I bought a 2001 Lincoln Town Car yesterday from an old lady for $2200. It only has 69,000 miles on it. It's in mint condition. My mechanic checked it out and approved it. He said if I didn't buy it to let him know and he'd buy it and give me a $100 finder fee. I bought it.

That said...

In the back passenger doors are ash trays. A thought crossed my mind to remove the ash trays and replace them with USB ports. There is wiring in the doors for power locks and lights so. I just don't know if it would be compatible with powering a USB port. The ash trays never looked like they had ever been used. My kids had never seen ash trays like that and didn't know what they were except little coin holders.



I eventually plan to give this car to one of my kids when they start driving. In the mean time its styling a cassette player too so I can listen to Fleetwood Mac and Gordon Lightfoot tapes. All I need now is some old man checkered pants like Rodney Dangerfield had.

It is possible but the voltage might not be enough.

Buy yourself a decent digital multimeter, learn how to use it (Youtube- not very difficult) then test the voltage coming from those wires.

I think they will probably be too low voltage to power USB ports, but if you run new wires from a different part of the DC supply you will be able to do it just fine. Make sure you wire it so that the ports can't be used while the car is turned off, a few iphones being charged at the same time will be enough to make your car unstartable without a boost after a fairly short period of time.

Not a very difficult project, but make sure you put the right gauge of wire in, and make sure everything is grounded properly. Bad wiring could short, causing your battery to drain to below starting capacity at best, or fires or smoke at worst.

Very much this, I kept getting a flat battery in the morning because I had left my iPod Classic docked to the car overnight and my Range Rover has a 110A/h battery, it took a few instances before I twigged to what was happening. There is a big current draw with all the security systems etc. that are active when the car is switched off and you have not put it in to the access height.

Hmm... I had thought tapping into power windows wiring but thinking this might be more than I originally thought it would involve. When I have the car service next time I'll ask them how much they would charge for something like that. It's a nice car but only one power port in the front. I don't want to hand off to one of my kids a potential problem. Especially one that might leave them stranded.

It's not a very big project, but you'll need to learn a little about electronics. You can probably buy a module which will only provide power when the engine is turned on. The wiring you can run yourself, again not difficult but a bit finicky to get it running through the right holes inside the door panels.

But it's not a plug and play project, it'll require a few hours to install everything, plus the time you have to spend learning about electronics. If you don't mind spending a bit of money a shop will probably charge you $100-$300 for this. If you do it yourself you can probably do it all for under $10 if you can borrow a digital multimeter from somebody.

It has been a very long time since I played with such a thing but, if memory serves, a lighter circuit typically is running on the full 12 volts as well as far more current than USB requires (5v @ 2A). The problem is that the voltage has no regulation and is prone to fluctuations that are not a concern for the original purpose but can cause issues with USB applications.

Keep in mind he's looking at replacing the ashtrays which I assume to mean the light bulbs that light up the ashtrays. Those are probably less than 1V each and won't be enough, a typical iphone is going to need 5v at at least 0.5amps, and an ipad 5.1v at 2.1amps. Charging an ipad will kill your battery in a hurry if the engine's off and the circuit is connected directly to the battery. If it's connected to some other system that only comes on once the engine is on and the battery is being fed by the alternator, you're golden.

Assumptions are the mother of all screw-ups. I was assuming there was a cig lighter in the ash tray. If there isn't then you are correct and it is a whole different problem.

I reviewed removing the door panel off the 2001 Town Car and it looks a lot easier than taking one off a 1995 F-150 to replace a busted speaker.

Remove/Replace Rear Door panel Lincoln Town Car Cracked me up when the plastic frog fell out in the video. I bet "NotMe" dropped it in there. Youtube can be AWFUL but it has a lot of great videos on how to do things too.

The parts I think I need aren't expensive but connecting it to the right wires is what makes me pause. Getting something like this done and a good back-up camera installed with a large screen would make me comfortable handing it off to one of my kids. Its got good safety ratings. Sucks on gas but you can't have everything.

The lighter is in the front. The ash trays are in the back doors. I don't want a plate of spaghetti running all over the car leading from the lighter like my wife has going on in her 2014 Honda Odyssey. Even that thing doesn't have enough power ports for my family.

There are no lighters in the back ashtrays. Here is a pic of what the ash trays in the back look like other than mine are wood grain. I was kind of wondering how someone was going to light up back there with no lighter. I hate to drop that thing passing it to someone in the back.

If the window motor circuit has enough "juice" to run a USB port that would be ideal as every car with power windows I have had any dealings with in the last 30+ years that circuit goes off with the key.

I think you’re confusing watts or amps with volts. There are only 2 voltages in a modern, internal combustion engine car - 12VDC and 5VDC. The ECM and related circuits will be 5VDC, as will any CAN bus systems. Everything else will be 12VDC.

Interesting point. I will actually try to test that tomorrow, just by chance I have the door panels off on my BMW to repair faulty window motors in the rear doors.

Where is the voltage regulated?

Fairly familiar with electronics after I got my Amateur Extra Ham Radio license, but definitely not an expert with modern car voltages!

If anyone needs the formula:
Voltage * Amps = Wattage
Wattage / Amps = Voltage

iphones will charge slowly on insufficient power but ipads won't, they won't lose charge but they won't charge properly either.

If tapping into the line for the windows, you may damage the motor if using it while charging. Just a thought, I know that's what my luck would be.

Could I suggest something else?
https://www.amazon.com/14000mAh-12-Volt-Portable-Emergency-Flashlight/dp/B072BLJF49?th=1
Get a portable battery to keep in your glove box or under the seat. It can jump off the car as well as safely charge several USB devices, plus a flashlight and a compass in the stock.

Might be the easier way to go and you don't risk the wiring on a nice low mileage car.
Good peace of mind for when your kids drive the car too, much safer than jumper cables. Just keep it charged every few months.
I gave my son, niece and parents each one of these.

I carry a small 20000mHa 72Wh rechargeable battery with a couple USB outputs and 1 for Ipad. Its lasts forever. Had it since
Christmas and only recharged it a couple times. Came in handy when we went to MOA and needed our phones charged.
I picked up chrome metalclad battery in clearance at Menards for $9.89. Can`t go wrong on the price. Its about the same
size as my phone with its case on, only little thicker. Hardest part is remembering to take it along and the cables.

The easiest option would be as mentioned, look at how the window switches are wired. If the switch is truly just a switch that connects the motor to current or ground when activated, you can simply tap off that pair of wires to power your USB port. There's a few issues I'd want to check as far as what happens when you activate your windows does the voltage spike, drop, etc, just to make sure you don't fry anything. If the switch instead just sends a control signal to the window motor, then tap off the power line coming to the motor. Again test and verify what the voltage and current does when the windows are activated.

Fun project!

-Jenrick

I actually just bought a pair of these last week and want to get a couple more to have in all four vehicles. I thought they would make good Christmas gifts as well. I always struggle trying to come up with meaningful gifts for my parents. They are better off than most and usually just buy anything they need. I don't think they have these.

Many don’t know those are out there, and might not pay attention to getting large enough for the engine. That said, I still have to get myself one. LOL

I have a '97 Seville, the cigarette lighter shuts off within a few moments of turning off the key. I have one of those lighter usb port things and it is a direct connection thru the adapter afaik.

the wiring to the doors is notorious for breaking as it flexes every time the door is opened or closed

town car has 12vdc already in the console for cigar lighter, might be easier to just run that back through the console and put a charge port in the center