Connecting GPS straight to battery

[danny_mart]

hey was wondering is it possible to cut the wires from a tom tom and connect it straight to the battery just hate having cables plugging into things
kind of looks messy....dont wanna cut the cables and find out i cant do it...
ive done it with neons before just wondering if anyone has done it with gps...

[bungsai]

don't see why not. Just make sure you put a fuse there as the ciggy lighter adaptor would have an inbuilt fuse in it. You may also want to make sure you tap into regulated power and not unregulated power if your device is a bit sensitive when it comes to stuff like that. I cant however imagine your GPS being too sensitive as it taps into unregulated cig lighter power anyway.

[danny_mart]

still have a problem of just cutting the cable....
as it is just one thick cable will there be many cables inside...
or just one power source cable as it is a charger...

[Kiz_EG6]

Are you guys sure??

I know that in a lot of cigarette lighter chargers, the fuse is in the plug itself!!
If you cut that off and hardwire it directly to the battery is it safe against a shock from poor earthing or bad alternator/regulator??

[dsp26]

don't see why not. Just make sure you put a fuse there as the ciggy lighter adaptor would have an inbuilt fuse in it. You may also want to make sure you tap into regulated power and not unregulated power if your device is a bit sensitive when it comes to stuff like that. I cant however imagine your GPS being too sensitive as it taps into unregulated cig lighter power anyway.

good advice... this applies to any electrical accessory to the car especially rearview cameras since they don't have a built-in regulator circuit.

[bungsai]

still have a problem of just cutting the cable....
as it is just one thick cable will there be many cables inside...
or just one power source cable as it is a charger...

there should only be two wires in your ciggy lighter wires once you cut it.

Power and ground.

Add a fuse to the power wire and then you should be set.

its handy having a backup ciggy lighter adaptor if you want to use the GPS in another car or you screw something up.

[dsp26]

there should only be two wires in your ciggy lighter wires once you cut it.

Power and ground.

Add a fuse to the power wire and then you should be set.

its handy having a backup ciggy lighter adaptor if you want to use the GPS in another car or you screw something up.

if its going to be constantly on he may need to up the fuse... i had my aftermarket power windows running off the ciggy wiring which i think was 10a or 15a... putting thw windows down while the ciggy lighter was working would blow the fuse...

[bungsai]

if its going to be constantly on he may need to up the fuse... i had my aftermarket power windows running off the ciggy wiring which i think was 10a or 15a... putting thw windows down while the ciggy lighter was working would blow the fuse...

quoted for truth.

Solid.

[bungsai]

You guys are forgetting that it was engineered and built to be plugged into the cigarette lighter so it's fused and protected to the level felt necessary by the manufacturer just plugging it in there. If you hard wire it your getting the same protection. And what the heck is a "regulated power source" in a motor vehicle.... not happening.

My Jaycar touch screen 'engineered for use with its cigarette lighter' blew due to an apparent surge in power when plugged into my ciggy lighter.

a dc-dc regulator is about 25 bucks from Jaycar afaik. There is your regulated power source.

[dsp26]

You guys are forgetting that it was engineered and built to be plugged into the cigarette lighter so it's fused and protected to the level felt necessary by the manufacturer just plugging it in there. If you hard wire it your getting the same protection. And what the heck is a "regulated power source" in a motor vehicle.... not happening.

not sure what the OP has but on the Navman S series the fuse you speak of is in the actual ciggy plug... if the OP was to cut that off then he has no fuse... but all ciggy plug devices i've seen have the fuse in there. the actual unit could have a fuse inside but the external one is there so you don't have to open the device... much the same as decks where they have like 2 40amp fuses on the actual deck but another one on the +ve

and i'm honestly not sure how well honda engineered their electronics but i know on the nissan and toyota i drove previously... not every wire in the car outputs 12v.. i found a few that was outputting the alternator 14.4v output.

that is why i was provided this circuit to regulate 14.4v down to 10v when installing my rearview camera:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/dsp26/basic10vReg.jpg

[Bludger]

lol
12v is 12v

agree with claymore

wtf is regulated power source???

LOL

cigarette lighter is 12v direct from the battery via a fuse .
that was a full stop btw.

if there is any regulating, warren G would be doin it or the gps unit itself

[Bludger]

not sure what the OP has but on the Navman S series the fuse you speak of is in the actual ciggy plug... if the OP was to cut that off then he has no fuse... but all ciggy plug devices i've seen have the fuse in there. the actual unit could have a fuse inside but the external one is there so you don't have to open the device... much the same as decks where they have like 2 40amp fuses on the actual deck but another one on the +ve

and i'm honestly not sure how well honda engineered their electronics but i know on the nissan and toyota i drove previously... not every wire in the car outputs 12v.. i found a few that was outputting the alternator 14.4v output.

that is why i was provided this circuit to regulate 14.4v down to 10v when installing my rearview camera:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/dsp26/basic10vReg.jpgmaybe its made to run on 10v????

[dsp26]

yes i know, i'll admit i did forget the OP was planning on wiring it to the ciggy wiring... but what bungsai and i we're saying is not every wire on the car outputs 12v.


lol
12v is 12v

agree with claymore

wtf is regulated power source???

LOL

cigarette lighter is 12v direct from the battery via a fuse .
that was a full stop btw.

if there is any regulating, warren G would be doin it or the gps unit itself

[dsp26]

maybe its made to run on 10v????

nah 10v was a safety margin... i asked for 10v instead of 12v... and i honestly don't understand the circuit enough to change it to 12v so it's adequate to me... the components on there are common enough

[Bludger]

manufacturers of gps units and other devices of the like would surely be making the units able to run at a varying voltage that the car would be outputting

[dsp26]

manufacturers of gps units and other devices of the like would surely be making the units able to run at a varying voltage that the car would be outputting

ok was doing some research on Navman since i couldn't find any technical specs on the TomTOm as I don't own one....
it seems it can be charged on the mains power supply with a 5v regulated adapter which is not included.... if it requires this then i don't see a regulator being included in the actual unit... i did not think power regulators cannot be made compact unless they have made like a really small power transformer these days.

[bungsai]

There's a regulated power source that DOESN'T COME STOCK and has to be purchased and installed not "find the regulated power source in the car.";)

Ok. Sorry if that wasnt clear, you are 100% right.