Get power from Fuse box - Accord 2005

Does anyone know how I can steal power off of the fuse box on a Honda Accord
2005? More specifically, how do I get Behind the fuse panel to add a wire-
and find a place to land a neutral near by.. I can't seem to find how that
panel is attached. My goal is to get my XM radio powered directly from the
fuse box instead of the cigarette lighter. I mounted my XM on the left side
of the steering wheel, because there is really no good place in the center
of the dash on the 2005 model.

 

Every Honda I have ever worked on has had "options connectors" in the
fuse box. This is a collection of spade connectors useful for powering
accessories. On my '94 Civic there are 5:

2 constant power regardless of ignition
1 power when parking lights are on (including when the headlights are
on)
1 power with ignition is "ACC" or "RUN"
1 power with ignition in "RUN"

See http://www.geocities.com/ng_randolph/Civic/options.jpg for a photo
of that fuse box, options connectors circled. Your fuse box will look
different, but chances are the options connectors will look similar. Get
out your voltmeter and check which ones have power when you need it. On
my car, two of the options connectors did not have power, as the car
comes from the factory without the relevant fuses. Those fuses are used
to power the DRL circuit, so Canadians got the fuses, Americans did not.
If you run into this problem, just get a spare 10A fuse and move it
through the empty fuse holders.

 

Don't plug a SkyFi directly into 12v power. It uses 6v, and that
cigarette lighter plug is the transformer.

When I did this with a SkyFi, I ran a Radio Shack cig lighter plug off
of the fuse box and mounted it down low, and plugged the SkyFi into that.

On my 2000 Accord, there was an empty fuse slot that was intended for
the user to plug anything into, from what I could tell from the
documentation. I found a piggyback fuse system with a wire coming off
of it, designed to do exactly what you're looking to do--tap into the
fuse box--but without doing any weird surgery.

 

Thats my plan. I went out to radio shack and got a female lighter assembly
for a few bucks, and I found that piggy back fuse thing at Pep boys. In
theory this is very simple. My really stupid issue now is getting a ground.
I can't seem to find a place close to the fuse box, that I can access, to
tie the ground to. Removing the panel seems like a pain. Those plastic
retainers seem like a one time use deal. Is there a trick anyone knows to
getting off these little white buggers without having to replace them? (Or
does anyone know what they are really called and where I can buy them?) This
is a leased car so I'm avoiding any drilling, breaking, bending, whatever I
can do to not mess anything up. All I need is a ground.

When you used your piggy back fuse, where did you get your ground (-)?

Thanks,
Mike.

 

You can get 12 volts at the battery. Make sure you add an inline fuse.
Since your car is under warrentee, I would stay away from the fuse
boxes.

You can ground anywhere there is metal that is connected to the body.
Look for a black wire grounded to the body, unscrew it and add your
wire. Don't just twist on wires, use crimp-on terminals.

 

Abit late in replying but........

I bought a Roady2 receiver and found a "always hot" lead for the seat
motor. Remember, the seat moves even with the key out! So its always
hot. I simply tapped into that line and ran it under the carpet to the
dask. My Roady2 sits on the lid for the small coin tray.

 

Abit late in replying but........

I bought a Roady2 receiver and found a "always hot" lead for the seat
motor. Remember, the seat moves even with the key out! So its always
hot. I simply tapped into that line and ran it under the carpet to the
dask. My Roady2 sits on the lid for the small coin tray.