So while I was working on my stereo stuff yesterday I had an inspiration to hide the power cord that has been dangling down over the dash to the cigarette lighter. With just a little plastic removal with a Dremel I was able to do as shown in the photos:
Neat idea! I've considered doing the same, but it would mean moving my kensington liquidaux to the center console and therefor would also have to reroute the audio cables to the center console as well. Is this something you considered? What kind of stereo stuff were you doing?
Yep it's a great idea. When I had all my taxi stuff installed (radio, meter etc) I had the guuy hard wire the sat nav lead in too. It's a much better solution and definitely worth doing if you use your sat nav a lot. Never liked the lead flapping around the dash.
Thanks, with a little more work I probably could have clipped the lighter socket plug off the end, stripped a bit of wire and connected to the back of the lighter socket. But I was in a hurry and didn't want to get quite that destructive just yet. - D
Even better, for a mere $10-$15 you can purchase a lighter socket "female" end that has bare wires on the other. Simply tie those wires into a 12v ignition source and ground and you could plug your Garmin adapter into it and keep it all hidden behind the dash. We do this on many XM or Sirius radio installed where people don't want stuff stuck in their lighter sockets.
I have mine hard wired in but I just put the wire behind that same panel in the dash without grinding.
Excellent! I'll have to look into it now. Pat, do not know if you noticed, but there's a mouse living in your car! - D
Radio Shack should sell them. If you can't find one let me know and I'll see who our distributor is. Don't worry about Pat. He sometimes forgets that we in the US realize that everything in Australia is looser and doesn't require extra work to get it in.
I'm probably getting a 2010 Prius today and will want to use my Garmin 265 WT. Any experience on hiding the wires on this model? Will the windshield suction cup work? It looked to me like the windshield might be too sloped.
Mounting anything to the windshield is illegal in CA so I would avoid it. I just use the Garmin bean bag dash holder thing and remove it as needed since I don't use the GPS often.
Even on the Gen II it's a bit too sloped to be good. Either the GPS is low enough but too far away, or close enough but too high and obstructing view. I'm considering putting the disc just to the right of the MFD on the dash, easier for my co-pilot to reach and all. - D