Under the ashtray on my Octy is a loose wire that has had its end wrapped in Cloth tape. I believe that normal european octys had the cigarette lighter mounted at the front and a smaller ash tray.

considering the cost and complexity of the wiring harness, is this cable the cable that would have powered the non exisitant lighter socket?

Is there any reason why soldering a lighter socket on wouldn't work? is there any issue of polarity to worry about, bearing in mind i might use this for the sat nav.

check the cable, that should be +12v regardless of if the ignition is on or off....

ALso confirm which fuse it is on, but pulling out the normal fuse associated with that circuit (not sure which is if off the top of my head)

I'd be interested to know how you get on with this - I need to sort out a cigarette lighter socket up front.

Any news on this one? I'd be interested to know too, I'd like to fit a ciggy lighter socket up front so I don't have to keep running the power cable for the Sat-Nav over the handbrake and gearstick

haven't had a chance to do anything about it yet,

Any news on this one? I'd be interested to know too, I'd like to fit a ciggy lighter socket up front so I don't have to keep running the power cable for the Sat-Nav over the handbrake and gearstick

If you have an aftermarket headunit there will probably be a spare 12v out on it which would save you faffing with the main loom. Halfords sell the bits you need for a couple of quid and is basically a pair of long wires and a dummy socket for your sat nav. The other option would be getting that and soldering the wires onto the back of the existing lighter and running the new socket to one of the gaps behind the centre console. That means that you can fit the sat nav cable down between the dash and door seal, over the top of the pedal box and then into the dummy socket which is now sitting behind the console. Nice and neat!

Could take the wires from the existing socket but will probably more likely take a 12v feed from either the petrol cap switch / heated rear window switch etc. as I want the 2nd cigarette lighter socket to sit in the cubby hole under the stereo, as my Sat-Nav pokes out from there (I don't have it stuck to the windscreen like most people!), I've still got the standard stereo h/u as well :(

In that case it should be easy enough to pop out the cubby hole and drill the correct sized hole at the back of it for the spare socket to sit or even plug the sat nav cable in to the socket and leave that all out the way behind the centre concole so that only the sat nav connector is showing. Use the existing socket to get the feed from and run the cables between the console and the carpet and up into the back of the main centre.

In that case it should be easy enough to pop out the cubby hole and drill the correct sized hole at the back of it for the spare socket to sit or even plug the sat nav cable in to the socket and leave that all out the way behind the centre concole so that only the sat nav connector is showing. Use the existing socket to get the feed from and run the cables between the console and the carpet and up into the back of the main centre.

That's what I did a couple of weekends ago, I used a switched live from the back of the stereo. Works really well - I no longer unplug my phone when changing gear!!!

You would have notice the distinct lack of space behind the console then! I think I skinned all my knuckles trying to fit the Alpine head unit in.