Well I'll be darned. You're spot on. I've been looking at that thing
mildly pondering what it is for a few years now. Funny story: Like 4
feet away from it, I've got a BMW R1150RT, and I'm using that for the
float charger that I keep it on when not riding. Just pulled the
connector out, plugged it into the Vanagon, and voila 12.84v. Mystery
solved.

I'd put good money on it being stock, at least for some models. Mine's a
1984 auto Westy, I'm basically 3rd owner and I met the original. His
parents bought it new off the lot here in San Diego. So confirmed US
model, with confirmed ISO-4165, and almost entirely certain it's not an
aftermarket thing. Too clean, and of the other owners 2 of the 3 were
not modders. Dunno about the middle one, but no other indications of any
non-stock activity and I'd say there's too many of these floating around
looking precisely correct for it to be an aftermarket mod.

There's a link in the samba forum for a mod to replace it, but I'd
personally leave it stock and just get something like this on amazon;
you can adapt it to a standard US cig or use the SAE thing to jack it
into anything else. I'm using the SAE one on my Beemer. Might actually
do the same on the Vanagon now that I know about this; much cleaner than
popping the battery lid and clamping the float charger on.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RPTZNPR
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=650483
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4165

This is the conversion mod, but yeah, I generally don't like to do any
sort of defacing mods to these old classics. I'm all for upgrades that
are fully reversible, but when you start getting drills and grinders out
it makes me twitch a bit... That's just me tho.

https://campwestfalia.com/replacing-the-vanagon-westfalia-cigarette-lighter/

On 5/5/25 9:31 AM, Mark McCulley wrote:
> I'll take a guess and say it's a Powerlet socket, often used on motorcycles, but I've never seen one in a Vanagon. Amazon has some Powerlet accessories like USB chargers and voltmeters.
>
> https://www.amazon.com/powerlet/s?k=powerlet
>
> Was your van imported from Europe? Or maybe the previous owner put this in
>
> -Mark
>
>> On May 5, 2025, at 6:48 AM, Eric Caron <ericcaron96@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
>>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>>         What is the name of the European 12 volt connector in my 84 vanagon that is mounted to the right of the cigarette lighter?  And, is there anything useful, direct fit thing, that can replace it like a USB C port or something?
>> The opening is too small for a standard 12 volt power point.  Drilling it out looks very tricky, and messy.  A direct fit useful thing to use that available hot wire sounds like a fun project.
>> Eric Caron
>> 84 Westfalia.
>

--
Regards,

Ed Hintz
ed@hintz.org