donbrew

As far as I can tell, no difference beside the receptacle. There is a difference between "power outlet" and "cigarette/cigar lighter". The generic name of the connector is "cigarette lighter" just because people have heard of that, there is probably a technical name, like "automobile auxiliary power outlet" or "Smith & Jones connector" (I made that one up).

Oldblue

The cigarette light is different in the way the heat element is held into place, the power outlet won’t engage that heat element

donbrew

And power outlet will melt and short out the fuse from a lighter element then cause a "no communication" with the OBD2 port.

Oldblue

Possibly burn out fuse #29

Connieb48083

The engine compartment fuse diagram for 2006-2011 does identify #29 as "cigarette lighter", and #30 as"power outlet". I'm presuming one is the dash and the other the console plug. I scavanged a junkyard car to see that the vehicle with the "lighter" has 3 wires into receptacle and the one with "power outlet" has only 2 wires. That tells me there is a basic difference but as mentioned, I think it ties to the heating element of the lighter. I have the extra "power outlet" receptacle from that junker which is what I was thinking could be wired as a spare outlet, just as your recommended aftermarket one would be. The idea of tapping a spare RAP fuse and directly powering a new outlet in the upper storage compartment, is appealing. I'm going to have to look into that more. Looking at the interior fuse panel, it's not clear how you'd access things to do that.

donbrew

Do you need a cig lighter? #29 is the outlet near the window switches #30 is the one in the backseat.
You can see the difference by looking into the barrel; a cig lighter has a spring to hold the element. Either will work for an adapter; the only warning here was don't put a heater element in a power outlet, only a cig lighter.
I think the third wire is for a lighted bezel. The outlet does not have that.
Easiest way is to tap a fuse. You could dismount the BCM and backwire; just the 1 bolt.

Connieb48083

Thanks for your input. Cig lighter is not needed. I've had great input to my initial post. Thanks to all. I'm leaning towards tapping console #14 "spare" fuse using a 5a mini fuse tap adapter. 1) will there be anything I need to do to "update" car computer once I do this, or will it automatically accept it? 2) The tap fuse is a single red wire. Plug has both a red with white stripe, and black wire. Please recommend where to ground black wire near interior fuse box, or does it only need to be capped? I'd also appreciate feedback on any other info I would need to be aware of to do this. Seems simple enough, but it's always what you don't know that eventually bites you in the butt !

donbrew

Test to see which end of the fuse is fused, The computer doesn't care. Ground to any thing that is connected directly to the body, been a long time since I looked. You could just splice into the existing ground wire at the cig lighter.

Connieb48083

Please explain... I'm not sure what you mean by "test to see which end of the fuse is fused". If I'm using an existing slot in fuse box that is marked "spare", doesn't that mean it's already set up in the system to be used? In this case, #14 slot is 10amp. So I can use the add a circuit wire shown(or one like it) if I put a 5amp fuse in this harness and splice my power port plug...

se a 5amp fuse in this tap...

donbrew

One end of the fuse connects to a "hot" side, the other is the output side, if you connect to the "hot" side you bypass the fuse. The tap you linked needs to be inserted in the right orientation or you defeat the purpose of a fuse.
.NONE of the fuses are controlled by any computer. The computer does not care about fuses, NO programming needed. "Spare" means that the output side is not connected to anything and the hot side is connected to the battery positive.
Please don't be offended: I'm not sure you should be messing with thing electrical, you don't seem have a basic understanding. Maybe you are an expert and I'm wrong.