How do I get accessory jack power with car off?

[MrG]

New to NICO...

Just took delivery of 2013 G37xS. Unlike last few vehicles owned, there does not appear to be power to the accessory/lighter jacks unless car is on or running.

IF this is the case, is there a way to reset the computer, etc., to have these jacks powered all the time?

Thanks in advance.

[Fezzik]

Not that I know of. It's always powered on when the car is put into acc or on. What are you trying to run that needs power with the car off and not in acc mode?

[MrG]

Since this and previously owned vehicles like a 5-series Bimmer get fairly low usage, have gotten into habit of hooking up a BatteryMinder to preserve battery life. Being able to do this thru accessory jack makes it easy for wife to hook up cable with a lighter plug. (On another vehicle, I have an umbilical directly connected to battery terminals to which I connect the Minder but this requires popping the hood...which is fine with me but not something my wife is going to do.)

Just looking for simple way to make this connection without major surgery, etc.

[joe603]

I thought the jack in the center console/armrest is always on??

[MrG]

That would be great, Joe. Will recheck but do not think so...at least not on 2013.

Service Manager at dealership said neither one is "live" without being in accessory mode or ignition on.

Backup plan will be to investigate hooking umbilical to battery terminals but this will preclude my wife being interested in making connection for Minder.

[DAAN.]

09 37 sedan
none of the jacks in mine are Live

thought the jack in the center console/armrest is always on??

[MrG]

Thanks for confirmation, DAAN. Guess its the "pigtail to battery terminals" option!

[telcoman]

09 37 sedan
none of the jacks in mine are Live

thought the jack in the center console/armrest is always on??

None of my jacks are live with the ignition off including the one in the center console

Telcoman

[kmckis1029]

if you not afraid to splice some wires you can achieve this by "jumping" the "always on" battery wire onto the ACC power wire. actually it wouldnt take any splicing, just need a piece of wire and two wire taps. you can look in the FSM for your car to find out which wires are hot/ignition wire and wire are ACC wires.

i have been debating to do this mod my self, just havent got around to it... should be able access to the two wires by the fuse box on passenger side, just got to confirm which color is hot/ignition and which is ACC.

[kmckis1029]

took a quick look at the FSM for your car... while you can just jump the ignition power to the ACC power of one of your outlets for "always on" power of your outlet. Looks like infiniti did a good job of isolating the Acc and ignition power behind relays. my worry is when you attempt plug in your battery minder to charge the battery would it maybe mess something up, since inorder to achieve "always on" power on the G you have to bypass purpose put relays. if you just bypassing the relay to power a cell phone that shouldnt hurt nothing, but to charge the battery is another thing... so id be cautious...

an alternative is to wire a 12v plug directly to battery and run it into your car, so your wife dosnt have to lift the hood up to plug in the batteryminder. the firewall boot is right by the battery and it runs behind the glove compartment on the passenger side.

id have to look into this further, as my over caution with "jumping" the ignition relay to a power socket could not be warranted.

[MrG]

took a quick look at the FSM for your car... while you can just jump the ignition power to the ACC power of one of your outlets for "always on" power of your outlet. Looks like infiniti did a good job of isolating the Acc and ignition power behind relays. my worry is when you attempt plug in your battery minder to charge the battery would it maybe mess something up, since inorder to achieve "always on" power on the G you have to bypass purpose put relays. if you just bypassing the relay to power a cell phone that shouldnt hurt nothing, but to charge the battery is another thing... so id be cautious...

an alternative is to wire a 12v plug directly to battery and run it into your car, so your wife dosnt have to lift the hood up to plug in the batteryminder. the firewall boot is right by the battery and it runs behind the glove compartment on the passenger side.

id have to look into this further, as my over caution with "jumping" the ignition relay to a power socket could not be warranted.

Thanks for checking further. Rather than get "heavy technical", opted to install the pigtail with lugs that came with the battery minder. Split the lugs to go over the bolts on the two battery clamps, loosened nuts and retightened. Voila! Need to open hood to connect minder cable but works fine. S.O. would probably balk at opening hood to connect/disconnect but I have been doing it when G is in garage for reasonable stay.

Thanks to all for your input!

[kmckis1029]

further thought...

i suspect you can run a wire directly from the battery positive to the +(hot) terminal on any 12v power connectors in the car and get "always on" power to all the outlets. This way you just completly avoid the relays and fuses, so you would need to add an inline fuse to the wire. This will probably be my method of choice when i get around to do this mod. Thanks for the motivation to look this up again lol.

[audtatious]

In both my '08 and '07 both sockets are hot if you push the ignition button twice.

[MrG]

In both my '08 and '07 both sockets are hot if you push the ignition button twice.

Interesting! I am inferring that you mean twice QUICKLY so that engine is not started?

Wonder what ramifications doing this would have with extended hook up to BatteryMinder, etc.?

[audtatious]

Yes, pushing the button twice should turn on the sockets without needing the car on. If you have a automatic then you can push the button as many times as you want and the car won't start as long as you are not pressing the brakes.

There is no negative ramifications at having the car in ACC mode and using the sockets unless you drain the battery.