Hi Guys,

I have a rear dvd player which my 4 year old users on a regular basis...Yeah I know, I just havn't had the time to upgrade to the headrest players to solve this problem.... Anyways... As you know when you have something plugged into the outlet it only works when the key is in the "on" position... Does anyone know of a way to "hardwire" the outlets so they are constantly available even when the key is not in the ignition... It might not seem like a big deal to anyone, however, My '04 Envoy came standard with the outlets having power all the time and It's quite aggitating that a 40K car doesn't have this feature!
Anyhelp I would appreciate it.

Thanks

 

you can get an adapter that plugs into the cig lighter so you can use it when the car is on, but with the car off, it will kill the battery in less than 30 minutes.

 

Depends on what you're running really.

I never heard of an adapter that you can plug in to make it "constant hot" - but I think I read something about rewiring for this a long time ago around here.

OP - I know what you mean, but it sure is nice that the radar detector automatically shuts off!

In my MDX, the outlet by the tailgate stays hot when ignition is off, a nice feature.

 

30 min is what it takes just by running the radio. As for the aedapter, i meant for when the car is on so you can have a 120 watt outlet. To rewire, you would need to tap the power wire into a constant power wire such as the power seats. what year MDX do you have? 01-06 or 07+?

 

I have '04 MDX, the outlet is in the rear on the left side when you open the hatch. I'm 90% sure it's always on (could be confusing with my sisters Navigator for constant hot, would have to check). On the navigator we've had electric coolers plugged in overnight and no problems starting the next day.

I'd never recommend using the 12v accessory outlets for too long of a period without the car running, as the available usage often depends on the quality and life of battery, etc. Better to be safe than sorry.

I've used the power inverters that you mentioned in the past, they are coming down in price and are great to have. I use it to run my laptop on long trips so my kid can watch DVD's.

 

I know I'm resurrecting an old post, but I just saw this and thought I'd give my 2 cents.
You can buy either a battery charger/compressor like I did with a cig lighter adapter and plug your DVD into it providing constant power without running down your TL battery.

You can put the charger in the trunk and run the wires through the pass-through to cut down on clutter in the back seat.

They also have stand alone external batteries for portable DVD players at places like Target, Walmart.