Best spot to tap a new rear cigarette lighter in to?

[RiffRaffMama]

My front cigarette lighter is a pain in the ass. It keeps shorting out on something and blowing the fuse and you know, 10 amp fuses don't grow on trees... no, it's more that it's a pain in the c*nt to get to the back of to remount it properly. And when I do, it'll be fine at first, but the first thing I try to unplug pulls it loose and crack - down a fuse again.*(see brief, mostly unrelated rant below) So if anyone has the magic solution to that issue, I'd love to hear it, however it's not my most pressing concern because my stereo has two USB outs which serve me just fine.
What I do want to do is stick a cigarette lighter port in the back of my car (VXB) on the parcel shelf. So my actual question is: what would be the best location to mount a port on or near the parcel shelf, and what is best to tap into for the power supply? I was thinking brake lights, but if someone has tried and succeeded with a different setup I would appreciate you sharing your experience.

*(Brief, mostly unrelated rant follows: this reminds me of what I consider to be a really stupid design flaw - the boot light. Stupid thing blows when you try to replace it because the fitting touches the bare metal cutout in the body of the car. It's in an awkward position making maneuvering it in incident-free somewhat challenging. Someone dropped the ball there. I have found using strategically located pieces of electrical tape to insulate one from the other a successful stopgap. I am sure the cigarette lighter in the front is experiencing a similar phenomena, but I just don't know where to start slapping electrical tape). Rant complete.

 

[Lex]

The cigarette lighter is 20 amps.

 

[losh1971]

VR & VS used to have issues with the cig light plug. The way it was resolved was to replace the unit with a new one. I found this out when mine was playing up but mine was the lighter itself but I only need it to run my phone or GPS, so all good. Not sure if the issue carried on as far as VX but could be worth checking. eBay sell the sockets.

 

[RiffRaffMama]

The cigarette lighter is 20 amps.

Bugger. You're dead right. 20 amp. They don't exactly breed in my glovebox either though. And when I run out of 20 amp fuses I go buy another multi pack and eventually it's like that Jay-Z song "99 Fuses but a 20 amp ain't one".

 

[losh1971]

I'd say if you're blowing 20s then you do have the faulty socket issue, that VS and VT have.

 

[RiffRaffMama]

I bought a new socket to install in the back which is completely plastic encased providing no logical way for it to short on anything. By virtue of that however, it does not have the retaining nut set up the stock in-dash lighters have, but I'm curious to see still if it's a suitable replacement for the dodgy one - like if it sits/fits/stays put despite its different setup. This is it here.... hopefully... this site and my photos haven't had the most harmonious of histories.

 

[RiffRaffMama]

It's just occurred to me that unless I run the wiring back to the front stock socket, I will probably need an inline fuse. The complexity of this install just increased, but I am undeterred. Does anyone have a suggestion on the path I should take from parcel shelf to engine bay?

 

[losh1971]

I normally run any cables under my carpet when connecting up new devices. The fuse you hide under the dash.

 

[accentstencil]

Unless you are actually using the new socket as a cigarette lighter or some other big power drawing item you won't need to hook it up to a 20 amp circuit, if it is just for charging a phone or something like that then 10 amp should do.

 

[losh1971]

Stupid question but wouldn't it be easier to just grab a new gen socket from eBay and install it in the factory location?