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I have a Garmin Nuvi 360 and was tired of having to power it on/off myself every time I got in and out of my car. I decided to hardwire another cigarette lighter that would be hidden and powered on when the car started. You could follow these steps to power anything on/off with the car that uses the 12v cigarette lighter power.
I picked up a cigarette power extension(I forget where haha, but they're anywhere like radioshack, walmart, etc for around $5.00. Cut off the male end of the plug, split and strip the wires to about 1/2" - 3/4".
First we have to find a power source that turns on and off with the ignition. The fuses are behind the panel on the passenger side. Pull the cover to remove it. It is only held with a bit of velcro on the back. I've circled my two attachment points. The large bolt is good for a ground, and the fuse up top gives power to the sunroof/heated seats which power on with the car. (The white wire is for my remote turn-on of my amp for my subs, if you're wondering)
The cigarette lighters are polarized and MUST be wired up properly or it won't work. If you have some kinda multimeter you could test to see if you've got it wired up right, but I had an old junk charger with a red led that lights up when it gets power. I just stuck it in and it didn't work at first. I wouldn't try this with my few-hundred-dollar gps as my test. Frying that would be bad. Swapped the wires and I was in business. Hard to see but the light is lit up here. **Remember to TURN YOUR CAR TO ACCESSORY POWER or you won't get any power to this fuse!**
Remove the wires and mark the positive wire with something. I used a bit of electrical tape.
Now decide where to hide this. What you're wiring and it's placement could affect this, but for accessibility I chose behind the dash panel on the driver's side. theres plenty of room and it's easy to take off. Just 3 clips hold it on so just pull it off.
I chose to zip tie the adapter to the plate on the side. **Note: After it was all said and done, I didn't have enough clearance to easily put the cover back on. It worked, but was very snug and I didn't like it. I ended up just sliding the part into the space and its working fine, this is up to you.
Now feed the wired in through the holes underneath to the bottom of the dash. I droppped down the lower dash cover(only 2 bolts towards the front, facing up to the dash) and ran the wire along there towards the center console, then bolted it back up. (Bad pic, but you get the idea) Check out those sweet red neons!
Now feed the wire through the center console. I fed some heavy electrical cable through first since it was more rigid, then taped the wires to it and pulled through.
Driver's Side:
Passenger Side:
Now it's time to connect to our power source. I felt like pretending I was professional for once and crimped an end on the wire for the ground.
Loosen or remove the ground bolt and fasten your ground wire to that. I just pulled the fuse for the sunroof/heated seats, stuck the marked positive wire in, then replaced the fuse.
Now turn your key to accessory power and do your test for power. I plugged in my old charger and the light turned on, so I was good to go.
Here you can see the wires being fed through the space. The thin one is for my external microphone.
Kinda dark, but heres my power cord from the Garmin plugged into my new outlet.
I like this setup because:
1) You don't have to cut the Garmin Cord.
2) This will work for any accessory using 12v cigarette lighter power
3) You can easily add more ports now by buying a cigarette lighter splitter with multiple female ends.
4) No extra fuses are needed, because every cigarette adapter male end has one built in.
Good luck if anyone gives this a shot.
I picked up a cigarette power extension(I forget where haha, but they're anywhere like radioshack, walmart, etc for around $5.00. Cut off the male end of the plug, split and strip the wires to about 1/2" - 3/4".
First we have to find a power source that turns on and off with the ignition. The fuses are behind the panel on the passenger side. Pull the cover to remove it. It is only held with a bit of velcro on the back. I've circled my two attachment points. The large bolt is good for a ground, and the fuse up top gives power to the sunroof/heated seats which power on with the car. (The white wire is for my remote turn-on of my amp for my subs, if you're wondering)
The cigarette lighters are polarized and MUST be wired up properly or it won't work. If you have some kinda multimeter you could test to see if you've got it wired up right, but I had an old junk charger with a red led that lights up when it gets power. I just stuck it in and it didn't work at first. I wouldn't try this with my few-hundred-dollar gps as my test. Frying that would be bad. Swapped the wires and I was in business. Hard to see but the light is lit up here. **Remember to TURN YOUR CAR TO ACCESSORY POWER or you won't get any power to this fuse!**
Remove the wires and mark the positive wire with something. I used a bit of electrical tape.
Now decide where to hide this. What you're wiring and it's placement could affect this, but for accessibility I chose behind the dash panel on the driver's side. theres plenty of room and it's easy to take off. Just 3 clips hold it on so just pull it off.
I chose to zip tie the adapter to the plate on the side. **Note: After it was all said and done, I didn't have enough clearance to easily put the cover back on. It worked, but was very snug and I didn't like it. I ended up just sliding the part into the space and its working fine, this is up to you.
Now feed the wired in through the holes underneath to the bottom of the dash. I droppped down the lower dash cover(only 2 bolts towards the front, facing up to the dash) and ran the wire along there towards the center console, then bolted it back up. (Bad pic, but you get the idea) Check out those sweet red neons!
Now feed the wire through the center console. I fed some heavy electrical cable through first since it was more rigid, then taped the wires to it and pulled through.
Driver's Side:
Passenger Side:
Now it's time to connect to our power source. I felt like pretending I was professional for once and crimped an end on the wire for the ground.
Loosen or remove the ground bolt and fasten your ground wire to that. I just pulled the fuse for the sunroof/heated seats, stuck the marked positive wire in, then replaced the fuse.
Now turn your key to accessory power and do your test for power. I plugged in my old charger and the light turned on, so I was good to go.
Here you can see the wires being fed through the space. The thin one is for my external microphone.
Kinda dark, but heres my power cord from the Garmin plugged into my new outlet.
I like this setup because:
1) You don't have to cut the Garmin Cord.
2) This will work for any accessory using 12v cigarette lighter power
3) You can easily add more ports now by buying a cigarette lighter splitter with multiple female ends.
4) No extra fuses are needed, because every cigarette adapter male end has one built in.
Good luck if anyone gives this a shot.
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