2002 GPS Hardwire Help

[dndsam]

I am new to the community. I have visited numerous times and have found this site to be VERY helpful. Thanks to all for your insight in the past. I hope to contribute in some way in the future.

I have decided I want to try and hardwire my Garmin GPS into the Explorer. I am wanting to mount it and run the wires along the left side of the dash, which would put me close to the fuse box. I have 2 wires that need to be connected at the end of the lead.

Where do you your recommend connecting the wires? Is there a way I can use an empty fuse slot or do I need to splice the wires into something?

I am fairly mechanically inclined, but I figured I would run this by you all before I start trialing and error.

Doug

 

[jad2411]

You need to check how many volts is your gps, if it's not 12v then don't hard wire it like that, you'd need to keep the plug it comes with (it has the circuits inside) and plug that to a hidden 12v socket.

Welcome to the forum BTW!

 

[jrford]

i mounted mine using the Radio wires, there is a ground and acc. Using the Acc it will turn the GPS on automatically when you start and turn it off just the same. I have a Nuvi 250. Its kinda of hard to see but the wire runs from the back of the nuvi to under the defroster vents cover.

 

[Joe Dirt]

I did the same thing as Jim- Ran mine through the defroster vent.

I hardwired mine with a wire I got on Amazon.

You need a different wire, you can't cut the cigarette lighter adapter off and use that one, as the voltage regulator and fuse for the GPS is inside of the cigarette lighter plug itself. If you do that and you get any sort of voltage surge, it'll fry your GPS since the GPS runs at such a low voltage.

I wired to the radio as well it comes on with the key, and off when I kill the ignition. Works awesome

This is the wire you need to have:

CLICK ME

 

[jrford]

Good clarification . . Thats what i installed too using the radio wires. For Reference the GPS is only like 6V or 6.4v DC it must be stepped down from 12v. Thats what i bought too.

 

[dndsam]

That is the wire setup I have, just not sure where to spice it in. Sounds like the radio hot wire is the way to go.

 

[Joe Dirt]

The radio wire is good- but any wire switched with the ignition is good...

 

[dndsam]

Thanks for all of the advice. I installed it tonight, and it is AWESOME! Long overdue. Now I have to put one in my wifes 08 Limited!

 

[Joe Dirt]

Watch one thing- the plug on that unit seems to lose connection after a period of time (like months, but then it's pretty often) and the GPS has a tendency to not charge fully. Once your GPS is dead, you'll have to charge on a computer, the charger will not revive it. Once in a while, push the plug back in again. It also will recharge my MP3 player (mini-USB) and I noticed that I had to push hard to make connection inside the unit, and after riding around a few minutes I had to do it again to get it to start charging again.