User 41221

^+1

I run a V-1 and wouldn't trade it for anything else out there. I've been strongly considering getting a Blinder for my Mini Cooper since I am on a course to put 100k miles on it this year (bought it new just before Nov 09 and already have 25k on it). I have forever heard people say that the laser detection is worthless on the V-1, but I strongly disagree, if there is any traffic around you, it will pick up scatter and even when flying solo, it seems like the LEO has to try at least twice to get a lock on me (no front license plate helps), so I can usually have at least a little heads up. I've heard the Blinder works very well tho, and as much as I drive, I'd like as much protection as I can get.

As for the 944/968 V-1 mount, I have used teh dome light power forever with excellent results. As long as you wire it to the constant power side, you don't have to leave the dome light on. Teh only downside with this power source is that you have to remeber to turn off teh V-1 with the on/off **** or you risk draining your battery. Mounting it up high makes a huge difference in how well it works as well as makes it pretty hard to spot from outside the vehicle. I've been running my V-1 about 8 years now and never worry about removing it, and I have been literally all over the US and many bad neighborhoods on my travels.

And as for tiptronics, I am big fan of them. They get a very bad rap, imo, and its usually coming from people who have never driven one.

Welcome aboard, guys!

Regards,

jpk

I don't think you understand how this works - the dome light bulb has +12v to one side all the time, even ignition off. The three position switch on the light controlls how the other side gets to ground, either directly (always on), or through the door switch, or never (always off). You can tap the +12v and the constant ground for power (without the light being on)

JDS968

Thank you!

I did search within all of the 968 sections, although not the rest of the site (as I was looking for 968-specific experience).

Ahhhhh okay then. How long have you been there/what's your username? If you've been there long enough, you might remember me...I'm JDS there too

Of course, you guys are right. I have no idea what I was thinking

Have driven Tip, still hate it

Good thing SOME cars still give you a choice between clutches and torque converters, so everybody can be happy

JDS968

Left the Garmin plugged into my laptop with a perfectly normal microUSB cable, and it charged up fine...any reason why I couldn't graft that very same cable onto a fuse (or a fused power source within the car)? Or am I missing something obvious (again)?

rdhayward

Never thought about using the dome light lead. Nice idea.

jpk

Bad idea - the charge voltage provided by the USB port is 5 volts.

jpk

My Garmin will charge off a standard mini usb plugged into a computer or a standard lighter plug (like for my cell phone) but it won't operate; if you try to turn it on it just displays the connected to computer screen. I dug around a bit on some of the GPS forums and found out about the "high current cable" requirements. Here's a thread about it that explains what's going on:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/8156

I just found this through google:

http://www.gpsgeek.com/products/gusb...1400-1412-1430

It doesn't specifically state that it has the high current configuration, but it does list most of the Nuvi model numbers explicitly, including the 265WT that I have.

JDS968

Bad idea? The 12v socket may be supplying 12vDC to the charger, but the pinout (supplied by Pinouts.ru, linked in the text from the first link you supplied) confirms that the charger output is supposed to be 5vDC. Unless I'm misreading?

jpk

Sorry. I wasn't very clear with that post. The Garmin device wants 5v. If you give it 12v by grafting a mini usb wire to 12 v (without any kind transformer or other power supply), that would be a bad idea.
It looks like the direct wire adapter (the second link above) will handle the "high current" logic the garmin is looking for (i.e. providing the correct resistance from pin 4 to ground). That would enable the unit to both charge and operate at the same time.

In my 968, I hacked open a "generic" lighter plug/usb adapter and extracted the guts. I hardwired this to the dome light and was able to tuck the power supply circuit up into the header next to the dome light. This works fine for my Tom Tom, (or my cell phone) but it will not operate the garmin, only charge it.

JDS968

Oh okay, I see what you were saying, thank you.