hardwiring 12v (car lighter) GPS Unit? How?
bertbarndoor
Hi, I have a Garmin Nuvi GPS unit which plugs into my car cigarette
lighter. On the one end it is a 12v cigarette adapter and on the other
end it is a mini-usb. It looks kind of ugly with all the wires hanging
out. My idea was to purchase an extra 12v cigarette wire/charger for
it and hardwire it to my car and run the wires behind the dash, but I
don't know how to hook it up.
Can I just splice the wire into the 12v ignition power wire that runs
to my stereo? Should I splice it in to the back of the lighter??? Will
it have a positive and a negative? How can I hardwire it so that it
will have current when the car is on (key is turned). I just installed
a new receiver, so I am kind of in the zone right now as far as where
all the wires are, so if anyone could provide some info on how to do
it, then that would be great.
Just to reiterate, I want to buy a 12v car lighter to mini usb to
power my Garmine GPS, cut the cigarette end off and hardwire it to the
ignition so that it is powered when the car is on... How could I do
this and how would be wired??
Thanks!@! -Rob
hardwiring 12v (car lighter) GPS Unit? How?
ra...@vt.edu
> out. My idea was to purchase an extra 12v cigarette wire/charger for
> it and hardwire it to my car and run the wires behind the dash, but I
> don't know how to hook it up.
> Can I just splice the wire into the 12v ignition power wire that runs
> to my stereo? Should I splice it in to the back of the lighter??? Will
> it have a positive and a negative? How can I hardwire it so that it
> will have current when the car is on (key is turned). I just installed
I would choose the back of the lighter, or possibly the radio's switched
supply. Check if your lighter is switched on/off with the ignition.
Decide from there. Yes, there will be a 12V positive and ground.
Look carefully at the wires on your charger before cutting the end off.
There should be some way to distinquish between the two. Plug the cut
off end into the lighter and measure to see which wire is 12V positive
and which is ground. Be careful to hook up the other part in accordance
with what you observe. Good luck, and be careful about polarity . . .
Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.
Palindrome
contains electronics to reduce the nominal 12v of the car electrics down
to 5 volt for the GPS. Chopping off the plug and hard-wiring it in with
put 12v, rather than 5 v, into the Nuvi and release a lot of "magic,
one-time, flame and smoke".
A safer way is to get a lighter extension cord. Plug the Nuvi power cord
into it and hide most of both behind the dash - just leaving the two
plugs( the Nuvi mini USB and the extension lighter plug) to come out
near the relevant socket. I would suggest firmly taping the Nuvi lighter
plug into the extension socket, to stop any possibility of it vibrating
loose.
If you really want to hard wire it in - chop the *lighter* plug off the
*extension* cable and hard wire the extension cable in. To be safe, you
need to add an inline fuse. You can get these from Maplin. A three amp
fuse should be fine. However, you do need to identify which core of the
lead is which and do need to choose the right point in the wiring
harness to connect to. I've seen a few car wiring loom fires in the past
-so I would stick with an extension cord and a plug that goes into your
existing lighter socket, IIWY.
--
Sue
James Sweet
> I can check if you want - but I suspect that the Nuvi "lighter plug"
> contains electronics to reduce the nominal 12v of the car electrics down
> to 5 volt for the GPS. Chopping off the plug and hard-wiring it in with
> put 12v, rather than 5 v, into the Nuvi and release a lot of "magic,
> one-time, flame and smoke".
>
It does, the charging jack on the Nuvi is a USB plug, the lighter plug
contains a 5V regulator so you can't just chop the plug off, but you
could open it up and hard wire the regulator circuit board, or just buy
a lighter socket and mount it in a concealed place with the charger
plugged into it.
Jeff Strickland
"bertbarndoor" <bertba...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1ef51aa0-b9c5-44d5...@x35g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>
> Hi, I have a Garmin Nuvi GPS unit which plugs into my car cigarette
> lighter. On the one end it is a 12v cigarette adapter and on the other
> end it is a mini-usb. It looks kind of ugly with all the wires hanging
> out. My idea was to purchase an extra 12v cigarette wire/charger for
> it and hardwire it to my car and run the wires behind the dash, but I
> don't know how to hook it up.
>
> Can I just splice the wire into the 12v ignition power wire that runs
> to my stereo? Should I splice it in to the back of the lighter???
I would wire it to the back of the lighter. You MUST observe proper polarity
(positive and ground), and you will also want to fuse it at an amp or so.
The cigarette lighter is typically fused somewhere in the neighborhood of 30
amps, and your GPS will burst into flames long before a 30A fuse blows if
the GPS develops a short.
Will
> it have a positive and a negative? How can I hardwire it so that it
> will have current when the car is on (key is turned). I just installed
> a new receiver, so I am kind of in the zone right now as far as where
> all the wires are, so if anyone could provide some info on how to do
> it, then that would be great.
>
> Just to reiterate, I want to buy a 12v car lighter to mini usb to
> power my Garmine GPS, cut the cigarette end off and hardwire it to the
> ignition so that it is powered when the car is on... How could I do
> this and how would be wired??
>
Just buy a cigarette lighter socket and move on. You already have the part
that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket and into the GPS, so buy a
generic cigarette lighter socket and hook it up.
bertbarndoor
bought a female 12v cigarette lighter end from radio shack (aka The
Source) and a few vampire taps. I'm going to go into the back of the
dash find the hookups to the lighter and just tap in with the
vampires. Then I'm going to run the GPS cord in behind everything and
just plug the thing in to the new outlet. The lighter does come on via
the ignition, so it isn't going to be constant juice which is good. I
like the idea of taping it in so it doesn't vibrate loose. I think
this is the best solution. The only issue I have now is trying to
figure out the best exit point for the usb end that plugs into the
Garmin. My prelude doesn't have anything obvious... I might *gasp*
drill a hole. We'll see. Thanks again all....
ha ha, magic, smoke... :)
Palindrome
If the "vampire tap" you mean what I would call a Scotchblock" connector:
http://www.elise-shop.com/images/ScotchBL.jpg
Do make sure that it is the right size for the wires used. (The wires
going to the free socket should be the same size as the wires that you
are taping into.)
Too small and there is a risk that the original conductor will be
damaged. Too big and there is a risk of a high resistance connection.
I would repeat my suggestion (also echoed by others) that you add an
inline fuse.
--
Sue
bertbarndoor
> I would repeat my suggestion (also echoed by others) that you add an
> inline fuse.
>
The radio shack female cigarette connector has an inline fuse already
attached to it. Saves me some trouble... Anyhow, thanks again for all
the advice...
Roy
Re: hardwiring 12v (car lighter) GPS Unit? How?
Group: alt.engineering.electrical Date: Sat, May 10, 2008, 8:06am
(EDT-3) From: bertba...@gmail.com (bertbarndoor)
Of Course - A way of attaching it is to get a small L shaped (1x2) piece
of plate metal and bore a hole sized for the outlet and 2 mounting holes
for the screws this way you can attach it without damaging your dash or
interiors much....
Roy Q.T. ~ US/NCU ~ E.E. Technician
[have tools, will travel]
Jeff Strickland
"Roy" <ROY...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:3373-482...@storefull-3252.bay.webtv.net...
I think the goal is to have the miniature USB sticking out as a pigtail,
with the remainder of the stuff hidden from view.
Roy
(Jeff Strickland)
"Roy" <ROY...@webtv.net> wrote
Group: alt.engineering.electrical Date: Sat, May 10, 2008, 8:06am
(EDT-3) From: bertba...@gmail.com (bertbarndoor) I would repeat my
suggestion (also echoed by others) that you add an inline fuse.
The radio shack female cigarette connector has an inline fuse already
attached to it. Saves me some trouble... Anyhow, thanks again for all
the advice...
-----------------------
Of Course - A way of attaching it is to get a small L shaped (1x2) piece
of plate metal and bore a hole sized for the outlet and 2 mounting holes
for the screws this way you can attach it without damaging your dash or
interiors much....
I think the goal is to have the miniature USB sticking out as a
pigtail, with the remainder of the stuff hidden from view.
In that case he should be sure to tie it up tight under so there won't
be a chance of any strain on the joint and cabling, to avoid a tangle or
inadvertant pull on the wires., & so it won't yank the splice or
anything else out with it.