Mobile Phone connector in the battery compartment

[Richmmm]

In my 1992 SE, there is a Mobile Phone connector in the battery compartment.

Any ideas what type of connector it is and where to get a plug to mate wih the connector?

Regards, Rich

[Jon]

It's not a factory cable - any chance it's something to do with a trickle charger?

Are you able to provide some photos?

[Simon_P]

There is a wiring diagram somewhere for the mobile phone and some detail of the wiring in the "upgrades section" for heated seats. the connectors are listed separately and that page is in the wiki under Electrics

[Richmmm]

Hello all,

I have found some more info, in the wiring manual. It says the Connector that mates with the car is part no. 511550006 and the pins are 51101169 available from Rists (?)
It looks like a Mate-n-lok type connector, maybe some this from RS or Farnell.

Anyone know what Rists is?

Rich

[KenS]

There are a number of 'Lucas Rists' connectors on ebay, an example:

rists.JPG

not sure which polarity is required

[Saltire]

Hello all,

I have found some more info, in the wiring manual. It says the Connector that mates with the car is part no. 511550006 and the pins are 51101169 available from Rists (?)
It looks like a Mate-n-lok type connector, maybe some this from RS or Farnell.

Anyone know what Rists is?

Rich

Rists (more correctly Rists Wires and Cables Ltd) was a West-Midlands-based manufacturer of wiring and cable components. IIRC, they were operating during the ‘60s and ‘70s and went out of business in the early ‘80s. At that time, it was quite common to see electrical components referred to with a Rists part number.

No idea where you’d get one now, although I’d have thought Ken's eBay solution was a good place to start.

If all else fails, you could always use a USB adapter in the lighter socket

[Jon]

If all else fails, you could always use a USB adapter in the lighter socket

I would have thought this would have to be the way to go (unless you are sporting a seriously antique mobile phone...

[Elanlover]

Or, simply cut off the connector and install one that's not obsolete.

[peteoddcar]

The 4 way shown is the one I am quite sure.
Lotus history lesson coming up !
I recall we made the decision to include the Phone connector in response to other Lotus models having suffered warranty claims ( some very serious ) which when investigated, concluded that the aftermarket phone install was poor and had caused wiring failures due to there being no obvious place to connect on Esprit and Excel.
The aim of the Electrical team was to ensure that if an aftermarket phone kit was installed it would not interfere with the rest of the car’s system (think Motorola Del Boy Brick phone, cradle, transmitter / receiver box about the size of a power amplifier, which drew a lot of amps and had awful EMC fall out )
The dealers were expecting a high take of mobile phone systems from customers and dealers were keen to add it to the showroom order and offered warranted dealer fit phone installs.
I think a typical kit was north of £1k plus install.
So that’s why it was done. When I bought my car had the remnants of a phone kit in the rear area but the connector hadn’t been used - I suspect the message didn’t get through to the dealer network electricians or their phone install contractors.
But it’s useful to have a spare dedicated battery, ignition and ground in the car!