My first "mod" -- Cupholder Mounted Wireless Charger with MagSafe for Apple iPhone

[JonnieB]

I ordered an actual 2mm piece of real carbon fibre, cut it to 95mm dia, drilled a central hole and installed a magsafe charger from Amazon. looks and works amazing. v happy with the result.

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[CrazyINP]

I ordered an actual 2mm piece of real carbon fibre, cut it to 95mm dia, drilled a central hole and installed a magsafe charger from Amazon. looks and works amazing. v happy with the result.

Are you willing to make an extra carbon fiber? I will pay for it shipped to US

 

[whitex]

Are you willing to make an extra carbon fiber? I will pay for it shipped to US

There are shops in the US which will do it for you. I haven't used these guys in a while, but they have a bunch of locations in CA (your stated profile location).
https://www.tapplastics.com/
Might be worth a call, this is a very simple cutout (essentially 2 circles - you're asking for a ring of specific sizes, don't tell them what it's for so they don't add a Porsche tax ). There are other local shops I'm sure which can do it too.

 

[CrazyINP]

There are shops in the US which will do it for you. I haven't used these guys in a while, but they have a bunch of locations in CA (your stated profile location).
https://www.tapplastics.com/
Might be worth a call, this is a very simple cutout (essentially 2 circles - you're asking for a ring of specific sizes, don't tell them what it's for so they don't add a Porsche tax ). There are other local shops I'm sure which can do it too.

Do you have simple sketch or drawing for the size of it? and internal cut?

 

[JonnieB]

Are you willing to make an extra carbon fiber? I will pay for it shipped to US

Hi,
I have enough spare for another cut so yes can cut one out. Can you cut the center hole for whatever charger you want to install?
Dont worry about the cost. PM your address
When you remove the cupholders, you will see torx screws holding the bottom cup to the upper part. When you put the CF disc in between you wil need longer screws, doesnt have to be torx.

 

[800v]

I like it, a lot. Probably the most elegant solution I've seen so far. BUT that's a lot of work, and I, too, feel like I'd break something.

I was worried about the install as well... but it turns out there is a little cutout and you can just route the wire directly. not as elegant as one can see a bit of wire but I think it looks great and no risk of messing things up Moreover, I can now easily remove it in case I want to use the cupholder.

Also, for my Samsung Galaxy S23 I needed to use the supplied cigarette lighter plug as the direct usb-c outlet didn't supply enough power (andcharging would turn on and off repeatedly)

 

[800v]

Continuing on the previous post above, I went ahead and did the ultimate install with a usb-c port inside the front cupholder:

With that you can easily install or remove the nine-volt magsafe and still use your cupholder if you want:

Now, I do not recommend doing this mod -- you could easily damage the leather or scratch things etc. And only do this if you are somewhat comfortable with drilling holes in your cupholder

To do this, first watch the excellent nine-volt installation video (stealth install, about 3.27min in) -- this shows how to remove the two cupholders. Pheeew, those clips are strong! It was scary to remove it but in retrospect just easy going and wiggling does the job.

Once both parts are off, you need to remove the two wires in the front cup holder. To do this, you need to push a tiny notch with a screwdriver, and pull down at the same time and each wire slides out easily -- see the yellow arrow where to push on the notch:

This is how the empty cupholders look from above:

The yellow circle is where the front cup holder goes, and the square is where we are going to put the USB-C outlet -- it will stick out in the hollow area underneath the steel bar.

For the above usb-c outlet, you need to drill a 22mm hole (I used a 7/8" drill) with the center 1" under the (slightly extended) lid of the front cup,
see the yellow dot below (the silver lines are from me measuring so you don't have to )

Actually, I would maybe do it 1/8" lower (so 1 1/8" from the lid) as in my install it is close to the top of the steel bar. Make sure the cupholder is steady when drilling the hole and avoid scratching anything on top. I drilled very slowly through the hard plastic with a sharp wood drill.

(If you mess this up you may be able to order a fresh front cupholder from Porsche).

When installing, you can slide the usb-c outlet under the steel bar:

You need to get a thin 90 degree angled usb-c cable of 1.5 feet (~45cm). I guided the cable through the rear cupholder crossing just before the clip underneath the cover:

Test if everything works now -- not only the new outlet, but also if the ambient light ring is working (ie. if you reconnected the cables correctly).
Once I carefully put the rear cupholder back, it looked like:

Ah, I should have gotten a double angled usb-c cable but I could not find one of the right size at this time. Final result:

 

[whitex]

Great writeup and mod @800v.

Have you considered hardwiring a separate 12V USB charger under the trim instead of plugging it into the existing armrest? Or, install a 12V socket instead of USB (hardwired to the same supply as the one in the armrest) so you could plug in the USB charger straight to it? It would eliminate the wire in the arm rest, and free up the higher power USB ports you added in the 12V socket for other uses.

 

[800v]

Great writeup and mod @800v.

Thanks!

Have you considered hardwiring a separate 12V USB charger under the trim instead of plugging it into the existing armrest? Or, install a 12V socket instead of USB (hardwired to the same supply as the one in the armrest) so you could plug in the USB charger straight to it? It would eliminate the wire in the arm rest, and free up the higher power USB ports you added in the 12V socket for other uses.

Yes, I saw that you can easily access the wiring to the 12V socket and USB ports to the armrest... but I would be too scared to touch that -- I am not skilled enough to know what wires to use Also a bit risky for the warranty perhaps? But I agree it would be nice to get rid of the current wire in the armrest ... for me this is good enough though at this point

 

[whitex]

Yes, I saw that you can easily access the wiring to the 12V socket and USB ports to the armrest... but I would be too scared to touch that -- I am not skilled enough to know what wires to use Also a bit risky for the warranty perhaps? But I agree it would be nice to get rid of the current wire in the armrest ... for me this is good enough though at this point

Probably not worth redoing it (unless the wire in the armrest is triggering your OCD), but possibly worth considering for someone doing this from scratch. Connecting to 12V wires is not going affect warranty of anything other than the 12V cigarette lighter socket, since connecting to them is the same (electrically) as plugging into the socket. If not comfortable cutting and rejoining wires (most space optimal, but takes more time), you can get easy to use tap connectors like these.

As for what wires to use, the simplest is to use the same gauge or thicker than the wire that you are connecting to. Inside the cup holder I would use something like this .

 

[800v]

Inside the cup holder I would use something like this .

Maybe even nicer is a direct usb-C/A charger outlet like this :

This one has 24W charge power which is enough for the magsafe which needs 18W (while the built-in Taycan USB-C ports only supply 12W :-( ).

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