Wiring garmin nuvi

[alfie]

I have a garmin nuvi and one of the waterproof cases and need to know if I cut the plug off the lead could I use it to hard wire it to the bike. Thanks

 

[richie]

I have a garmin nuvi and one of the waterproof cases and need to know if I cut the plug off the lead could I use it to hard wire it to the bike. Thanks

You'll need to make sure you sort out the power as it is not 12v (I think) I have a Nuvi 550 which is waterproof but it has a power lead made to reduce the 12V

 

[Bear]

If your Nuvi was designed for car use then it will have a power lead that plugs into the lighter socket and the usb connector on the Nuvi. The lead drops the car's 12 volt supply down to 5 volts for the Nuvi. If you put 12 volts directly into the Nuvi it will die instantly. Wire in a socket somewhere that rain won't fall on it and use the Nuvi's power lead as Garmin built it.

 

[Bumpkin]

Depends on the model. My Nuvi 765T took 12v, the cigar lighter adapter was only a fuse holder with an LED, no voltage step down. I used one of these leads to power it on the bike. Worked well for the two years that I used it before upgrading to a Zumo660. It had the correct Garmin plug to connect to my Nuvi's cradle.

Obviously if your Nuvi is powered via a mini USB socket (5v) then you'll need a step down transformer of some sort, there are plenty of options out there on a search.

If it uses a proprietary plug then plug the cigar lighter adapter into the car and use a multimeter to find the voltage, usually the two outside pins.

An alternative is to add a cigar lighter socket to your bike and use the supplied vehicle cable.