Adding cigaret lighter socket to leisure battery?

[Luis Zuidema]

Morning,
My first post here and so firstly - hello.

I would like to add a cigarette lighter socket to the leisure battery in my T6 beach. This is inorder to power a small fridge that is to sit between the seats and.to keep the the dash socket free.

I imagine that this should be pretty easy but as I have no experience thought it best to ask first here. Any advice / instruction gratefully received.

Thanking in advance , Lucho

 

[MattBW]

Hi Luis! Welcome to the forum. I have done just that using a CTEK 12v socket. I had to remove the passenger seat to access the battery (or you can just loosen the front bolts and take off the rear ones and tilt the seat.

I disconnected engine battery before I started (to avoid airbag light errors) and wires it straight to the battery with a fuse inline of the cable. There is a good thread called Hard wire the fridge. The fridge works much better off a short fused cable than the sockets already in the cali.

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/thread...e-to-leisure-battery.17642/page-5#post-310786

 

[Luis Zuidema]

Hey Matt, thanks for that quick response. I had thought that your solution would be the quickest / easiest route. I hadn't considered disconnecting the engine battery first though, good tip! I take it that this is simply a question of opening the bonnet and physically removing the leads? Which fuse did you use? 15amp?

VW electrics scare me and I'm precious of my pride and joy

 

[MattBW]

Sometimes the air bag light can come on if the wire gets pulled when moving the seat and then you need a dealer or a device to reset it so its a good way to avoid that error.

I just remove the negative terminal and then ensure it cannot touch any metal work to cause a short whilst I work on the leisure battery.

I believe mine has a 15amp fuse, yes, although my fridge uses much less power the initial drawer can be quite high.

 

[Loz]

I have done the same for our freezer, fused at 15a but in my case (Ocean) the negative has to go to chassis not directly to the battery so as not to upset the battery monitor.
There is space to mount it through the seat base on the inside at the negative end if the battery.

 

[MattBW]

I have done the same, fused at 15a but in my case (Ocean) the negative has to go to chassis not directly to the battery so as not to upset the battery monitor.
There is space to mount it through the seat base on the inside at the negative end if the battery.

I hadn't thought of that @Loz , I have a NASA BM-1 installed, could it be confused by this kind of connection?

 

[Loz]

Yes all current flow from the battery needs to be accounted for.

Here is my socket and fuse.

 

[Loz]

Here is a better photo

 

[MattBW]

I do have a proper earth shunt on mine, but I must admit I'm asking myself if I did it correctly now. I am pretty sure I would have got advice from here first