I know that this has been done and I'm getting ready to attempt using a female cigarette lighter socket. Any advice out there before I get started?

Thanks,

Chris

 

I have a Garmin 660. I installed a power outlet (cigarette lighter socket) under my dash installing it inside a piece of PVC pipe. I then wired it to my fuse panel using one of those "add a fuse" made by Little Fuse. I zipped tied the lighter sock/PVC pipe to something solid under the driver's side dash ...... maybe it was part of the steering column bracket. I used Modify's 3 inch bracket and also ran the wire thru the dash and down to this lighter socket/PVC pipe .. Hence it looks and acts "hardwired". I also installed a 2nd outlet on the passenger side just about where your left knee would rest .. There is a DIY here adding a 12volt outlet

 

Great. Does the wire come out the same place as the Modifry bracket (i.e. where does the wire run through the dash)? Did you have to do any trimming? Do you happen to have a pic? Thanks for the reply!

 

Finally got some pics .. been wanting to post some up anyway ...... I originally purchased Modifry's 3 inch Nuvi bracket .. mounted my Nuvi, but soon discovered that I kept hitting the Nuvi as I was moving my hand to and from the gear shifter .... conclusion - the Nuvi was mounted too low ...... I had some metal in the garage and modified the basic Nuvi Bracket and made a backward "L" and that resulted in the Nuvi sitting about 3 inch higher .... I also added a bolt and 2 nuts and a silicone foot pad so I have a little "foot" behind the bracket that rests on the dash. I don't get any vibration or wooble ....





I looped the wire down and then up, and removed a little extra piece of the plastic behind the dash .. you need to do this anyway to fit the bracket against the dash (per Modifry's instructions).

Since the standard lighter I purchased at Wal-Mart didn't have a cover on it nor mounting bracket (what do you expect for $2.95), I inserted the unit into a piece of PVC pipe, wired it up to the fuse box via a LittleFuse "add a fuse" and used a couple of zip ties .. tying it to the heater vent (not the steering column as I mentioned above).





My Nuvi 660 has a larger power stick because it contains an antenna to receive traffic reports (that's the large black probe in the pic)

The second outlet I installed is on the passenger side left knee rest ..... The DIY is located here Installing a 12 volt outlet..... Cutting the hole just right is important, as there is a metal support bar behing this knee plate ...



You can avoid the use of the PVC, by spending a few extra $$ on the lighter plug with the mounting brack and cover ....

Hope this helps .....

 

Awesome! Thanks a lot. I might also make a pad to wedge between the bracket and the dash to cut down on vibration. The current height is okay for me.

 

Nice Mod. CitadelBlue, PM'd you.

 

I updated my 2 posts above to include the DIY post on 12 volt outlet installs