As I mentioned in a couple of other posts, I finally got around to doing the USB outlet install in my Patriot. As of right now, I have only done the rear seat and cargo area. Here is the process.
Parts List
Heat Shrink Wire Connectors - In hindsight, these were a little overkill. You could save a little and just go with standard connectors.
Battery Wire
18 Gauge Red/Black Wire
Fuse Block - I went with the 12 circuit split with cover and negative terminals. Again, you could go with a different one depending on the accessories you plan on adding. I plan to add more stuff in the future so I wanted room to grow.
USB Outlets x2
Total current price for these items was 139.73 plus any tax you might have.
Install
I started by running the continuous hot wire to the battery lug and routing it over to where I wanted to place the Fuse Block, which is located on the driver's side fender. Next, I ran the ground wire to the ground lug that comes off of the battery post and is connected to the body just behind the driver's side head light. For the ignition power, I ran a wire from the factory fuse block located right between the battery and the driver's fender where I mounted my fuse block. I did not have an add-a-fuse for the ignition wire so I simply took a spade terminal and cut one leg off to insert it into the empty fuse socket (this will be changed at a later date). After routing the wires and cutting them to length, I connected them to the fuse block with ring terminals and mounted the fuse block to the fender with self tapping screws. I would recommend using a little spray paint on the screw holes to prevent rusting but make sure you take the time to tape everything off real well to prevent over spray.
NOTE: Once you route the 18 gauge wires down from the engine block and move on to the rest of the routing process, make sure that you keep track of which wires run into the rear seat area and which ones run into the cargo area. Also, do not connect then to the fuse block yet. If you choose to go ahead and connect them to the fuse block, do not put a fuse in line yet. This will prevent the exposed ends from coming in contact with grounded body surfaces while routing them through the interior. I connected mine to continuous power so if you connected them to ignition this should not be a problem as long as the ignition remains off.
![Image]()
After running my power wires in the engine bay and mounting the fuse block, I used a wire to run the 18 gauge wire down along side the driver's side strut. You will want to run four sets of the 18 gauge wire (two for each USB plugs for each of the units). It is best to have someone underneath the vehicle to grab each wire as they are fed down but this can be done by one person. My son came over to help with this and was the one under my Patriot. He routed the wires along the fuel lines and zip tied them in place. We will need to come back and put some wire loom on the wires to prevent excessive wear on the wires at a later date.
![Image]()
Once you get the wires run down the from the engine bay, you will want to locate the plug under the driver's side carpet. It is in front of the seat and along the door frame and is easily found while under the vehicle. There is a hard sound barrier coating over the plug that was fairly easily chipped away with a sturdy knife. Remove the access plug and route the cables through the hole. At this point we needed to make a run to the local automotive parts store to get a new grommet. The factory one was hard plastic and we wanted a rubber one. Also pick up some rubber gasket adhesive if you do not have any to seal this up once you are done running the wires. The grommets were about $4 and I already had some RTV gasket adhesive. As an alternative, you could skip the rubber gasket and just seal the rest of the hole up with the gasket adhesive but for $4 it was worth getting the grommet to me.
![Image]()
Now that you have all of the wires run through the new rubber gasket, route the wires along the driver's side door frame under the molding. You will want to run two sets of wires to the rear seat area and two sets of wires to the cargo area. For the rear seat area, you have two options for routing the wires over to the center console. The simplest is to just run the wires on top of the carpet and under your floor mats. We went the slightly harder route and ran the wires under the carpet itself. Again, it is best to have an extra person to help out here but could possibly be done by a single person. Feed the wires under the carpet with your hand until you get to the center hump where the center console is at (as a side note, at this point you should have the center console removed. To do so, open it up and remove the two philips screws in the bottom. From there just life the rear of the console up and pull it out). Push the wires up along the hump and have another person grab the wires with their fingers.
With the center console fully removed from the vehicle (don't forget to disconnect the 4x4 switch if you have it equipped in your vehicle), take it to the cargo area or work bench to mount the USB sockets. I had planned on using a hole saw for this but we could not find the correct arbor for the 1 inch hole saw and had to use a step bit. If using a step bit that is not the exact size, once you get the hole drilled out, simply wobble the hole out to make it larger. Go slowly, checking the fit of the USB socket regularly. Also, make sure you keep the holes even so that the face plate will center over them and the sockets will go into it easily. Once you have the holes cut and the USB sockets mounted, return the center console to the vehicle and put it back in place. Connect the wires to the USB sockets, paying attention to the polarity (pos and neg). Make sure you reconnect the 4x4 switch prior to screwing the center console back in place (it's annoying to have to remove it again....trust me on this one).
For the cargo area, I chose to mount it on the driver's side rear tire well area. You will want to remove the molding over the rear tail gate area to make this easier. Simply pull the molding out to gain access to this area. Basically just repeat the drilling process that you used on the center console here. Make sure you place the sockets low enough not to be put in a bind by the rear tire fender well as I did. In the final pictures you will see that I messed this part up and it resulted in me not being able to return the molding all the way back to its original place. I now have about 1/4 of an inch gap at the top.
![Image]()
You should be about done at this point. Return to the engine bay and connect the power wires and try everything out before replacing all of the molding. As long as everything works at this point, replace all of the molding and button everything up. Again, make sure that you check everything out prior to replacing all of the molding to make sure it all works properly. If you are unsure of your wiring, use a cheap device to check that there is power at each of the USB plugs to prevent damage to a valuable phone or some other expensive device.
Final Pictures
Engine bay area and fuse block with cables tied down. I will finish this up with some loom later on to make it look a little nicer.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Cargo area. Notice the slight gap at the top under the window. I wish I had paid slightly better attention here and measured the depth of everything to prevent this from happening. This project took a lot longer than we had expected and we were rushing ourselves at this point. You could probably have moved the USB plugs down a bit and gained the needed inch or so of back spacing.
![Image]()
Notes and lessons learned
Side Project
While doing this, I also replaced all of the interior lights, the tag lights and backup lights with new LED bulbs. Only took a few minutes to do so and they make a HUGE difference to the lighting inside of the vehicle. I ordered them for $19.99 from the below link.
LED bulb package
Parts List
Heat Shrink Wire Connectors - In hindsight, these were a little overkill. You could save a little and just go with standard connectors.
Battery Wire
18 Gauge Red/Black Wire
Fuse Block - I went with the 12 circuit split with cover and negative terminals. Again, you could go with a different one depending on the accessories you plan on adding. I plan to add more stuff in the future so I wanted room to grow.
USB Outlets x2
Total current price for these items was 139.73 plus any tax you might have.
Install
I started by running the continuous hot wire to the battery lug and routing it over to where I wanted to place the Fuse Block, which is located on the driver's side fender. Next, I ran the ground wire to the ground lug that comes off of the battery post and is connected to the body just behind the driver's side head light. For the ignition power, I ran a wire from the factory fuse block located right between the battery and the driver's fender where I mounted my fuse block. I did not have an add-a-fuse for the ignition wire so I simply took a spade terminal and cut one leg off to insert it into the empty fuse socket (this will be changed at a later date). After routing the wires and cutting them to length, I connected them to the fuse block with ring terminals and mounted the fuse block to the fender with self tapping screws. I would recommend using a little spray paint on the screw holes to prevent rusting but make sure you take the time to tape everything off real well to prevent over spray.
NOTE: Once you route the 18 gauge wires down from the engine block and move on to the rest of the routing process, make sure that you keep track of which wires run into the rear seat area and which ones run into the cargo area. Also, do not connect then to the fuse block yet. If you choose to go ahead and connect them to the fuse block, do not put a fuse in line yet. This will prevent the exposed ends from coming in contact with grounded body surfaces while routing them through the interior. I connected mine to continuous power so if you connected them to ignition this should not be a problem as long as the ignition remains off.
After running my power wires in the engine bay and mounting the fuse block, I used a wire to run the 18 gauge wire down along side the driver's side strut. You will want to run four sets of the 18 gauge wire (two for each USB plugs for each of the units). It is best to have someone underneath the vehicle to grab each wire as they are fed down but this can be done by one person. My son came over to help with this and was the one under my Patriot. He routed the wires along the fuel lines and zip tied them in place. We will need to come back and put some wire loom on the wires to prevent excessive wear on the wires at a later date.
Once you get the wires run down the from the engine bay, you will want to locate the plug under the driver's side carpet. It is in front of the seat and along the door frame and is easily found while under the vehicle. There is a hard sound barrier coating over the plug that was fairly easily chipped away with a sturdy knife. Remove the access plug and route the cables through the hole. At this point we needed to make a run to the local automotive parts store to get a new grommet. The factory one was hard plastic and we wanted a rubber one. Also pick up some rubber gasket adhesive if you do not have any to seal this up once you are done running the wires. The grommets were about $4 and I already had some RTV gasket adhesive. As an alternative, you could skip the rubber gasket and just seal the rest of the hole up with the gasket adhesive but for $4 it was worth getting the grommet to me.
Now that you have all of the wires run through the new rubber gasket, route the wires along the driver's side door frame under the molding. You will want to run two sets of wires to the rear seat area and two sets of wires to the cargo area. For the rear seat area, you have two options for routing the wires over to the center console. The simplest is to just run the wires on top of the carpet and under your floor mats. We went the slightly harder route and ran the wires under the carpet itself. Again, it is best to have an extra person to help out here but could possibly be done by a single person. Feed the wires under the carpet with your hand until you get to the center hump where the center console is at (as a side note, at this point you should have the center console removed. To do so, open it up and remove the two philips screws in the bottom. From there just life the rear of the console up and pull it out). Push the wires up along the hump and have another person grab the wires with their fingers.
With the center console fully removed from the vehicle (don't forget to disconnect the 4x4 switch if you have it equipped in your vehicle), take it to the cargo area or work bench to mount the USB sockets. I had planned on using a hole saw for this but we could not find the correct arbor for the 1 inch hole saw and had to use a step bit. If using a step bit that is not the exact size, once you get the hole drilled out, simply wobble the hole out to make it larger. Go slowly, checking the fit of the USB socket regularly. Also, make sure you keep the holes even so that the face plate will center over them and the sockets will go into it easily. Once you have the holes cut and the USB sockets mounted, return the center console to the vehicle and put it back in place. Connect the wires to the USB sockets, paying attention to the polarity (pos and neg). Make sure you reconnect the 4x4 switch prior to screwing the center console back in place (it's annoying to have to remove it again....trust me on this one).
For the cargo area, I chose to mount it on the driver's side rear tire well area. You will want to remove the molding over the rear tail gate area to make this easier. Simply pull the molding out to gain access to this area. Basically just repeat the drilling process that you used on the center console here. Make sure you place the sockets low enough not to be put in a bind by the rear tire fender well as I did. In the final pictures you will see that I messed this part up and it resulted in me not being able to return the molding all the way back to its original place. I now have about 1/4 of an inch gap at the top.
You should be about done at this point. Return to the engine bay and connect the power wires and try everything out before replacing all of the molding. As long as everything works at this point, replace all of the molding and button everything up. Again, make sure that you check everything out prior to replacing all of the molding to make sure it all works properly. If you are unsure of your wiring, use a cheap device to check that there is power at each of the USB plugs to prevent damage to a valuable phone or some other expensive device.
Final Pictures
Engine bay area and fuse block with cables tied down. I will finish this up with some loom later on to make it look a little nicer.
Cargo area. Notice the slight gap at the top under the window. I wish I had paid slightly better attention here and measured the depth of everything to prevent this from happening. This project took a lot longer than we had expected and we were rushing ourselves at this point. You could probably have moved the USB plugs down a bit and gained the needed inch or so of back spacing.
Notes and lessons learned
All of this was done on a 2016 Patriot Sport 4x4. Some things may change depending on your year so be prepared.
As I already mentioned, make sure when doing the cargo area plugs to get proper clearance for them so that everything will go back in place correctly.
Have some wire loom on hand to keep from having to go back at a later date to finish everything up.
If you unsure on how to remove something like the center console or any of the molding, watch some YouTube videos in advance. We had to stop occasionally to do a little research to figure these things out which made this project take that much longer in the end.
Make sure any plugs that you unplug get plugged back up prior to finishing everything up.
Check, double check and triple check everything prior to replacing all the molding and other parts.
You will need some basic tools like screw drivers, wire strippers, wire crimpers, etc to do this job. A multimeter or voltage light is also nice to have but you could get by without it if you know what you are doing.
Makes sure you clean your danged vehicle out real well prior to taking pictures of it and posting them on the internet. Don't haul hay and chicken feed before doing this!
As I stated above, I wired everything to continuous power, meaning they are hot all the time. There is a small LED on each of the USB sockets to show that it has power. This should not put too much of a drain on the battery but if it causes problems, I may have to switch one or both over to ignition. With the fuse block this is simply a 60 second or so fix.
Be prepared for a lengthy project. Total time for us was about 8 hours. Hopefully this guide will shave some time off of anyone else wanting to tackle this but it is not the 2 hour job I was expecting.
Side Project
While doing this, I also replaced all of the interior lights, the tag lights and backup lights with new LED bulbs. Only took a few minutes to do so and they make a HUGE difference to the lighting inside of the vehicle. I ordered them for $19.99 from the below link.
LED bulb package
