Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

Hi Guys

Looking to make a small electrical mod but not being a auto-electrician I’m not 100% sure if it will be ok.

So the issue is that on my 05 reg Streetwise the 12v sockets is ALWAYS live and that’s a pain.

I very rarely used the 12v until I recently got a dash-cam so I now use it to power that

But as the 12v is always live I have to plug it in every time I drive and unplug it every time I park the car or the battery goes flat, not good.

So simple solution, the electric window switches are close by and they are only live when the ign is on.

Great take the live feed from a window switch and power the 12v.

Then I can leave the dash cam plugged in and it will come on and turn off with the ignition, yeah no more flat batteries.

But the thing I’m unsure about is that the live (red wire?) to the electric windows is a way bigger gauge than the one feeding the 12v.

So a few questions.

1. Will the in itself be a problem? Or will an electric window live going to a 12v socket be to much?

2. Assuming that’s ok I was going to splice n solder a link between the electric window switch live to the 12v live but leave the 12v live in place, will that be ok?

3. Or should I remove the very thin 12v always live and replace it with the electric window IGN on live.

It doesn’t seem a big change but i thought I’d get some feedback if possible.

Cheers Bean

As the electric window circuits are partly controlled by the infamous Pektron SCU behind the heater, I would avoid interfering with them in any way!

It would be better to run a wire up to the back of the radio head unit and splice into the switched live for that (light green with a black stripe, I believe). That's assuming you will only be running a small load (dashcam, phone charger etc) from the socket. If you want to run a bigger load, I would suggest introducing a relay into the existing permanent live feed and use the radio switched feed to trigger the relay. You would also need an earth to the relay, but there is plenty of bodywork nearby to connect that to

Hi 220 Gsi

Ah very good point, wouldn't want to mess with anything connected to the Pektron SCU.

The loads should be pretty light as it'll be just the dash cam and very occsionally to charge a phone.

As you say the radio head unit is switched so that should be simple enough and its close by.

Thanks very much for the help, thats exactly why i checked.

Cheers Bean

I have always considered the switched 12v sockets to be an inconvenience (as fitted to the earlier 25s). My regular use for that has always been to plug in my tyre inflator and on many occasions I have cursed before going back indoors to fetch the keys! (although of course the inflator blows up a tyre a lot quicker when the engine is running).

But now I can see a great reason to want it to be switched

blue wire from the back of the radio is for electric aerials and is only live when the radio is on (key position 1).