Hardwire Navigation

[Tricked-T]

Just got a Garmin 205w and I would love to hardwire the thing, anyone do this, or know where I can get a kit?

[Bugsi]

It looks just like my Garmin Nuvi 760. The 760 can be powered two ways: Via USB cable, or via the FM traffic receiver, which plugs into the data port on the Garmin, not the USB port. The FM traffic receiver looks like a large cigarette-lighter plug, and not surprisingly plugs into a cigarette lighter for power. My 97SE only has one cigarette lighter up front, and I didn't want to keep it occupied with my GPS, so I semi-hardwired my Garmin to my car. I have photos of the adapter that I made, which I'll post later tonight, but here's a description of what I did:

Bought an add-on cigarette lighter socket from Radio Shack (part number 270-1556).

Bought a minifuse circuit tap adapter at Pep Boys, but you can get them at NAPA and Autozone or online or any auto parts store.

I cut the fuse holder off the Radio Shack lighter socket and soldered the socket's wires to the minifuse circuit tap pigtail, and heatshrunk the connection. Put a ring lug onto the Radio Shack lighter socket's ground tab and attached it with a screw to a convenient ground under the dash. Plugged in the minifuse circuit tap to an always-on circuit in my car. (I researched which circuit to tap, I didn't just use any random circuit. The Garmin uses almost NO POWER so you can literally leave it on 24/7 and it won't run down your car battery. )

The Radio Shack cigarette lighter socket has tab-lugs to connect the wiring to. I don't like having unenclosed electrical connections under my dash, even though the tab connectors are insulated, so I used about a 3" section of a bicycle inner tube as kind of like a giant heatshrink tube without actually heatshrinking. It fit snugly around the lighter socket and I closed it off with a nylon wire tie.

Under the dash, the Garmin FM traffic receiver plugs into the new lighter socket circuit, all neatly bundled with the excess cable wire-tied, and my Garmin is wedged just under my radio, where I have it sitting in the pull-out ashtray that my car has. (My SE does not have the center console, so your car may not have this, you can mount your Garmin wherever you like. Here in California it's illegal to mount them to the windshield, so mine is below the radio, angled up at me. It works really well.)

If I need to pull my Garmin out, I can just unclip the plug and take it with me and just run it off its own internal battery and keep it charged by USB, or I can reach up under the dash and unplug the FM Traffic receiver and take that with me too.
Pictures later today.

[Tricked-T]

SO basically what you are saying is ad another hidden cig. lighter and run the wire were i want? I have seen some "hard wire kits, but I have not heard of anyone actually using them...Anyway Would love to see some pics of your set up.

Thanks, Lee

[Bugsi]

Yes, that was really the only way I could maintain the integrity of the FM Traffic Receiver (which also supplies power to the unit), since it's essentially a giant lighter plug. I don't know if your Garmin model has the same thing or not. If you have a different type of power cable then it might be possible to wire it directly to the fuse box with a fuse tap, but I'm not sure what type of power cable your model comes with. [Edit: Your 205W has an optional add-on FM traffic receiver model GTM25 shown here: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=14994#

Here's the Garmin FM Traffic Receiver for the 760:


It plugs into the mounting connector, shown plugged in here:


Here's the harness I made:


Here's a closer shot:

[Tricked-T]

I have a different mount and plug. Mine plugs in the back in what looks like a smaller USB almost square looking and it plugs in to the back of the unit.

I found some "hard wire kits" that have just bare wires at the end, might have to give them a try or I have seen a couple other people just splice in to an existing lighter outlet and put an extra hidden one in behind the dash...

[Bugsi]

Decide if you'd like to add the optional traffic receiver for yours. I find it's a pretty good addition to my GPS, but I also have a 25 mile commute up the San Francisco peninsula to work every day, and traffic snarls on either of the two main highways up the peninsula are not uncommon, so it might be more useful to me compared to someone who drives mostly rural roads and short distances.

(Today, for example, the Bay Bridge has been closed indefinitely due to a broken rod on the bridge that dropped a 5000 pound chunk of steel onto the road deck. All the other Bay Area conduits are seeing heavier traffic as people re-route around the bridge.)

If you add the traffic receiver to your 205W it comes with a lifetime subscription to the traffic service. -My 760 came with the receiver and 3 free months of service, afterwhich a lifetime subscription was around $60 or so. Note that I think "lifetime subscription" probably refers to the lifetime of the GPS unit whose serial number you register with the service. This either is or is not a good deal, depending on how you look at it, how useful traffic service is to you, and how long your GPS unit lasts.

If you add the traffic receiver, it will power your 205W, but like me, you'll need a cigarette lighter socket to plug it into, and a solution like the one I made will be a good option for you. Otherwise I presume you have a power cable for your 205W. If it ends in a lighter plug, you should be able to just cut it off and splice it to a fuse tap like the kind I used.

[mntnbkr]

Be careful, and check the voltage output of your lighter adapter before you cut the lighter plug off and direct wire it..I think they are 5V output and not 12V. If your adapter output is 5V, your GPS unit will be damaged by direct wiring it to 12V. Your best bet is probably wiring in a new 12V socket hidden behind your dash and using it that way.