Garmin Nuvi GPS

I have a 2010 SCAB that doesn't have an integrated Nav. I have a portable Garmin Nuvi (1450) GPS that I really love. It actually works better than any factory GPS that I have ever had and it makes the ones in my Mercedes and Lexus SUV's look totally weak!

I hate having to charge it through the 12V Cig Lighter as I dont like having a cord running down the front of the dash. So I took it to a the company that installed my Rigid lights and asked them to hook the Cig lighter charger up to one of the Aux ports. Unfortunately it didn't work. I then had them try tapping into a hot wire instead and that didn't work either, so I am wondering if it's impossible to cut and splice in the 12V cig lighter charger to charge it (either that or it's a bad wire). I'm considering taking it back in and having them try and splice using my the wall charger or my USB charger but before I do that I wanted to see if anyone has a better idea. Of course I can just upgrade to an integrated GPS but I am trying to do this cheaply as the wife is already peeved at how much I have modified the Raptor!

Thanks,

Tom

you need to make sure of 2 things when doing this

first, is the cigar lighter also a voltage regulator? a lot of portable sirius satellite radios are 5 volt and it has circuitry inside the cigar lighter to drop the voltage to 5v. so even though you are connecting to a 12v power source the unit is only getting 5v. but i am not sure if the nav has one or not. it should say what the power output is on the side of the cigar adapter

second, after cutting the cigar lighter off, do you know which wires are positive and negative? if they are backwards it will not work

It definitely sounds like it could be either one of those. I am going to try and hook it up with a different power source to see if that charges it and if not try to flip the wires around. I will keep you posted and I really do appreciate the help here!

here is the wire you should tap into. the ignition wire white/orange

https://www.directechs.com/timages/ignit_25015.jpg

---------- Post added at 09:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 PM ----------

and a chassis ground

Nuvis are 5 volt not 12.

thats good to know. thanks

hattrik - you need to reconnect the cigar lighter adapter back to the power cord, then test to make sure you didnt fry it. if its still ok the you will need to go to an auto parts store and get a cigar adapter that has the female end on one side and 2 wires on the other side. those wires can be connected as posted above and the nav power can plug into the adapter.
or you can solder wires onto the original cigar adapter and connect those to power and ground