Moving The USB Port

[Jedi767]

Just picked up my CT200 today from Lexus of Westminster. Traded my 08 Highlander Hybrid (which I deeply loved) for it.

Right off the bat the most annoying thing to me is the way the USB is set up. I believe its geared more towards those who use their actual iPhone's for music in the car.. I've always had a 160gb iPod classic for music which I've always left in car gloveboxes, out of sight and out of the way.

This week it is my personal mission to to move the USB into either the center console or the glove compartment. If I am able to find someone who can somehow splice it and keep the top USB port hot for power purposes that would be great, but theres just no way I'm leaving an entire iPod cable / iPod holder / iPod / compartment to plug into / right there in the middle of my center console while driving..

Questions, concerns, comments, are always welcome . Thanks guys.

[audi4t]

Just picked up my CT200 today from Lexus of Westminster. Traded my 08 Highlander Hybrid (which I deeply loved) for it.

Right off the bat the most annoying thing to me is the way the USB is set up. I believe its geared more towards those who use their actual iPhone's for music in the car.. I've always had a 160gb iPod classic for music which I've always left in car gloveboxes, out of sight and out of the way.

This week it is my personal mission to to move the USB into either the center console or the glove compartment. If I am able to find someone who can somehow splice it and keep the top USB port hot for power purposes that would be great, but theres just no way I'm leaving an entire iPod cable / iPod holder / iPod / compartment to plug into / right there in the middle of my center console while driving..

Questions, concerns, comments, are always welcome . Thanks guys.

someone moved the usb into the center armrest storage area and wrote it up back in March or April.

Try a Forum search.

[maxa]

To remove it you follow these steps, but note that everything is hold by clips. I have managed to disassemble this part 2 times without snapping any, but take it easy, it may happen!

1. Lift the leather side-parts upwards


2. Open the armrest compartment and lift in the rear part of the console


3. Lift in the front of the console


4. Turn the whole thing over


5. Remove the contact and then the usb-socket


6. You will now have the whole USB-part out, I do not know how you should re route the cables and make this work the best way. Perhaps you can put it in the armrest-compartment?


7. This is how the contact look. It do not fit a normal USB-extender, so you will have to extend it in some other way :/


Good luck!

[coubs]

I have a first gen iTouch (no Bluetooth) and I bought a Rocketfish Bluetooth transmitter from Best Buy for 25$, you just plug it into your iPod and can use it to pair to any Bluetooth device. You could do that and have your iPod anywhere you like - although it won't be charging like the USB attachment of course.

[Jedi767]

Thanks maxa for that info!

I will definitely pull it apart and see what I can do with it later today or tomorrow. I'm hoping there's some way to keep a USB plug in that spot that's still hot for charging purposes..That's such valuable real estate I'd hate to have a non-working plug there.

[dgstan]

I was the guy who rerouted the plug to go into the console.

I left the jack where it was and simple ran a wire into the console. I took a standard Apple cord and broke the plastic off around the USB plug so it would bend over enough to allow the little cover to close.

I then disassembled the center stuff similar to the way it's shown upthread (although certainly not as much as all that - I got to about photo #3) and ran the cable out of sight toward the console. From there, I drilled a small hole in the front of the cubby hole. I did have to cut the cable and splice it back together. Once everything snaps back, it's invisible.

This allows the car to remain stock and give me full access to the USB port for the times I do want to plug something there, like when I have a passenger or want to use a USB stick. When it's unplugged, the cable's jack is small enough to just sit off to the side and the door still closes.

[maxa]

Thanks maxa for that info!

I will definitely pull it apart and see what I can do with it later today or tomorrow. I'm hoping there's some way to keep a USB plug in that spot that's still hot for charging purposes..That's such valuable real estate I'd hate to have a non-working plug there.

Your welcome

About the charging function you can simply tap in on the outer pins. Those two pins are all needed for charging (perhaps you need to short circuit the data-pins to get full charging current on some phones!? I know that HTC have it like that but not sure how other brands react on it. HTC charge with 0.5A if the data pins arnt connected and 1A if they are short circuit).

So, to keep the charging function is no problem, but to share the datapins on more than one socket would be a problem.

Connect pin 1 and 4 on both sockets but remove the wires from pin 2 and 3 on the socket you wont use any data connection from.



EDIT: I did check and you should short circuit the data pins on the charging-only socket! The device will then not attempt to transmit or receive data, but can draw up to 1.8A instead of the normal maximum of 0.5A.

Sorry for the bad shematics, but something like this should work fine:

[Jedi767]

Wow thanks for all the info! Tomorrow I am meeting with my car electronics guy to do this. We're going to route the USB for ipod connection into the glovebox (where it should have always been) and use this USB port for charging only when necessary. Giving a much cleaner and less cluttered look to the cabin.

[jimmyc13]

My blackberry does not charge using the USB cable/charger and connecting to this USB port. It only works for me for playing music off of the USB drive. Does it charge only ipods?

[Jedi767]

My blackberry does not charge using the USB cable/charger and connecting to this USB port. It only works for me for playing music off of the USB drive. Does it charge only ipods?

Charges iDevices as well as some other USB phones I believe.