Travel Assistant...B4 i do anything.........

[Brake buster]

stoopid :eek: ,

i managed to get hold of a new travel assistant for my signum, the thing is its Tan and not Black or dark grey,,

looking at it i can easily recolour it to match or at least not stand out in my Charcoal interior, this can be done with vinyl-cote or something similar for less than £20,

another point is the electrics, ......i have a plan.......as my signum didnt come equiped with the floor plug for the assistant i have seen a way of getting power into it by convering the base section to have a power lead spliced into its electrics to at least give power to the fridge and the power outlets on it, this can then be pluged into the back of my console in the rear which has a power outlet in it above the ashtray,


the big question ...........does anyone in a similar situation have a Black travel assistant that they want to exhange with my Tan one ?



wish me luck

BB :cool:

[Bainie]

Ooooh, I would be careful splicing into the electrics, canbus tends to throw a strop and start flashing warning lights all over the shop, I thought the travel assistant plug was under the carpet or rear seat?

[Brake buster]

Ooooh, I would be careful splicing into the electrics, canbus tends to throw a strop and start flashing warning lights all over the shop, I thought the travel assistant plug was under the carpet or rear seat?


i'm not goin to splice the cars leccy, i'm splicing the actual travel assistant base , i will put a power lead with a cigar lighter power end on a lead and connect it into the fridge supply and the power outlets of the travel assistant, and as mentioned, plug it into the cigar lighter in the car,,

only cars that were spec'd with the travel assistant have the floor ( or psudo trans-tunel ) mounted power outlet, if it didnt come with the assistant it didnt get the outlet,

BB ( and for my day job i'm an electrician ;) )

[Bainie]

Ok get you, need to be a rocket scientist to figure out the C`s wiring I reckon tho ....

[Brake buster]

I know what you mean :eek: , lol

BB

ps, my Bro who is trained in interior repairs and refinishing is coming round today to recolour my travel assistant to match my cars interior :cool: ,

is there anyone out there that can get a part number for the floor connector section, i dont need the loom or anything, just the floor box and the anchor points for the box :confused: ,

this thing is getting to be more work than i thought, but i will try and make a ' how-to ' as i go along :) ,
the instructions also show it being fitted to a Vecra, if the rear seat squab has two slots/holes in the middle towards the base of the back section, then a travel assistant might be able to lock into place , it just rests above the rear seat

[Brake buster]

This is how it started out,,,,,,,Tan......YUK,lol

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/uploader/pics/pics1/96_1_b.jpg


http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/uploader/pics/pics1/f5_1_b.jpg


turned into this

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/uploader/pics/pics1/DSCN0398 (Medium).JPG

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/uploader/pics/pics1/DSCN0406 (Medium).JPG

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/uploader/pics/pics1/DSCN0411 (Medium).JPG

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/uploader/pics/pics1/DSCN0420 (Small).JPG

[2ltrT]

crakkin' job :D

[AJA]

Excellent work there guys.

[bruceybonus]

Ooh, let us know how you get on with the leccy bit...Ive just changed my signum, but this one does not have the fitting for the TA in the floor, however I kept the TA from my old car before it went! would be nice to know how to get it fired up in the back!. The floor bracked would be useful, just for keeping it in place regardelss of wether it was actually powered or not.

[kitchpoo]

well done mate - saw a tan one go through ebay cheap and considered it myself -
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10404&item=4563214585&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

but went for the safe option of a charcoal one in the end.

[Brake buster]

well done mate - saw a tan one go through ebay cheap and considered it myself -
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10404&item=4563214585&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

but went for the safe option of a charcoal one in the end.


yup, thats the one i bought :D , lol, and it turned up within 2 days :cool:

how much did you get yours for in the end, the cheaper ones tend to come from Germany, but then you got to add about 40 euro in postage on top,

BB :cool:

[kitchpoo]

mine was 145 all-in. I've been watching them go through for a while and picked this one. As our Signum was used, it shold have had the TA. So all the wiring is there.

One downside is that the fridge unit runs off the same principle as the 12v outlets - so you cant leave the car with the fridge on.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7984918635&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

[Brake buster]

ah-ha :eek: ,

i was you that outbid me on that one then ;) , lol

bargain,

i thought the fridge could be left on all the time if you wish, with the use of the switch in the back?? or maybe i'm wrong :confused:

BB :cool:

[Duncan]

Fridge doesn't stay on when the ignition is turned off.

If you're not fitting the floor socket, how will the TA be kept in place? (as that socket is also one of the main supports)

Also, will the TA pull more current than the 12V socket can supply? From memory the TA has a fairly hefty fuse in the fuse box (I'd have to check my manual to confirm that)

D

[kitchpoo]

can confirm - it is a seperate fuse to the 12v outlets currently in the car.

[bruceybonus]

Ive just ordered the floor mounting bracket ( there is a TA fitting kit from vx about 20 quid ), just have to work out how to fit then damn thing! and cut the carpet in the right places! does anyone think there may be a hidden plug in the floor tunnel? :confused:

[Duncan]

Ive just ordered the floor mounting bracket ( there is a TA fitting kit from vx about 20 quid ), just have to work out how to fit then damn thing! and cut the carpet in the right places! does anyone think there may be a hidden plug in the floor tunnel? :confused:What does the TA fitting kit consist of? For £20 it can't be much.

Have a look at this thread (http://forum.vectra-c.com/showthread.php?t=178) for info about retro fitting a TA - it's not a £20 job!!!

HTH

D

[bruceybonus]

Guessed as much......not that bothered about powering it as yet.... just anchoring it to the floor would be a good start! the kit consists of the following bits, cover, anchor points and a loom. if i can get the anchor points in that would do for now...

[Brake buster]

on my signum there are two ' knobs ' under the carpet trim where the fixing kit will go, i assume they may be locators or even 10mm bolts to fix the power outlet/hooks.

as for the ' other thread ' aint any of you got any balls :p , lol

everyone would be modding if all they were doing was bunging on some irmscher sticers, lol

BB

[bruceybonus]

buster..have you actually seen the "knobs"?, if so, can you post a pic pls

[bruceybonus]

TA Half Installed into my signum

The fitting kit arrived this morning....A plastic surround, a metal Bracket with the lug holes on, the plug and wiring ( 2 wires only ).

I managed to cut out the carpet around where the 2 screws were pointing up to have a look and see what i had to go on.... After cutting the carpet a little more the bracket went straight on and the plug on top of that.. 2 nuts later there it was fixed in place... also there are to lugs to fit to the middle seat bit( signum ) so the the part the ta attaches to holds in place firmly..
Cut some more carpet and fit the plastic surround... - THATS IT!..

the next part of the job is to route the 2 wires under the carpet/seats to the fuse box in the back of the car on the right... The only thing needed here is to remove fuse F26 ( 20a ), attach it to the socket on the end of the wires, add the 5a fuse and plug the whole thing into the f26 hole....and its then powered....but not done that bit yet as i ran out of time... :D :D :D .. well worth the 20 odd quid for the fixing kit

[Brake buster]

nice one Brucey :D !!!

i actualy went out and oredered my fitting kit this morning , it will be here wednesday :cool:

sounds like it went quite well, any pix of the install ??


i noticed the loom only had two wires in the base unit, the other pins are for the ' twin audio ' option if fitted, but my twin audio is in the rear of the armrest of the drivers console, so no need to retro fit that bit , lol


i will take pix of my install while doin it so everyone else can see how easy/hard it will be to do

BB :)

[bruceybonus]

I didnt want to post any pics, just in case i c@cked it up!, but will do when its totally finished.. the plasic surround is quite large, so if you cut away a little too much carpet it doesn't matter... however the dimensions are stated in the fitting instructions ( diagrams are a bit ropy! )

[Brake buster]

I didnt want to post any pics, just in case i c@cked it up!, but will do when its totally finished.. the plasic surround is quite large, so if you cut away a little too much carpet it doesn't matter... however the dimensions are stated in the fitting instructions ( diagrams are a bit ropy! )


cool :cool:

this just confirms to me that if a VX mechanic/tech can install one..........

then so can we :p , lol

BB

[ossypete]

sent you a pm bruce if you wanna see one in a car let me know and you can have a look at mine before you start hacking your car to bits !

[Duncan]

Nice one brucey - well done!! Pics when it's done would be great. So does that mean you have, or will have, the TA fully powered i.e. fridge and the two 12V sockets?

Does your floor socket now look like the pic I posted in this thread? (http://forum.vectra-c.com/showthread.php?t=178)

It also sounds like the dealer that told me it needed a new loom for the wiring was taking bollox then (mentioned in that thread as well).

Good news to hear that it can be retro fitted. Mine had the TA as standard so no benefit to me, but will be for a lot of other folks who had been thinking about it!! They just need a TA first!

BTW - how did you find out about the fitting kit? Your dealer?

D

[bruceybonus]

Yes duncan... it's exactly like that......those are the 3 parts all assembled...There should be 2 bolts sticking up from the bulkhead within the carpet ( they were sprayed blue so it look like there were there from assembly )

The decision to fit it was a flash in the pan really... was at the dealers for something else and i though i'd have alook.. the parts dept looked at me blankly when i asked for the fitting bracket, but once we had trawled through their cd of parts and pics, i spotted it, and then found out it came as a kit...the rest as the say is history!

[Brake buster]

hmm........

i wonder how much these fitting kits would sell for on ebay, :rolleyes: lol


must be hundreds of peeps who buy a travel assistant only to find they cant fix it in the car :eek:

BB :cool:

[Jamie]

Does the 'retro-fit' only work for the Signum... or will it work on a Vec too??

[Brake buster]

Does the 'retro-fit' only work for the Signum... or will it work on a Vec too??


i would think the ' fitting kit ' will be available for the veccy, and prolly the same price,

however, i think the actual locating hooks on the veccy travel assistant are different to the signums, they are turned thro 90 degs where they locate in the rear seat, but i might be wrong,

news update,
well my travel assistant is now fully recoloured dark grey, and will be fitted v-soon

BB :cool:

[bruceybonus]

i would guess so , as the vec doesn't have the "3rd" seat as such

[Brake buster]

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/uploader/pics/pics1/DSCN0432 (Small).JPG


http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/uploader/pics/pics1/DSCN0433 (Small).JPG


http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/uploader/pics/pics1/DSCN0429 (Small).JPG


the finished article

BB :cool:

[bruceybonus]

super job!

[bruceybonus]

have you fitted the kit yet?

[Brake buster]

lol, just finished,
will get the pics up this afternoon

BB

[blr123]

What can I say.............some people "have no taste" eh :D .............I have the tan interior, and I don't have the travel assistant.

Where exactly is the socket?

Thanks
Bryan

[chrismcc070]

Can you advise on the paint colour and type you used and if you used the same on the leather pad?