For those of us who just have a bunch of blanks where the USB-C ports should be.. has anyone had them installed by the dealer? Mine has told me there’s a service bulletin that it will be retrofit later but still has no info other than that

 

Personally, I would not be so red hot on getting the factory USB-C ports. I actually put a tester on mine and they only put out 5V @ .3 amps, which is about half what most small wall chargers do. It does not supply 9V or 12V for fast charging. It will connect to the CarPlay, but as a charging port, not so impressive.

 

That’s too bad on the output. But it would still be better than nothing. I’d like to have any charge ports for the kids on road trips. Since they removed the click and go ports on the backs of the seats, and the “shortage” on USB-C ports, our 110X has zero charging ports for the backseats.. not even the 12V ports

 

Depending on how handy you are there are several easy ways to solve this. Most likely there is the plug the USB port would attach to already be integrated into the vehicle harness. Simple enough to source the plug and use something like this (which BTW I am not endorsing, since I have never used this model, just an illustration, that may or may not fit the hole with slight modification).

I know many are hesitant to do things like this, but I always look to the alternative, which may in fact be quite superior in function. You must remember the lead time on sourcing things like ports and such in the car may saddle you with tech that is years out of date, simply because they bought a mountain of the original design to incorporate in a variety of platforms. There was a great book back in the 60's name of which escapes me, where it was discussed that a difference of nickels means serious money over a production run. Nickels now in present money meaning dollars.

 

I put this in our little beach car. Like Dogpilot says, these very easy to retrofit and they come in so many styles. His obviously matches the Defender interior better.

Round port above and to the right of the radio. Works great. Charges very quickly.

 

FWIW, the USB C in the dashboard (upper right shelf by where it says DEFENDER) charges my Iphone 13S insanely fast. I'm always surprised how much it adds in short trips.

 

I’m missing that upper dash USB-C too lmao
We only have the USB-C, USB-A, and 12V under the shifter
I was tempted to buy some ports from powerful uk and installing them myself, but it’s a bit of a **** off buying it myself when the dealer/manufacturer should be footing the bill lol

 

I always forget about the front dash tray mounted port, mainly since I cannot see it from the driver's side. I took a moment and hooked up the tester to it. While it does provide more watts than the other port, it is fairly anemic as well. It is not a fast charge port, it only puts out 5V. I tested it with a fairly thirsty iPad Pro 12". You can see the difference between the Defender port and an actual fast charge PD port (no idea what PD means, probably like the 5G thing, what's a G). The actual fast charge port puts out a much higher voltage and nearly twice the watts. So using the port to charge an iPad, laptop or anything like that is an exercise in patience.

I got the little tester, since the entire charging thing is totally smoke and mirrors from all sources. Yes there is differences in cables, some handle more power and have different capabilities. Many ports have very limited span of the actual spec and many are just plain frauds. So since I travel a lot and am given trucks with varying levels of trim on my overseas projects. I have mostly given up on the built in charging stuff. Pretty much due to the factory ports in most vehicles and manufacturers to be out in out frauds of claims. I bring this Goal Zero completely overdone portable charge/battery thing. It kind of does everything from wireless to USB-A & C. I also have a 25W folding solar panel. So the gizmo is plugged into the car when running and solar when not and we all charge off it, screw the car's system. It is tempting to go back, rip out the factory ports and replace the underlying electronics with a more advanced and capable unit (which as bare boards only cost around 5). Yeah,, maybe after ski season, nope after I get back from this season's African projects, ok, perhaps this summer, late.



The Defender's tray port, lame.

A real PD charger

The gizmo mo I actually like to use

 

Thanks for that info! Haha, PD is for Power Delivery. Yeah, 15 ish watts isn’t too bad to keep things powered for us though. You wouldn’t happen to know how that port compares to the ones below the shifter would you?

You got me all curious now 😆

 

The shifter one was supplying under 1 amp. I think it derives its power source from the entertainment system, which is usually very limited in its ability to deliver any significant power. Ok, so PD means power delivery, what's a G? Like I said, lots of smoke and mirrors in all this tech. Not complaining, at least there is something. My completely overpriced airplane, which is fairly new, has none. If I want to put in a certified USB, really lame Garmin port, it is over $400 just for the electronics and around a thousand for them to install it. So I am using little, fairly capable 12V plug in's plugged into the 12V port. Really what I do like is the 110VAC port, which I can charge the really hungry stuff, like drone batteries. I have found that the little drones help me out so I don't have to climb up cliff walls to check out the rocks much anymore. So sad that most countries in Africa won't let me use them. Seeing they are some kind of subversive device.