HELP need a place to hide this

[adambodkins]

I got a new garmin gps unit for my Ex tonight and I am installing it in the morning the only problem is that I don't want wires hanging all over my truck to get power to it. So I went to Autozone and bought an extra auxillary power plug tonight and now I need a place to install it so it is well hidden and I can hide the wires to my GPS. I was going to hard wire it via add a line fuse but A friend of mine told me I can't because the plug that is on the unit is a traffic plug. Meaning that I have to have that specific plug for the unit to pic up traffic and weather situations. Can someone PLEASE give me an idea of where I can hide my plug. I hate having anything showing wire wise in my EX. I take very good care of it and don't want to have it showing.

 

[corkey]

are you adverse to drilling a hole in the dash ??
if not , than put another lighter socket inside the dash by the radio, and than drill a hole on top for the wire to feed up through,, and use the mount on top of the dash,, or on the window, , that way if you aren't using the gps, you can feed the wire back down the hole, and it is not messy ,all you will have is the plug sticking out of the hole,
i am in the process of doing this for my backup camera,
maybe i will do up a post on it,,

 

[adambodkins]

see I thought about that but I would rather not drill a whole right in the center of the dash I was wanting something more stealth. I don't care if I have to leave it plugged up all the time cause I have a panel of rocker switches and I have one that nothing is pludded into so I was going to use that as a power toggle for the Aux plug I bought

 

[corkey]

okay than , bring it out thru the heater air conditioing vent just above the radio,, it iwll be short , and hidable,,

 

[adambodkins]

OK let me rephrase the question. I am needing help finding a place to hide the auxillary plug I bought. It looks like a cigarette lighter but isn't. It is a 12v female plug. I can route the wire for the GPS no problem. I just need somewhere out of the way to put that socket

 

[98xploder]

if you got a full length center console, hide that sucker under there.

 

[Riddle_Rob]

He's kinda beating around the bush. Corkey's saying put the plug behind the stereo. There's lots of space back there and under it.

 

[adambodkins]

but im worried about it grounding out touching my stereo I understand what you all are saying but wouldn't it ground out if something touched it? I have an aftermarket cd player so I could put it under it but if a wire or something hit it would it short it out and pop the fuse? or worse?

 

[Riddle_Rob]

Basically pull the 2 bolts out under the headunit in the trim. Pull the plugs off for the 4x4 switch, defrost etc etc.. then remove the plugs for the headunit as it slides out.

From there you can splice into your stock lighter harness, the aux one (if you have one) or many other 12V locations. You could also run a wire from the fuse panel to this location as well. There's pleanty of space to keep all of the wires from the extra female plug and wires from the nav. THEN while you're back in there you can run the necessary wires up or down thru the vents in the dash. Hook it all up and you're done!

 

[Riddle_Rob]

but im worried about it grounding out touching my stereo I understand what you all are saying but wouldn't it ground out if something touched it? I have an aftermarket cd player so I could put it under it but if a wire or something hit it would it short it out and pop the fuse? or worse?

Oh you're saying you got one that's unprotected?

One like this would be ideal.

If yours is bare metal, just wrap electrical tape around it for good measure. It's not like you're going to see it anyways


You got one like this I'm assuming.

It won't hurt anything. The chassis on the stereo should be grounded anyways. Try it out for yourself Get a voltmeter and put it to a source and use the deck chassis as a ground. It should show a current. Either way just wrap it in tape to keep it safe.

 

[98xploder]

yeah i would just stick some electrical tape around it. easy enough,, right?

 

[adambodkins]

true and yes it is unprotected. I didn't think about getting a protected one when I picked it up I was in a rush at autozone. I may just take it back and get a protected one with wires already attached instead of what I have then I can just tape everything together. and tuck it away. Question though. I know we can put it behind the radio. But in that little area above the cupholders there is a removeable pocket that is far easier to access than than having to disconnect everything and pull my radio out. Would something fit there ? It looks like it would cause where my ash tray is directly infront of the cup holders that is where I mounted all of my rocker switches. I took the ash tray and lid out and made a piece to cover that hole and just snapped it in place there. So above that is what I am asking about. Where the two pockets are

 

[Burns]

I would take it back and swap. Even if you tape it the tape over time could become brittle or develop a hole thus causing you a problem.

 

[muhl5443]

i would put it under the steering column. thats where i put all of mine for my gps. i put it on the lower left hand corner of the windshield as u are sitting in the x. and then ran the wires into the door jam and then under ther dash.

 

[Riddle_Rob]

Yes. I have a couple things in there now. The wiring for my Brown wire mod, the wiring for my roof rack lights, the module for my powered antenna (aftermarket). There's pleanty of space there and lots of options for power (12v) and grounds.

 

[muhl5443]

i got my remote starter wires and boxes in there and my message center mod wires in there and my aftermarket foglights in there.

 

[adambodkins]

ok I got it installed and took some pics along the way so here ya go
This is where I hid my power supply and traffic plug

This is the final spot I decided on since my tint is so dark when all the doors are closed you can't tell it is there

and these are just a few shots of how it looks all powered up. This thing does everything next to cook and drive the ex for me.

 

[adambodkins]

sorry the pics are so big and grainy I don't know why they are looking like that

 

[corkey]

good hiding job,,

 

[Riddle_Rob]

Yep. I like that. Nice install. Glad it turned out for you.