Hi All - A know nothing noob here. I have an 87 IROC with overhead console and a cig lighter that is warped/bent and will not hold the traditional phone charger. I do need a way to keep my phone charged, so I'm asking for ideas that range from something simple to outside the box. (Besides replacing the lighter socket)
Please keep in mind that I have the engineering aptitude of Jeremy Clarkson. (hammer for everything)
The location of the cig lighter is not ideal for something plugged in all the time, so I was wondering about different ideas/locations such as the ashtray, etc.. Basically just need a USB port (or two) in a convenient spot, that still looks fairly clean.
I've seen a few pics of different power/USB setups, but the pics all seem to be from 8-10 years ago, and tech has changed so much I figure there must be some slick setups out there now that I haven't seen.

 

Not gonna' help you much since you've got a 'regular' Camaro,...... but here's what I did: Made it easy to play music, charge my phones and connect GPS without using my factory lighter socket.

 

Ok wow, I've never seen anything like that unit - is that stock for Berlinettas? I'm guessing it is since it says Delco...? So you've got a separate socket, usb, and aux jack installed - I'm trying to place that in relation to everything else. You don't happen to have a wider shot handy do you?
And how did you get that usb and Aux in a tab like that? And how did you run the Aux to be grafted into the stock audio system?

Aside from all the questions, I like this kind of setup - versatile and apparently out of the way.

 

Yeah that's a pretty sweet piece John has there.

I put one under the passenger footwell heater port on the right side of the center console. I'll take a pic later. You cannot just tap the existing cig lighter as it is powered all the time. If you use anything that requires accessory trigger (on/off) you will need to put a relay in there, which is what I did.

 

I've got a "hidden" 12 volt port in my console,... it's got a lighter socket USB installed in it and a USB-to-Micro USB cable connecting it to the back of the Switch. The AUX is an aftermarket 5-channel installed into the GM USB/AUX. The 2013 Sonic Switch Assembly originally had a 3-channel AUX jack - not compatible with the Stereo Mods - so it had to be replaced. The USB part of the Switch Assembly remained as is ( USB in front and micro USB in back. ) Mounting the 12 volt port in that location was VERY difficult due to the console assembly process,... PITA but I got it to work. As for the Stereo; it's factory original for the 86 Berlinetta and the AUX mod is a trick I figured out a couple years back.

Several of the new ( 2010+) GM's have a USB /AUX set-up similar to the one shown. I pulled a different one from a 2013 Malibu and almost used that because it had a cover, but it was a little larger. I used the smaller Sonic USB/AUX instead because I was able to use the original Cruise Control button hole already in place on the console trim panel. If I had to make a custom hole for it,.... I might have used the Malibu USB/AUX Switch.

Sorry - not to many other pics; but there's a quick video: ( Dark - but it's all I've got right now. ) http://berlinetta.info/NOSTest.mov I'm gonna' get a few better pics once I can get my car out of my garage,.... I'm waiting for 1 last NOS (hatch) button to get delivered so I can finish re-installing the console.

Here's a pic of the Malibu version:

 

Steve,.... I still had 2 of the fuse-box taps available for the "switched" Power source. Just soldered a fuse-box plug on the custom harness and grounded it,... done. There's very little on that circuit so I'm not worried about exceeding the load on the fuse box tap. Another option is to tap into the PINK side of the power junction block in the 82-89 cars; most cars still have a few open ports there.