[sor]

I hopped in my car this evening in the airport parking garage, eager to get home and take care of this so as to not disappoint you all. After a spirited drive on the freeway, I hopped out and looked in the first candidate spot: the driver's side foot well. I've looked there before, as have many of us, but this time I noticed a twist tab:



There is one on either side of this panel (that is, one below the headlight control on this side, and one below the 'start' button on the other side of the footwell), and then the panel pulls forward and down. I was expecting to find a fuse box...



No dice, from what I can see. Rejected. However, there's a connector with a few beefy wires that seem to go nowhere. Could these be for an optional fuse box that this platform or build doesn't need? I'm willing to bet that at least the red ones are 12v and could be used.



I put that panel back and moved on to the passenger side. Would this bear fruit?



bingo!

I want to point out a few things for the convenience of others. These panels have two tabs that release with 1/4 turn. The panels are also hooked in at the back as you can see in the photo below.



Be careful when attempting to re-latch the 1/4 turn tabs, they insert into plastic clips that are attached to the metal frame of the car. With just a little pressure in the wrong spot I managed to knock one of these loose and I think I lost it forever into one of the footwell panels. I'll probably need to pick one up. It's OK, I made a sacrifice for the good of the many.

[arciga18]

Originally Posted by sor

I hopped in my car this evening in the airport parking garage, eager to get home and take care of this so as to not disappoint you all. After a spirited drive on the freeway, I hopped out and looked in the first candidate spot: the driver's side foot well. I've looked there before, as have many of us, but this time I noticed a twist tab:



There is one on either side of this panel (that is, one below the headlight control on this side, and one below the 'start' button on the other side of the footwell), and then the panel pulls forward and down. I was expecting to find a fuse box...



No dice, from what I can see. Rejected. However, there's a connector with a few beefy wires that seem to go nowhere. Could these be for an optional fuse box that this platform or build doesn't need? I'm willing to bet that at least the red ones are 12v and could be used.



I put that panel back and moved on to the passenger side. Would this bear fruit?



bingo!

I want to point out a few things for the convenience of others. These panels have two tabs that release with 1/4 turn. The panels are also hooked in at the back as you can see in the photo below.



Be careful when attempting to re-latch the 1/4 turn tabs, they insert into plastic clips that are attached to the metal frame of the car. With just a little pressure in the wrong spot I managed to knock one of these loose and I think I lost it forever into one of the footwell panels. I'll probably need to pick one up. It's OK, I made a sacrifice for the good of the many.

Wow. Impressed with the commitment

[voyagergab]

Sor, thank you very much for pioneering this project
Sorry you lost one of the clips.
Did you find a way to run a wire into there?

[sor]

Originally Posted by voyagergab

Sor, thank you very much for pioneering this project
Sorry you lost one of the clips.
Did you find a way to run a wire into there?

Oh yes, there should be no issue wiring into that area. It's not really sealed tight anywhere so you can just run wire down.

[voyagergab]

Originally Posted by sor

Oh yes, there should be no issue wiring into that area. It's not really sealed tight anywhere so you can just run wire down.

Cool. Is there a switched fuse to tap into?

[kozzi]

Originally Posted by sor

...

Be careful when attempting to re-latch the 1/4 turn tabs, they insert into plastic clips that are attached to the metal frame of the car. With just a little pressure in the wrong spot I managed to knock one of these loose and I think I lost it forever into one of the footwell panels. I'll probably need to pick one up. It's OK, I made a sacrifice for the good of the many.[/IMG]

I lost the same damn clip. Let me know if you come up with a way to clip this back on.

[sor]

Originally Posted by voyagergab

Cool. Is there a switched fuse to tap into?

Yeah, here's the diagram. Looks like F46 and F47 are good candidates as I believe that symbol indicates the lighter outlet. I guess those outlets aren't necessarily switched, but there are enough fuses there that something has to be viable.

Note that during my sub install I found that most of the switched outlets don't actually turn off immediately. It takes several minutes.

[sor]

Here's the other side of that sheet. Now that I look, there's a good reason we don't have a left front fuse box. There are only a few fuses indicated and most of them say HYBRID.

[voyagergab]

What does hybrid mean in this case?

[sor]

Originally Posted by voyagergab

What does hybrid mean in this case?

I'm assuming it is for upcoming electric models.

Looks like a hybrid was planned but canceled in September, if you believe rumors.

http://www.bmwblog.com/2017/09/29/ru...l-electric-x3/

[voyagergab]

I see. Are the fuses still powered?

[sor]

Originally Posted by voyagergab

I see. Are the fuses still powered?

There's no left Fusebox. I think it would only be populated on hybrids. Instead there's just thick red wires and a dangling connector.

[voyagergab]

Originally Posted by sor

There's no right Fusebox. I think it would only be populated on hybrids. Instead there's just thick red wires and a dangling connector.

I must have misunderstood. I thought you found a fuse box in the passenger foot well?

And the connector with wires was in the drivers side footwell nearby the odb2 connector.

Did I get it wrong?

[sor]

Originally Posted by voyagergab

I must have misunderstood. I thought you found a fuse box in the passenger foot well?

And the connector with wires was in the drivers side footwell nearby the odb2 connector.

Did I get it wrong?

No, I misspoke. For some reason I was thinking about facing the car but I should use the labels per the sheet.

There's no left footwell fuse box, and according to the sheet the fuse box on the left side would contain mostly hybrid fuses.

[voyagergab]

Cool thanks again Sor. Our car should be here next week hopefully so I'll play around with the available fuses.

[JSY]

Thank you very much sor for this. I have been waiting for it to warm up a bit before looking for the fuse box and you've made mine and many other's lives a lot easier. I'm sorry you lost that clip. It does make me a bit apprehensive consider how easy it was for someone else to lose that clip too.

Just so I understand the orientation of the pictures I'm looking at.. the fuse box is in the passenger side footwell and it looks like the fuse box is off the right and it's facing directly down, is that correct? This is underneath the glove compartment?

If so, this is great because I can just use the same wire I had in installed to the fuse box in my 2015 as the secondary fuse box in the Gen 2 was almost in the same place.

Anyway, for anyone wanted switched power, the lighter socket fuses are where I connected my dash cam to. It turns on as soon as you unlock any door or power anything, and it will turn off about 7-10 minutes or so after the car has turned off. This was good for me as I did not want an always powered cam and I didn't have to think about turning it on or off. Anyway, the lighter outlets in the front and rear passenger area both act the same (on/off). Not sure about the one in the trunk space.

Also, remember to put an inline fuse on the cable that you tap into the fuse box. Would save a lot of headache should it pop.

Thanks again!! If you can replace that clip, I will be more than happy to pay for it for your effort... (lol, okay, i'm sure it's not worth very much...)

By the way, from looking at the diagram in realoem site, it seems that the BDC fusebox appears to be near the one you discovered or behind it - meaning in maybe further in and under the hood, doesn't it? http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=61_4822

And I agree - I bet the front left fuse box was intended for HYBRID and therefore it doesn't exist. Most of the fuses in HYBRID appear to be in the front left fuse box.

Thanks once more time, sor!!!

[sor]

Originally Posted by JSY

Thank you very much sor for this. I have been waiting for it to warm up a bit before looking for the fuse box and you've made mine and many other's lives a lot easier. I'm sorry you lost that clip. It does make me a bit apprehensive consider how easy it was for someone else to lose that clip too.

Just so I understand the orientation of the pictures I'm looking at.. the fuse box is in the passenger side footwell and it looks like the fuse box is off the right and it's facing directly down, is that correct? This is underneath the glove compartment?

If so, this is great because I can just use the same wire I had in installed to the fuse box in my 2015 as the secondary fuse box in the Gen 2 was almost in the same place.

Anyway, for anyone wanted switched power, the lighter socket fuses are where I connected my dash cam to. It turns on as soon as you unlock any door or power anything, and it will turn off about 7-10 minutes or so after the car has turned off. This was good for me as I did not want an always powered cam and I didn't have to think about turning it on or off.

Also, remember to put an inline fuse on the cable that you tap into the fuse box. Would save a lot of headache should it pop.

Thanks again!! If you can replace that clip, I will be more than happy to pay for it for your effort... (lol, okay, i'm sure it's not worth very much...)

By the way, from looking at the diagram in realoem site, it seems that the BDC fusebox appears to be near the one you discovered or behind it - meaning in maybe further in and under the hood, doesn't it? http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=61_4822

And I agree - I bet the front left fuse box was intended for HYBRID and therefore it doesn't exist. Most of the fuses in HYBRID appear to be in the front left fuse box.

Thanks once more time, sor!!!

You're correct on your orientation. Let us know how your install goes.

My impression is that the BDC is under the hood near the jump points, yes.

[JSY]

I wonder if the unused power cable you found on the left side was for this: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=61_5464

It wouldn't have been something available for US models.

[JSY]

Originally Posted by sor

You're correct on your orientation. Let us know how your install goes.

My impression is that the BDC is under the hood near the jump points, yes.

I looked and noticed that the fuses that are used for the lighter sockets are the regular sized ones, and not the mini ones like they did in the Gen 2... So this means I will have to modify my fuse tap. I see that F46 and F47 which are the two I would like to tap into are not in view in your picture and looks to be recessed in behind the panel the way the fuse box is laid out. Did you notice if it would be a struggle to reach those fuses that are not visible in your picture? F46 and F47 would be to the right of the green ones that are further away (lower) in your pic.

[voyagergab]

Love this thread. Thank you guys.

[sor]

Originally Posted by JSY

I looked and noticed that the fuses that are used for the lighter sockets are the regular sized ones, and not the mini ones like they did in the Gen 2... So this means I will have to modify my fuse tap. I see that F46 and F47 which are the two I would like to tap into are not in view in your picture and looks to be recessed in behind the panel the way the fuse box is laid out. Did you notice if it would be a struggle to reach those fuses that are not visible in your picture? F46 and F47 would be to the right of the green ones that are further away (lower) in your pic.

It didn't seem to me that it would be too difficult to reach F46/47. I know from the photo it looks like the side wheel well would block access but that's mostly just in the foreground.

[JSY]

Originally Posted by sor

It didn't seem to me that it would be too difficult to reach F46/47. I know from the photo it looks like the side wheel well would block access but that's mostly just in the foreground.

Music to my ears. Thanks again for all the hard work.