How to hardwire a navigation system/ windshield electonics

[nsrgossman]

Let me start by saying that I am by no means a mechanic, in addition I tend to half do things, so making suggestions/improvements is, well, highly suggested!

Alright so my goal was to wire up my after market gps without having the ugly power cable running down to my cigarette lighter. In your cause, it might be any electronics device requiring power, this mod works great for any electronics you wish to have on your windshield relatively close to the top.

** Your interior lighting is a 12V power source, make sure this is enough for your device.

First I removed the lighting housing, its relatively simple, all you need to do is pri the plastic off and you'll be half way there.



Next unscrew the two screws to expose the wiring behind the lighting fixture



** Side note, the scre holes u see at the bottom of this picture are from some small visor that my car has, idk if all cars have it, but if they do its easy enough to remove with a screw driver.

A simpele pull removes the housing

From what I've gathered, pretty much any piece of copper on the back of the lighting fixture is a power source (+), but that may not be entirely true, testing these points with a voltage meter makes it really easy to find both a power and ground source. I used the one connected to the larger of the two right lights.



I feel its worth pointing at that at this point you CANNOT touch the red and black in any way (that includes the connections they are making on the lighting fixture) If you do (like I did) you'll most likely blow a fuse. (Fuse box is located on the driver's side, in the door jam, if you pull the plastic off its pretty unmissable. Lucky for me audi had an extra fuse for me In any case...your voltage meter should read somewhere around 10-12V, if its like .04 then those points won't work.

In addition, its probably a good idea to use any fuses or other elecronic safety features inbedded in the cord, I of course did not becuase I'm an idiot.

After you've decided on your connection points all thats left to do is splice and feed the wire.





Ounce the wire is through connect it by any means you see fit, I would suggest some solder myself.

Thats pretty much it, test your device and make sure everything works then put it all back together and your done. It took me about 1.5 hours, but it shouldn't take you more then 30 mins. I'm an idiot and loose everything so thats where my extra hour came from

Hope this helps some people, I'd love to hear comments!!!

-Nate

[nsrgossman]

Thought I'd post some pictures of the finished product...