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Gen 5 Stealth QI Charger Install


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I put together this DIY on how to install a completely hidden Qi charger on the dash of the car.

 

I put it on my Gen. 5 Legacy but it'll work on any model that has this trim piece... or really on any car where you can find a trim piece to hide the charger in.

 

What you'll need;

- Qi charger & cable.

- JB Weld.

- Pliers, sandpaper & chisel.

 

- Optional - Neodymium magnets.

- Optional - 12 to 5v converter.

 

Step One - First you'll need to remove this cover from the dash. Take note of where the clips are and be careful not to scratch anything. I have a couple plastic trim removal tools but you'll be fine without as long as you're careful.

 

http://img.fae.ro/b62f03.png

 

http://img.fae.ro/468bf2.png

 

Step Two - Grab your cheap Chinese Qi charger (was like 6 bucks on eBay)...

 

http://img.fae.ro/59c2b8.jpeg

 

...and rip it apart.

 

http://img.fae.ro/038707.jpeg

 

If you look closely you'll see that one piece of the charging coil is laying over the top. This caused my charger to not sit flush on the trim piece. I detached it with a soldering iron, snaked it underneath the plastic and reattached it so it wasn't in the way.

 

Step Three - Now take your car's trim piece and look at the bottom. You'll notice that there's some plastic that you'll need to remove to fit the charger.

 

http://img.fae.ro/813197.jpeg

 

Pliers and a chisel made short work of it. I also used sandpaper to clean and rough it up for the JB weld.

 

http://img.fae.ro/2a60c7.jpeg

 

 

Step Four - Measure out exactly where you want the charger to sit and JB weld it on.

 

Optional - I attached two magnets so that it gives me a reference point on where to put my phone. It also helps it not slide around while driving. The trim plastic is pretty thick so the magnets aren't as strong as I hoped but it works fine. The downside is that when I get a new phone the magnets might not be as helpful.

 

http://img.fae.ro/ca07d4.jpeg

 

Step Five - Plug it in. I used a USB cable to plug it into an extra USB slot on the back of my dash unit. This made things pretty simple for me. If this isn't an option for you then you have to find an accessory power cable on the back of your radio and tap into that. If you do this you'll need a 12v to 5v converter OR you can even re-purpose a USB cigarette lighter plug. You can find the converter for 5-10 bucks on eBay or amazon.

 

http://img.fae.ro/876d45.jpeg

 

Keep in mind that if you have a thick phone case this might not work. The trim piece plastic is pretty thick to begin with. I tried another phone with an Otter case on it and it proved to be too thick to charge.

 

That's it! Let me know what you think. The only extra thing I might do is put some kind of sticker or thin rubber pad as a reference point if the magnets prove to not be enough.

Edited by Metal
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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 month later...
Won't the magnets cause damage to the phone?

also, how did you wire the charging cord?

This is a really really cool idea, I just kinda wanna know what else you did to get it to work

 

Nope. Look at how many mounts are magnet based anymore. They haven't messed up any of my phones, nor those of my buddy's. The belief that magnets ruin electronics comes from the way data used to be stored and written on things like magnetic strips, floppy discs, and in the case of storage, hard drives. Solid state memory, such as micro sd cards are pretty much unaffected. Consider that there are magnets in tablet and phone flip cases that tell the devices when the cover has been opened, or laptops that have magnets along the edges in lieu of latches.

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  • 4 years later...

I did the exact same thing to my 2011 Legacy GT. It's awesome and works like a charm. Earth magnets prevent it from sliding all over. It even charges through the case. I was too chicken to work with the original dash board part so I ordered used piece from eBay. Hot glued it to the speaker cover and used a high speed 12 volt charger from amazon.

 

Thanks for the idea.:)

Edited by BradWalls
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