Hi Champir,

I appreciate your feedback.

Ideally, I'd like to use a 3-way cable with one male mini USB end connector and two female mini USB bulkhead connectors. I'll plug the male end into the back of the Garmin, plug my power source into one of the female connectors, and mount the other female connector somewhere out of sight to use as a port to download map updates, photos, voices, etc. from my laptop through. I'm thinking maybe on the side wall of the glovebox opening or inside the console. If I can't find such a cable, I may have to make one up from separate cables and multi USB port USB transformer. I hope to access 12V+, ground, backlight LED power, etc. all through the Jag's sat nav wiring harness connector.

I haven't completed the installation in my car, so I can't comment on satellite signal reception yet. I'll let you know once it's finally in place - this weekend or next hopefully.

 

I cut the original sheet metal back plate to provide an opening large enough to just clear the Garmin. Then glued some rubber edge trim molding around to protect the back of the GPS from being scratched by any sharp edges.


I relocated one of the four posts (the upper right one in the photo), to move it outside the opening I created, and then threaded the posts full length with an M6 x 1.0 die.


I cut a piece of 3/8 inch thick polycarbonate and mounted it to the back plate via the four threaded posts, washers, and nuts. I milled a couple of slots in it to route wiring through from the push button circuit boards.


I milled a recess into the end of the polycarb plate to accept the original wiring connector that I removed from the circuit board of non-working, donor, display head.

 

I used the two circuit boards behind the push button panels. They became my source for an original looking, dash-mounted, ON-OFF switch and dimmable, blue, back lighting.

 

To hold the Garmin in position, once it was centered correctly in the window of the bezel, I cut a T-shaped piece of polycarbonate, glued a piece of nitrile rubber backing onto the bottom side, drilled three shallow spot-faces into the top side, and drilled & tapped three corresponding holes through the main polycarb plate to accept set screws. Tightening down the set screws presses the T-shaped plate against the back of the Garmin to hold it firmly in position.


(I made the hold down plate T-shaped to clear the speaker opening and mini USB receptacle on the back of Garmin.)

 

What's the plan for connecting the speaker wires you attached?

 

Jandreu,

According to the 2003 wiring diagram, there are two wires connecting the sat nav control module to the power amplifier (in the trunk/boot).
Green wire is audio (-) and brown is audio (+).
I plan to run my speaker wires there and tap into those wires.
I'm working on the radio mute function.

 

Interesting, will be waiting to see how the audio works out.

Good job

 

Champir,

I test fitted the Garmin into my car dash today. Even with the car inside my garage, it picked up multiple satellite signals quickly.

 

Great job, way more advanced than mine!
Clever idea about the little speaker.

 

Following this with interest.

 

Hi Davidsw


I'll continue to post , with photos, as I make progress. Unfortunately, I only have time to work on this during free weekends, so it's taking far longer than I originally hoped. Are you considering doing something similar?


Cheers
Bill

 

That is a great looking install - how is it going?

 

good luck and keep the details coming,
I'm preparing to do something similar, though intend to use my Phone for the GPS and "somehow", wire it through the audio.
I have the Nav and premium in an '04 convertible.

 

Great modification! I'm eager to seeing your outcome t as well.

 

Where is it? Still waiting for a peak..

 

A little more machining of polycarbonate to make a cap to hold the OEM connector in place...

 

Attached a screw terminal strip to the polycarbonate back plate. Connected to it the leads I soldered to the Garmin's internal on-off switch and speaker, the OEM push button on-off switch, and the push button blue backlight LEDs. Then, connected to the strip wires I had soldered to the appropriate pins of the OEM female connector block. Also connected to the strip a short extension wire with a female 12V accessory socket to plug the Garmin power adapter into. So, the electrical functions fed from the Jag wiring harness male plug are: Key switched main power, Blue backlighting for the dash push buttons, and Backlight dimming.

 

The Garmin power adapter sits in the dash space behind and below the sat nav. I had to cut away a bit of the dash backing material to produce clearance for the adapter and the 12V female accessory receptacle to fit.

I ran the wire from the power adapter over to the fuse box area on the LH end of the dash (LH drive car). I then ran an extension power cable from there back to the Garmin. I did this to provide an easy way to upload new maps, icons, voices, etc. All I need do is open the fuse box access door, pull out the couple of feet of extension cable that are rolled up in there, disconnect the Garmin power adapter plug from the end of the extension cable, and plug a USB patch cord from my laptop into it instead.

To keep things original looking, I took a digital photo of the on-screen leaper from my original Jag SAT NAV and uploaded it to the Garmin to use as the start-up screen. It turned out pretty well, I think.

 

The audio output of the Garmin is pretty good and loud even with the unit enclosed behind the dash. I'm still thinking about mounting a small auxiliary speaker in the console, though, under the coin holder. The holder has through holes conveniently cut in the bottom of the four slots (shown in the photo) that would allow sound to pass through.

My final challenge is to figure out a way to mute the entertainment system whenever the Garmin speaks. I've heard from others on this forum that there is a delay in the mute and audio switchover function of the amplifier that needs to be overcome to properly play the sat nav audio through the car's amp and speaker system. I've given up on trying to solve that issue. All I want to do is mute the entertainment system and play the Garmin audio through its built-in speaker (and the small auxiliary speaker I may mount in the console).

*** Here is where I hope to get some help from other members of the forum. Looking at the wiring diagram, there appear to be two locations where muting of the entertainment system can be triggered. One is the MUTE wire between the navigation control module and power amplifier(premium ICE). The other is the telephone MUTE wire between the OEM cell phone and the radio / cassette head unit. It seems there are only three ways to trigger - (a) ground the circuit, (b) apply 12V to the cicuit, or (c) open the circuit. Does anyone know which of these two locations is best to instantaneously mute the entertainment system's audio and which of these three methods to use? Any help here would be greatly appreciated! ***


Coin holder slots for sound...

 

Looks good Bill, you might try PM'ng Steve (WhiteXKR) he may be able to advise on the muting.