blarchitect

Jason,
Post your solution so others wanting to do this mod have the conclusion.
Thanks

ninjarunner

If your running a wire from the front of the vehicle cig lighter to the new one in the rear, use a wire that has red and black, red being positive and if they wire happens to be there then you know the hot or positive is the pink one. and the middle screw on the lighter is the one that takes the positive "hot" wire. the outside ring can just be grounded to the frame. if this dosent help then you dont know what you are asking.. sorry

terminator

iTrader: (1)

Will do. I'll be running a black/red set of wires to the front, not sure where I'm going to tap power from though. It's too cold today to do anything plus I need to get some snips to trim my inner body panel to fit the 99-02 rear panel with the larger storage area. I'll take pics of what needed trimmed to make the 99-02 panel fit also. Should turn out nice when I'm finished but with no garage and cold weather it may be a bit.

nc994run

Sorry about my earlier post, I was the one being a jerk. Hangovers make me less than pleasant.
Glad you got it figured out

terminator

iTrader: (1)

No apology necessary man, it's all good. I didn't mean to sound rude in my posts, I was just getting frustrated with a lot of things and sorry I sounded rude to the guys that did post. I always appreciate input.

aviator

Ok this may have been answered already but to test continuity like this post is suggesting you don't need to have power there, in fact you don't want to have power there. What you can do depends on if you are using a multi-meter or a continuity tester.

If you are using a meter put it in continuity mode [the beep mode (lol)] put one probe in one side of the harness plug so it makes contact with the metal parts inside and then touch the other probe to either the side wall of the outlet or the centre at the base of it, whichever beeps is either the negative (side wall) or positive (base) just connect the wires to the harness accordingly.

If you are using a continuity tester (that screwdriver looking thingy with the battery inside and wire coming out of it) you need to strip a bit of insulation from one of the two existing pieces of wire still attached to the plug [you'll need to do this anyway to connect the new wire to it] and connect the aligator clip on the test lead to it and touch the tester to the side wall and centre post in turn when the testor lights up and/or beeps you have continuity and the wire you attached to is either the negative (side wall) or positive (base) accordingly and as before connect the new wires accordingly.

Hope this helped Aviator

isaac338

thanks aviator. my suggestion had nothing to do with having power at the plug. there isn't a single thing about your problem that couldn't have been solved with five minutes and a multimeter; this is basic electrical stuff. if you have hot wires coming to the rear you can figure out their polarity with a meter, if you have wires coming off your socket you can figure out their polarity with a meter.

what else is there that you don't understand? maybe you asked the wrong question?

Mr_Martinez1982

i think the problem is that his truck doesnt have wires going back there (sorry i dont know what it is your installing, a cig lighter? But yes it is basic electricity) What your going to have to do is wire the outer part of the lighter to the frame, body- ie a good ground, which is why a multimeter is a good tool to have around. the center wire will be your hot wire. You could wire it directly to your fuse box, an have it constantly hot (meaning you wouldnt need your key on to use it. Or you could tap into...? something in the area with power @key on. Suks but its the best i could come up with. Seriously look into a multimeter, even a cheap one. Good Luck with your mod.
Made me all warm once everybody started apologizing...LOL

Adam F

Thanks for clarifying

Adam F

Sit back, relax, and re-read my post.

terminator

iTrader: (1)

Got it.

GSGALLANT

Now spend the $10 and buy yourself a multimeter for next time so that we don't end up with another pissing match.



Or, take a lightbulb, solder a couple of wires to it, and use it as a test light.

terminator

iTrader: (1)

Where did you come from? The problem has been solved and it sounds like you didn't read all of the posts. I have a test light but there is no power there yet so I have nothing to test. I have never used a multimeter so that's out. I was simply asking for somebody to check which wire is hot, nothing more. Thanks for your input, greatly appreciated.

Ritzy4Runner

iTrader: (1)

Terminator, a great solution to your dilemna on where to tap into power for your new outlet is to install an auxillary fuse box in the engine compartment. There is a great write up on this mod in the electrical secotion of the Tech forum. Very simple and easy to install. I put one in my 95 and going to install one in my 98. Comes directly off the battery and will provide you with up to 6 more direct power taps with their own fuses for running other accessories such as your outlet in the rear and any additional ones you may desire to install in the passenger side of the front seat area. Also great for hooking up power for auxillary off-road/fog/driving lights, CB, Power amp for stereo system etc.

If I had seen this post earlier I could have told you what wires were for what. As for the auxillary outlet in the rear, 98 had them as well as the 99-02. I acquired a second rear outlet and am considering installing it above the one that is already there giving me two.

As was mentioned, all you need to run is a single red wire from a positive power source and then attach the negative lead to any solid ground point close to the outlet in the rear. Center post/tab of outlet should be your positive terminal(+) with the outer case of the outlet being your negative(-). Post picks and a write up once your done. Lots of gen 3 runners without the outlet like you are retrofitting.

terminator

iTrader: (1)

I remember seeing that and that's a great idea. Once it warms up a bit from the low teens I'll be getting into this. I just installed a new blower in my Accord so I can drive that and not have to worry about finishing the retrofit in one day after work. Nice to have an extra vehicle around. I think I will go that route, I do plan to run lights in the future so that will ease that job too.
Great advice and I'll definitely take pics and do a write up. I also took the two outlets from under the ash tray of the 99-02 and plan to install them per the 4Runners.org write up. I looked at those this weekend and they have a 12V marked on the + terminal. That makes it pretty much idiot proof, good for me!

GSGALLANT

I did read all the posts, which is where I saw that two people answered with enough information for you to finish the install when they told you which part of the 12V plug is positive (the center electrode). Using that info, you could have temporarily connected your power wires to the plug (positive on one wire, ground to the other), ground your test light, touch the center electrode and see if your test light comes on. If it does, you got it right... if it doesn't, reverse your wires.

Sometimes, you have to take what information people are willing to give you and think outside the box a bit, instead of prematurely assuming that people are answering without reading your posts and getting frustrated, that's all. (I did see that you apologized for that... which is good, so we won't hold that against you.)

Cheers

Adam F

Yup...either that or hook up a 9v battery!

Harbor Freight sells a multimeter for $3

pkt1213

iTrader: (1)

Really, $3. I wouldn't use it's numbers for much but for a test light it would probably work.

isaac338

if you're fiddling with electrical stuff i think it's pretty silly to go about it without a meter. only a matter of time with just blindly plugging things in to wherever you think they should go until you light your rig on fire or fry some electronics.

meters are cheap and indispensable; go to walmart and buy two or three of the $9.99 ones, keep one everywhere.

terminator

iTrader: (1)

Well while working on the wires I happend to glance at the back of the 12V outlet and guess what.... it's stamped with a 12V on the hot side. This is a factory plug, I also checked the two for the front and they're also marked 12V. Toyota is making it easy, I should've looked at them from the start. Figured y'all would like to know that.