Hardwiring Sat Nav - Where to tap into?

[dickys3]

Hi all,

I've got a PDA running Tomtom and want to hardwire the power cables into the fusebox rather than plugging it into the cig lighter.

The pda cradle is a sucker mount located on the drivers side right by the A pillar. I was planning on running the cables down the side and straight into the fusebox. Anyone done this? Anyone got any suggestions/gotchas etc.

Should be straight forward but just checking in case. Also, which cable to I piggy back it onto? I want it connected to a Ignition live. Are they marked? Easy to find?

Cheers
Rich.

 

[dickys3]

Hi Stuart.

Welcome to the Forum!

Thanks for that, I'm hoping I'l have a go on the weekend. I cant stand all the cables that are currently running inside my car, looks really messy!

I'l try and take some pics (step by step) Maybe it will be usefull for others....

Thanks
Rich.

 

[stuarthodgson]

Just one word of warning - the TomTom cradle is fine, it takes a 12v feed and knocks it down to the right voltage (3.6 I think), other cradles don't, the transformer is in the cig lighter plug! You can tell anyway, by looking at the cradle it will have markings on saying what the input is and which is positive.

From my research of battery drain, apparently it would take a few years to drain the battery from the light feed that keeps the GPS running, I prefer that to a delay in getting a fix, which can be a minute or two on a bad day - fussy I know, but I'm like that. Thats why I did it in the first place - to get rid of all the ****ing cables which spoil a neat car. You can also tuck the spare cable to the GPS under the dash as well. I'll post some pics later.

 

[dickys3]

I got the Carcomm cradle (The only one that has been designed for the XDA2).

All the other cradles are generic ones that you have to squeeze the side arms together to hold it in place! And then you have to manually connect the power cable to the bottom of the PDA!

The kit came with a fuse and some other items to hardwire it to the car so hopefully it should be ok (I will check though!)

I have got a Bluetooth GPS Reciever (Tomtom) and did think about having it permanently powered up in the car. The only issue with this is the manual says it will kill the battery if I have it powered all the time! Although I normally only use it in my car, it is handy to be able to move it about so I'm not going to bother. I will just leave the power cable for the reciever tucked somewhere on my dash so I can plug it in when I need to.

Cheers
Rich.

 

[stuarthodgson]

Pics as promised, sorry for the quality - taken with the iPAQ.

 

[stuarthodgson]

No 2

 

[stuarthodgson]

No 3 - Blimey at this rate I'll be a veteran /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif

 

[stuarthodgson]

Haven't got any tools on me so didn't take the dash apart to show the connection into the fuse box.

Basically remove top and bottom bolt holding in place, it should then push back slightly and then be able to pull it forwards at an angle. The back of the box hinges open to get to the wires.

 

[jediknight]

very tidy! where did you get that bracket though?

 

[dickys3]

Looks good. I think you can buy the brodit mount from www.totalpda.co.uk

 

[neil.c]

You could come off the ignition feed for the radio or piggyback onto the back of the cigarette lighter,I've soldered a cigarette lighter trailing socket onto these locations before and left it in the centre storage space, it is not messy but is easy to get to if disconnection is required.

My bluetooth receiver is left permantly plugged in so it is charged while I drive, I leave it switched on all day to discharge and turn it off every night so it does not fully discharge.

 

[S3_MCD]

[ QUOTE ]
neil.c said:
You could come off the ignition feed for the radio or piggyback onto the back of the cigarette lighter,I've soldered a cigarette lighter trailing socket onto these locations before and left it in the centre storage space, it is not messy but is easy to get to if disconnection is required.

My bluetooth receiver is left permantly plugged in so it is charged while I drive, I leave it switched on all day to discharge and turn it off every night so it does not fully discharge.


[/ QUOTE ]

?not all cig lighters / radios have ignition feed?
There is a power block available under the drivers side dash ... easy removal with a few hex screws, both battery and ignition feeds. Had to tap into it for ignition feed for blue tooth car kit installation.