orangecurry

As I have been doing various other tasks inside the car, it struck me the other day how much annoying metal there is in the construction of the dashboard.... annoying as you can't easily get to some areas.

Well - why not turn this negative into a positive?

So I sourced some (very) powerful disc magnets, I chose ones with holes in the middle (in case I use the spares for something else), and also a couple of metal discs with 3M backing to go inside the phone case. I've also put black electrician tape on the back of the smooth magnets, to remove any possibility of any scratching anything anywhere.

The base of the phone rests on top of the fixed part of the steering column, so it can't drop.
I would only use a mobile device for map-reading, so this works for me. It obviously wouldn't work if you want to touch the phone on the move.

Reversible in seconds, no damage, no intrusion.

Testing starts today.

You may now laugh

Note - YMMV - your State Laws may prevent you from obscuring some of the tach.

Watson

I agree this location is the best to watch a phone screen for navigation purposes. It does hide the rev counter but it is not a problem in my book as I could still gear shift with my ear.

centerpunch

Interesting! Magnets from Amazon? Link?

orangecurry

Not from Amazon but I'm not in the US anyway.

Just search on N52 Neodymium and get ones that either singly or stacked can get over 10mm in depth - the depth of the instrument outer ring down to the dashboard is over 10mm, so I actually have three magnets stacked.

The magnets in the photos are 20mm in diameter, and 5mm in depth.

ShdwFx

Creative. Good luck with your testing.

orangecurry

...it works really really well as a navigation tool. Obviously perfect location, and it hasn't slipped at all yet, and today's test was not a gentle one.

All instruments clearly in view, and if you use the tach in normal driving, you can still see a useful range.

Does anyone manufacture a 5 to 5 1/2" square tablet or maybe just a screen?

centerpunch

Maybe just use an old school nav unit? Not sure it would work without being up on the windshield with a clear view of the satellites…

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1240929#specs

orangecurry

Good thinking, though my phone display is bigger than that Garmin. I'll keep looking, but the idea was to use Google Maps as you can create complicated routes on a laptop or whatever, and just open them on the phone.

akrca4

Here is my setup, I wired a magsafe charger so the phone can be charged while mounted.

baceto

It looks a great idea. Only thinking if magnets can somehow alterate the instruments functions

orangecurry

A good point, and funny as by pure chance in the photo above every (nearby) instrument needle is pointing at a magnet

I did test that I can't drag the needles using a magnet, but even at rest the needles will have some 'resistance' - they are not free-moving.

"....honestly Officer, my speedometer was showing 30 mph - how can I have been doing 90 ???..."