Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Paddycakes]

I'm thinking about getting a car GPS that'll stick on the windshield, but I don't want a cable running from the GPS to the cigarette lighter.

Is there any other way to power a car GPS (maybe connect it directly to the car's electrical system?) so I don't have to have a cord running down the front of my dash?

(Regular batteries are not an option).

Do the newer model cars have any provisions for this (I'm looking at a 2008 Avante).

[Col.Brandon]

A car audio store should be able to hard-wire it for you. No guarantee that they'll do a tidy job, though. Considering that most of these guys attended the half-assed school of engineering it'll probably involve yards of duct tape and require them to chainsaw half of your dashboard off.

You might find it's easier just to route the cable around the dash yourself. Feed it through the cup-holder, then close it, and in a day or two you'll forget it's there.

[bassexpander]

I've done this with radar detectors in the past.

I just fed the wire to the fusebox (usually located somewhere around the driver's-side of the dash) and wrapped the bare end of the positive wire around one of the fuse blades, then shoved the fuse back in.



The other (negative) wire from the GPS should be grounded to the car somehow. Usually, I just loosened a screw from somewhere near there that was touching the cars metal body, and screwed it down onto the bare wire end. That way it's grounded.

Some of the fuses will be hot all of the time, others will turn on when the car turns on. I usually spliced into one of the ones that turned on with the car. Your car might even have a space called "Accessory" in the fusebox. You can get a blade-shaped end for your wire, attach that, and shove that blade into the accessory terminal for power, too. That is the best way.

For the negative ground wire, it's much cleaner if you attach an end like one of these, using a wire-cutting tool or needle-nose pliers to crimp it on: