the circuit and not charge the phone.

That time frame would be about 4 days straight. I had this happen on of my other cars while on vacation.

 

I figured it was software driven...

 

I've been looking for an Add-A-Circuit that will handle 20 amps, but they all seem to be limited to 10 amps. Know where I could find a 20 amp version?

So, if you connect to an unused fuse location such as F7 (don't have a sunroof), the computer will shut it down? This is a strategy that has been recommended in the NAV and audio forum for connecting subs like the Bass600. Bummer if it doesn't work.

 

Anyone know what the amp hour rating for the MINI battery is? Seems like a rather small battery to me.

 

As we already know there is a timing circuit that turns many things like the radio off after 15-30 minutes. After that period of time there is another timing circuit that will shut done excessive draw on non switched circuits but the MINI wiring diagrams give no indication of what that time frame is and it indicates that it is based on the amount of current draw.

BTW this same circuit monitors the car during the run state and will shut down different circuits as the draw gets close to the output of the alternator to prevent damage to the alternator.

Edit: also the F7 is a 30G circuit which is a switched circuit, and turns off after 15 -30 minutes in my experience (wiring diagrams say 30-60 minutes)

 

run a fused line straight off the battery (can use the post that is the main feed into the fuse panel) ... bypass all the car's electronics. rewire an existing 'lighter socket' or just add a new hot one in the glove box or anywhere else you'd like

essentially the same way you'd add a relay controlled accessory like driving lites....drawing the main juice straight from the battery.

just be sure you use a fuse in the line.....you could make it as many amps are your wire will support. you might drain the battery and might burn something up if you forget ... but it'll work.

 

To get past the computer that detects the final last draw off the battery you would also have to run a negative wire to the battery as there is a current and voltage sensor in the negative battery cable that connects to the main computer.

This then also causes any other item grounded by the added negative wire for the added cigarette lighter to by pass the negative battery cable sensors which may cause problems with other circuits. You would have to make sure that the negative side of any cigarette lighter that is wired this way is NOT grounded to the body of car in any way.

 

well I don't have a GEN2 wiring diagram and my experience is limited to wiring tasks on the GEN1 and classics so I can neither confirm or deny the existance of a flow meter on the battery ground cable.

but if as you say, one should run two wires to add a decidated ground to the battery as well as my suggested hot I'd estimate that would add on the order of 90 seconds to the time required to complete the task and less than 10 cents in wire cost ....

 

on the Gen 2 cars there is what is called the IBS (intelligent battery sensor).

The MINI wiring diagrams explain it this way.

The BIS is a mechatronic, Intelligent battery sensor with its own microprocessor. The microprocessor is a component of the electronic module. The electronic module records the voltage, the current flowing and the temperature of the battery.

The following components are fitted in the electronic module:
1. shunt resistor
2. temperature sensor
3. electronic evaluation unit on a board

The IBS continuously measures the following values on the battery
1. terminal voltage
2. charge current
3. discharge current
4. temperature of the battery

For data transmission the IBS is connected tot he DME (digital engine electronics via the BSD (sit serial data interface)

There are also warnings against doing certain things.

Do not connect any additional connections to the negative terminal of the battery

Do not modify the ground cable. the groudn cable caries off heat.

Do not set up a connection between the IBS and the sensor screw.

Do not use the connections of the IBS as levers.

Do not slacken or tighten the sensor screw.

Avoid contact between the IBS and Ground.

Also of note is that when the battery is replaced.

On replacing the battery, use the battery size (capacity) fitted as series standard. The battery size required for the vehicle is coded in the Car Access System and in the engine electronics (DME/DDE).

1. If a battery with a different capacity is fitted, recode the CAS. Run retrofit "Battery" with Program.

2. Delete fault decode memory entries with reference to the replacing the battery in the engine control module.