Replace VW California kitchen 12v socket with USB ports

Replacing the 12v outlet in the kitchen cabinet with a USB charger unit or something more useful is really easy. All without making any permanent modifications to your van and under $20.

VW Caliornia Ocean fitted with USB quick charger in kitchen cabinet.

I assume many California owners might be in a similar situation: you use your regular 220v phone charger on the inverter outlet or you have a 12v USB charger you plug into your 12v outlets throughout the van.

I used to plug my regular iPhone charger into the inverter socket. It’s not problematic, but it wasn’t as streamlined as I would have liked it. But, what bothered me a bit more, was having that 12v outlet right there and not making any use of it.

I did some research but couldn’t really find much information on how to do this. Some suggested you had to work from the inside, between the cabinet and sink, or even remove the sink altogether. I removed my drawer and had a quick look… there was barely enough space to fit my iPhone to record a video to see what was actually in there. Seeing it was impossible to do anything without removing the sink, I figured I’d remove the plastic cover on the outside and go from there. To clarify, mine is a 2018 California Ocean/Coast T6.

A little bit of background

I had never used that 12v socket and couldn’t really imagine using it in the future. In fact, it really made me wonder why Volkswagen would insist, in this day and age, on using a 12v outlet there, rather than replacing it with a more versatile USB-A or USB-C.

I looked into some of the possible replacement options and, while there are plenty out there, I had some requirements that helped me narrow things down considerably:

• I didn’t want to use a 12v USB charger/adapter, even the low profile ones. I didn’t want any residual energy drain from the leisure batteries when the charger sat in the socket with nothing plugged into it (and I didn’t want to have to remove it and store it when it was not in use).
• That led me to start looking for an actual 12v USB charger that was not an adapter. I wanted one that would prevent that small power drain when not in use, so I started looking for one with an on/off switch. And I wanted it to be a physical switch, not a touch button.
• This was probably the hardest requirement to find a nice solution for: I was after a discreet on/off indicator just to know if the unit was turned off or not when there was nothing plugged in. The problem was they all had way too many LEDs and flashing lights. I ended up going for one that looked like it’d produce the least amount of light. It simply has a built-in voltmeter showing leisure batteries voltage while the unit is turned on and doesn’t do anything fancy while charging.
• Finally, I wanted something that would be able to deliver as much power as possible and be future-proof. If it could charge my Macbook Air even better. So, I ended up going for one that has 1x USB-A port that supports QuickCharge 3 and 1x USB-C port with PD which should supposedly deliver something like 30W… I have not tested it yet but will let you know once I do.

What you’ll need

Here’s the list of things you’ll need:

1. The 12v USB charger unit that will replace the regular 12v outlet.
2. A plastic pry tool. This is not a must, and you can use anything you are comfortable with as long as you are careful enough and don’t scratch the cabinet.
3. A Torx/star/6 point screwdriver. I don’t know the size, so if you don’t have one, you might want to complete the first step of the instructions below and see for yourself.
4. A half-round file. This is assuming your USB unit doesn’t fit in the frame. You could also use a sharp knife. Mine didn’t fit, so I started with the knife but ended up using a half-round file to make things a little quicker.

That’s it! No wires or connectors are needed, as you’ll be using the original ones.

How to replace the 12v socket for USB ports

Now, the actual step-by-step guide on how to replace that 12v outlet with some USB ports. The process is really easy (if I was able to do it, anyone can), it doesn’t require any really special tool, and it does not require noticeable or permanent modifications to the van. Yay!

Remove the cover

The first thing you need to do is remove the cover/silver frame. This is all plastic and it’s rather tight. It’s held in place by small flaps at the top and bottom, so that’s where you want to focus. I went in from the side and worked my way to the top, slowly as I wasn’t sure how it was held in place. I used a plastic pry tool, but you can use anything thin enough; just be careful not to scratch the cabinet.

VW California kitchen 12v outlet with the cover removed.

Unscrew the 12v outlet

Remove the 4 Torx screws. The outlet should come right off. The cables are not really tight, so there’s no real risk of yanking them out.

12v outlet unscrewed.

Disconnect and dismantle the 12v outlet

Disconnect the cables (take a picture in case you need to know how they were connected). Now you’ll need to remove the 12v outlet from its frame so that you can reutilize the frame with the USB charger. I found this was quite firm, so I thought it would be easier if I removed the metal part first and then do the green bit. To do this, I ended up placing it so it would stand against the floor on the connection terminals and pushed the frame down while trying to pull out the little flap that seemed to hold it in place. You’ll end up with this:

The metal part of the 12v outlet.

The frame with the 12v green portion still in it.

Next, you need to remove the green part from the frame. I tried the same approach of placing it on the floor and pushing the frame down, but that broke a little piece from the bottom (doesn’t seem critical, but was not the right approach) so I pushed on the flaps that hold it in place with a flat screwdriver. You essentially need to end up with an empty frame.

Prepare the frame

Once you have the frame without the green part, you might need to make the hole a little bit bigger. It depends on your USB charger unit, but I found mine wouldn’t fit. It was only a tiny bit that needed to come off, so I tried using a sharp knife first, eating away some of the plastic. I ended up getting a half-round file which finished the job quicker. This is the only “permanent” modification required and it looks like it could all go back together without problems. This is what mine looked like when I was done:

Made that opening a little bit bigger so my unit would fit.

Put your USB charger unit in

Once your charger fits, you need to decide if you want to keep the lid or not (assuming your charger came with one). You can see the lid in the picture below, but I decided I didn’t want it and removed it before I put everything back together. Secure the unit to the frame using the provided tightening wheel.

This has not been tightened yet.

Connect the cables

Now you can connect the cables back. It’s great that the original connectors can be used so there’s no need to make any changes to the wiring.

The original connectors should work nicely. No need to mess with the wiring. Yay!

This is a great moment to make sure it all works as intended. In fact, you could check as soon as you disconnect your 12v outlet to ensure you didn’t get a faulty USB charger unit.

It works… but that seems a little brighter than I expected!

Put it back into the cabinet

Now you can start putting things back. Place the frame on the cabinet and screw it back in.

Then simply push the silver plastic frame on. Remember, it’s held in place from the top and bottom, so make sure to give it a nice push in those areas, above and under each socket.

And, you are done! Now you can take better advantage of that outlet.

Much more useful.

I hope you found this useful. I will update this guide as soon as I’ve had a chance to test it out in detail. Below are a few things I still want to check (leave a comment if you have tried any of the below and have an answer):

• Is the light too bright? Will it be a problem if charging during the night?
• Is there any residual power consumption when the unit is switched off?
• Is the built-in voltmeter accurate?
• Can the USB-C PD port charge a Macbook Air? And a Macbook Pro?
• The USB charger came with a 10A in-cable fuse. As I didn’t want to mess with the California’s original wiring and connectors, I did not use that. So, now I need to find out if there is a fuse for the original 12v outlet. If there is and it is exclusive to that one outlet, I will replace with a 10A fuse and update the guide.

Follow me for more California guides. Next one up: how to identify and fixe faucet and water pump issues… I’ve had threedifferent problems that left me without water already, so stay tuned!