Car 1 to 5 Power Socket Splitter

Details: Category: Automotive; Published on Saturday, 21 September 2013 08:15; Written by Ben; Hits: 9123

I admit - my car is full of gadgets and they require power don't they? This is why I bought this:

Over time I added a lot of nice nifty gadgets to my car and over time I ran out of power sockets pretty quickly. I didn't buy that 1 to 5 splitter right away though, initially I bought a 1 to 2 splitter , then moved to 1 to 3 which was not enough pretty fast , so I tried connecting the 1 to 2 splitter to the 1 to 3 splitter and not only it wasn't enough , It made the 1 to 2 splitter to get overcharged and melting itself in the process.

After browsing E-bay for some time I found this amazing product which doesn't only does its job well but also looks awesome.

It is made of 3 main parts - the power sockets , a switch unit and the power socket connector.

Except the power socket connector , The main parts have a piano like finish which is black , smooth and shiny. Each part is connected to one another by a long enough wire to place each part in an opposite end of the dashboard. So I had nothing to worry about placing the parts of this splitter , but how to place them.

Basically there are a lot of placing combinations I could pick , so I had to narrow them down to a few by considering comfort, ease of use , safety and aesthetics. Since I had to occupy all of the 5 sockets a lot of wiring would have to be organized as a result + some of the gadget's wires were not long enough to reach the opposite end of the dashboard therefor I had to compromise , and to stick the power splitters in the middle of the dashboard right after the gearbox handle.

Positioning the switchboard:

The most obvious place to put the switchboard was as close as possible to the wheel or the rest of the instruments so I would have an easy approach to them without having to take my sight off the road. In terms of safety it is the best choice - close , in line of sight and reachable without having to get your eyes off the road. I would have placed the switchboard there if it wasn't for one thing - the strong blue LED light above each switch.

It's very very strong. These are not ordinary LED lights like you would see on any other electronic device , these are the kind of LEDs computer case modders or car\bike modders use.

After placing all together and powering up my car , all 5 blue LED lights projected their light directly to my eyes. I tried moving the switchboard a bit but I soon figured that the while the switchboard was in a good position , that fact alone would not prevent me getting blinded during night driving and the risk was too great to be just ignored from.

So eventually I placed the switchboard near the power socket splitter part right above the gearbox handle. That way no matter in which position I sat or looked I wouldn't be blinded. And I have to say it looks pretty awesome , the strong blue light is projected on the car's interior giving It a very cool looks.

Having a switchboard in this product was great idea. Initially I was looking for just a regular 1 to 5 splitter. The switchboard has a lot of advantages . the first is that it gives you a direct control over your car's electrical devices without the hassle of plugging and unplugging them manually, which is not only a hassle but ruins physical contact in time and endangers yourself if you do it during driving.

The products comes with a 3M 2 sided duct tape with a thin la with a thin layer of foam in the middle. I was very disappointed of it. When I tried placing the power splitter unit at the left end of the dashboard beneath it , gravity won the battle over the paste and it soon fell off. The tape is not strong enough to support a power splitter connected to various relatively heavy devices…

It is best , when using the 2 sided tape , to place the power splitter with its mass on top and not on bottom. But if I would have insisted I would have used a wax glue, but then again , the position of the power splitter (left end of the dashboard) wasn't good so extreme solutions like wax glue were quickly ruled out.

Finally after poisoning all 3 parts I now headed for the goal of concealing the wires, which was a pretty easy task considering the length of the wires.

Pros:

1. Long wires between parts therefor flexible when it comes to positioning

2. It has a switchboard with 5 strong blue LED lights which give it great looks and direct and fast control over the connected devices

3. Nice smooth , shiny black finish

4. Makes 5 power sockets out of 1

Cons:

1. The strong blue LED lights are capable of blinding a driver when driving during night time

2. The provided 3M 2 sided paste tape is a poor quality one

Price:

About 20$ on E-bay.