Hardwiring Nuvi 2495

[DSouter]

Anyone found a way to hardwire a Nuvi 2495 direct into a cars electrics. I find the cigarette plug too unreliable - on bumpy road it doesn't always make contact and you end up with a flat (Nuvi) battery.

[Jan Horn]

Welcome to the GPS users Forum
The plug contains electronics to reduce the voltage to 5.2v. Do not attempt to cut the wire and hot wire the unit. Those who tried that ended up with a fried unit.
Ways that were discussed on the Old Garmap forum are to use a cigarette lighter plug connected through a 1amp fuse to the car electrics keeping polarity in mind behind the dash. The type that is sold to dubbel the cigarette lighter so that you can fit other items like an in car cell charger is normally tighter fitting and slightly deeper and less prone to shaking lose. A bit a insulation tape around the connection should also prevent that. You can also use a large "chocolate block" connector to connect a wire to the center pin and solder a wire to the negative (earth) connection. The chocolate block will help isolate the center pin to prevent a short circuit but it would be safer to use plenty of insulation tape to tape it all up after you have made all the connections and do not forget to wire it through an inline fuse.

[DSouter]

Hi Jan

I understand that there are electronics in the cigarette plug but surely it is possible to open the end of the plug an run a wire from the + & - wires direct to a fused feed. I could then hide the main part of the cigarette plug out of the way.

[Jan Horn]

I may not have been clear when I described the first option. The connecter suggested has a male plug for inserting into the cigarette lighter plug and two female plugs to allow multiple accessories to be connect at the same time. Cut the lea d of one of the female plugs close to the male plug and hot wire that to the cars electrics behind the dash.
The GPS charger is fitted with a 1 amp fuse which can be accessed by using a coin to push the centre pin in to be able to loosen the retaining cap. See the attached photo. It would be easy to discard the centre pin and modify a fuse to use to connect a wire to the charger.

[DSouter]

Here is a reply I got from Garmin

Hi Derek

Yes the guys do hard wire the charging cables into their vehicles.

As long as the auto electrician does not bypass the stepdown in the charger it should be fine.

Regards

Jacques Pretorius
Customer Service Administrator
Garmin Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd | http://www.garmin.co.za
First Floor I 5 Sturdee Ave I Rosebank I Johannesburg I 2169
Phone: +27 11 251 9999

[Jan Horn]

Thanks for sharring the comments by Jacques of Garmin.