making a toggle switch for a garmin gps??

I got the garmin 205w recently during the black friday sale for half price. Im thinking about trying to fabricate my center console to fit the gps, right above the stereo. To do so I am going to have to relocate my climate control buttons. Basically Im making it into an indash. Now this is just a thought dont know if i will be going forward with it yet.

But i was wondering if its possible to make a toggle switch for it to turn on and off?? Theres a switch on the top of the gps for turning it on and the only wire that comes out of it is to connect it to the cigartte/12v outlet for power which I also want to get rid off ( i dont like wires showing). So do anyone know if its possible to make a toggle switch to turn it off and on and give it power?? Im still kinda new at eletronic stuff but i know good enough to do alot of my own work including indash navi, subs, amps and speakers.

i say take apart the cig lighter power adapter at the very end just to see if you could single out the negative and positive wires (i did on some little blue lights that i have) so you can hook it up directly to the power source
and it might not look great but i would probably just leave a place open that you could turn it on...on top of the gps...
or just make a tab that you could push to turn it on....

I have a garmin nuvi 200 and did this to mine about a year ago or so. Just yesterday did it to my girlfriends nuvi 205(she was tired of all the wires as well.)

For starters you don't want to mount it in your dash, it has to have a clear "view" of the sky, or it will loose satellite reception. I disassembled the suction cup from its bracket and mounted it with two screws to my pillar in the top corner of my windshield so it still has a good view of the sky. Or as i did in my girls, just kept it on the suction cup in the top corner of the windshield and ran the wire up the pillar behind the cover. Both ways have it mounted nicely where its easy to look at while it doesn't block any view of the road.

In order for it to work hardwired in, you first have to take apart the cig. lighter and either splice more wire into the red and black wires coming from the tip of the circuit board, or if you are unlucky as i am when I pulled mine apart it pulled the black(neg.) wire out of the board. So i did the much more tedious job of soldering wires onto the board where the originals were attached(prob. the best way anyways)

Then just connect up the positive to your accessory power and the black to a ground. When you turn on your car it will auto power up and when you shut off the car it will pop up with a message to power off or stay on running on its own battery. Therefore negating the need for any type of switch what so ever.

hope this is helpful

My TomTom has the option to turn on/off automatically when plugged into car charger.

Here's the deal...

You go to Walmart, get one of those $5 cigarette outlet splitters; the kind with the two sockets connected by wires, not all together in one plastic piece. Cut one of the sockets off at the base of the plug. Slide one wire in beside a fuse terminal, connect the other wire to a ground screw. Plug the GPS adapter into the newly installed power outlet, and stuff the adapter into the dash. Neaten it up with some zip ties if you'd like. Tuck the GPS end of the adapter up the side of the dash, and plug it in! Now my TomTom turns on and off with the ignition switch!

so are you guys are leaving the gps in the car???

check out my car symbols for tomtom

I leave the mount in place. I usually only mount the GPS when I'm travelling, as I do frequently.

AFAccord said:

My TomTom has the option to turn on/off automatically when plugged into car charger.

Here's the deal...

You go to Walmart, get one of those $5 cigarette outlet splitters; the kind with the two sockets connected by wires, not all together in one plastic piece. Cut one of the sockets off at the base of the plug. Slide one wire in beside a fuse terminal, connect the other wire to a ground screw. Plug the GPS adapter into the newly installed power outlet, and stuff the adapter into the dash. Neaten it up with some zip ties if you'd like. Tuck the GPS end of the adapter up the side of the dash, and plug it in! Now my TomTom turns on and off with the ignition switch!

Click to expand...

That is a great idea, I never thought of that.

^^pics wud be nice!

cant i just connect it to any 12v source?

xi0utlawstarix said:

so are you guys are leaving the gps in the car???

Click to expand...

No i leave the mount in the car but take the GPS out nightly

YoungxNutkase said:

cant i just connect it to any 12v source?

Click to expand...

Yes you can connect it to any 12v source as long as you do it through the circuit board as i said in the first post i did, it steps down the 12v to the proper voltage that the gps runs off of, if u were to cut the cord frm the cig lighter and just attach the 2 wire to a 12v source it would fry it...