RJ Cartouché Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 A situation has come up where powering a Garmin with a 12 volt power adapter from a wallwart 120V to 12V converter would be of use. Being the frugal SOB (son of a bullfrog) that I am, I would rather not buy any of the available solutions that connect straight from 120V to the GPS. Some responses have been in the "of course, dummy" category, while others suggest that 120 to 12 volt unit could damage the Garmin's power supply. Do any of you folks have direct experience or knowledge about powering one supply with another? Quote Link to comment
+sodajerk Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 (edited) I added a cigarette lighter socket to my desktop computer getting 12 v DC from the power supply. I use it to power my SportTrak or charge my Palm or run other 12 volt items. No problems. As long as your Wall Mart power supply is putting out a smooth 11 to 14 volts DC, it should not cause any damage. Edited January 7, 2004 by sodajerk Quote Link to comment
RJ Cartouché Posted January 7, 2004 Author Share Posted January 7, 2004 Thanks, sodajerk. I'll count that as one in the 'for' column. The wallwart (not Wall Mart) produces a measured 12.8 volts under load. It seems that there could be issues with waveform or such, that I don't know enough about to pass judgement on. Other responses may have come from some who know just enough to be dangerous. I suspect that a computer's power supply might provide a different quality voltage (?) than the cheaper unit I am considering. Quote Link to comment
+sodajerk Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 With my Sport Trak, there is a little black box between the 12 volt plug and the connection to the GPS. It takes the 12 volts down to about 5 volts. I am sure there is a diode or filter or some curcit to smooth out any ripples. I had not seen transformers called wall warts , but it fits. Quote Link to comment
+EScout Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 It depends which Garmin you are talking about. My old III would take any DC voltage betweet 6 and 15V I believe. Newer GPSrs such as the etrex line need 3V with about a 10% tolerance. Put 12v directly to it is very bad, meaning it will be damaged. If you have the cig lighter power supply made for the unit, you should be able to use a AC to DC transformer. A regulated power supply at 13.5V DC is the best. Quote Link to comment
+GeckoGeek Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 A situation has come up where powering a Garmin with a 12 volt power adapter from a wallwart 120V to 12V converter would be of use. Being the frugal SOB (son of a bullfrog) that I am, I would rather not buy any of the available solutions that connect straight from 120V to the GPS. Some responses have been in the "of course, dummy" category, while others suggest that 120 to 12 volt unit could damage the Garmin's power supply. Do any of you folks have direct experience or knowledge about powering one supply with another? I'm going to assume that you've got the proper adapter to run your Garmin from 12V. As noted some units can't take 12V directly - they will fry. The only real worry about using a wall wart is that the voltage coming out may be too high and damage the adapter. I really wouldn't worry too much about wave form as long as it's DC. As for the voltage, a car may put out as much as 14.4 volts while running (I think that's the charging voltage on a typical GM product - up from 13.8V from the "good old days"), so 12.8 is no problem at all. Quote Link to comment
+TresOkies Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I came across this a number of months ago. It's a different take on how to create plugs for your Garmin. I won't comment, I'll just let everyone figure it out for themselves. I will say that I got the custom plug that I needed and the price was peanuts. Literally. http://pfranc.com/projects/g45contr/g45_idx.htm -E Quote Link to comment
+GeckoGeek Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I will say that I got the custom plug that I needed and the price was peanuts. Literally. I haven't figgured it out. I'm a cheap guy myself, but at these prices I've got better things to do. Like using my GPS! Quote Link to comment
RJ Cartouché Posted January 8, 2004 Author Share Posted January 8, 2004 Thanks, guys I had looked at solutions similar to your suggestions, it just seems that I can't wrap my wallet around spending even the small change we're talking here, when what is needed may be at hand. The 2 switchable power supplies I have both give just over 4 volts, when set at 3V. I have decided not to risk the Garmin by supplying directly to an aftermarket plug. Since I have the 12V to 3V and a 120V to 12V, along with a cigarrette lighter socket, my hopes are that this would be a safe solution. I kinda hate causing a device to give up what limited supply of onboard smoke it has, all in one fell swoop. Still debating Quote Link to comment
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