Dave_McC Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 Bought myself a Tom Tom Go in the sales as I decided I couldn't justify the expense of a dedicated sat nav / head unit setup. The TT fits easily in the cubby above the radio, and I was thinking of hardwiring the power lead. The only way this appears possible is to use the home dock and cut off the USB lead - with the standard windscreen mount connector (if I cut it off from the windscreen sucker part) will protrude too far from the back of the unit to fit in the cubby. Has anyone else done this, and if so how did you do it - any pics? Thanks Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seedy Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I have one of the old tomtoms , its fits snug into the central compartment. You have to remove the central console , cut a little hole in the back of the compartment to drop the wire, this then goes behind the stereo and the controls for the air blowers ( too early - need coffee ) and the it plugs it the 4 way cig lighter power point which is stealth installed to the front cig lighter . All I see is a red button in the cig lighter ( got a cheap £5, 4 way thing from halford ). The tomtom is fine , but it can lose the signal at times , but hey , its not on show and no mountings on the windscreen. On my TomTom the power lead comes into the back , so no need for the docking unit ( It would not fit if connected) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M13KYF Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 to remove the centre console you find info in the guides section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoREoD Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 But if you dont use the docking part, you dont get the microphone. This means if you intend to use TT's Bluetooth with your phone, you cant speak to anyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_McC Posted January 4, 2007 Author Share Posted January 4, 2007 John I thought the TT had a microphone built in - but they recommend the remote mic for better sound. Have yet to try the bluetooth other than playing with it on the living room floor! Is there any space behind the dash cubby - ie could I cut out a hole in the rear of the cubby for the mount to poke through the back? The only other alternative is to cannibalise the mount completely removing the jack connectors (there's 5 of them) from the mount so I can cut the mount off nearer to the TT unit itself - effectively leave just enough of the mount so it will clip into the TT unit, but no more. Can't believe nobody else has tried this?? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoREoD Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 My model is the 700 (pre the x10 series) and the only mike is definitely in the mount. Of course, all that is irrelevant now we've all got BT adaptors for our phones! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 My model is the 700 (pre the x10 series) and the only mike is definitely in the mount. Of course, all that is irrelevant now we've all got BT adaptors for our phones! Yep need the mount to use the BT on the 700. My 700 sits perfect in the cubbyhole, takes a while to get a signal but does eventually. Once I can get hold of a spare charger ill be trying to find a route to run the wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 I did a similar thing with my old Navman iCN520. I ran a lead for an external aerial up to the ledge between the B and C pillars. Pretty stealthy and gives a good signal. Only slight niggle was making up a surround to fill the space between the sat nav and the inside of the cubby hole. Looks ok though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_McC Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 Quick update for anyone thinking of doing this. I bought a spare windscreen mount off ebay for £10 incl p&p and cut the windscreen cup bit off it flush with the rear of the bit that connects to the Go (it's actually metal not plastic as I thought till I tried cutting it!). With the stub bit of the mounting connected to the Go, it fits very neatly into the cubby and naturally sits at a good angle for viewing, and the cubby door still shuts (only just though). Next stage will be to hook up a switched live feed into the cubby so it's always got power when the ignition's on. Another thought I had tonight - the standard factory nav set up presumably feeds the sound through the stereo, and as the stereo's the same I assume there must be a line in on the back of it which "mixes" the line in with whatever's playing at the time. The Go mount has an audiio out jack - you can see where this is going.....? Anyone know where the nav line in is on the stereo? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elrao Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Hi I was thinking of doing this too, but I have the older TomTom so no need for a mount. Was surprised how well the GPS worked from inside the cubby hole. I was thinking of getting a Kenwood screen and hard drive Nav system (about £800) but if I install the TomTom I can just get the head unit - and not be tied to the Kenwood (which I was choosing purely on the Sat Nav performance). Hmm, Alpine, Kenwood, JVC.... Might be the Alpine as I like the built in iPod connectivity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zzzz... Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 basic question... but I have been trialling a PDA with TOM TOM and bluetooth GPS module, but when I have left the PDA in the cubby hole, the battery on the PDA goes flat very quickly in a couple of occasions... I think it is due to the CD player generating a lot of heat which goes directly into this cubby hole and must drain the battery... either that of the combination of hot CD'd and then cold environment and the cyclic hot cold condition... or it could be a duff battery, but outside of the car it holds charge for weeks...so i doubt it... ANYWAY... any known concern with fitting a tom tom etc..and "overheating" or not functionning correctly due to CD unit heat in the cubby hole? Cheers ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elrao Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 In some substances (such as metals) resistance is directly proportional to heat, so an increase in heat will increase the resistance of any metal components, meaning that battery will get drained quicker as it is having to 'push harder' to meat the needs of the PDA. Basically for metals - the hotter things are the more they drain the battery Now, when talking about semi-conductors things get more complicated, the resistance of a typical intrinsic (non doped) semiconductor decreases exponentially with the temperature, meaning that the hotter they were - the less they drain the battery Extrinsic (doped) semiconductors have a far more complicated temperature profile with an initial drop in resistance until a saturation point occurs then the resistance starts to increase again! In terms of your PDA, if the higher temperature does mean you are getting shorter battery life then it would imply you have a lot of metal conductors inside your PDA (i.e. copper tracks on a circuit board). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zzzz... Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 wow... i need to sit down and ... I think that means my PDA is not going to be a good idea as a tom tom in the Cubby hole... dammit... thanks for that info elrao... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuro Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Having bought a Tom Tom One Europe (for the ring mainly!) I'm considering this Custom Mount stuff at the moment. The only problem I can see with the One, is that the power lead is on the bottom of the unit Whilst it fits snugly in the cubby hold vertically, I can't see any way around this one. I think for now, I'll custom fit the thing, and charge it out of the cubby hole (we'll figure somehting out!) As far as the custom mount goes, I thought about hollowing out a piece of MDF, and covering it with the same black felt stuff as used in the cubby, should look pretty stealthy and cut down on reflections etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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