Garmin GPS in Model A

[Jwilli]

My 29 Anna Mobile has a Tom Tom. 12 volt system. Good for speed (no speedometer).

 

[apbright]

Nearly all modern electronics operate with switched-mode power supplies. Good manufacturers (among which I would count Garmin) will be conservative when specifying the usable supply voltage range. Thus, it does not surprise me that it will operate normally with a 6.4V supply even if the minimum specified voltage is 8V. The Garmin EE's I'm sure designed for under-voltage protection, thus your worst case scenario if your voltage sags much below 6.4V is that it will either switch off, or its battery will stop charging (have been working in engineering in portable consumer electronics firms for 20 years).

 

[hale1776]

Did you ever notice that Ford put all the fuel stuff on one side of the engine and all the electrical stuff on the other? I think you could find a better location for power wires than the fuel valve. They sell rebuild kits for them, for when they leak.

 

[KenCoupe]

Below is a link for an article by Tom Endy for a nice mount for a GPS (his a a Garmin). The article is on the Santa Anita A's web site. I saw his and copied (with his permission) it for my Magellan GPS. It mounts over the dash rail with no drilling or modification to the car. I put felt on the back of the wood mount so it would not scratch the dash.

http://www.santaanitaas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mr-Garman.pdf

 

[J Witt]

Nearly all modern electronics operate with switched-mode power supplies. Good manufacturers (among which I would count Garmin) will be conservative when specifying the usable supply voltage range. Thus, it does not surprise me that it will operate normally with a 6.4V supply even if the minimum specified voltage is 8V. The Garmin EE's I'm sure designed for under-voltage protection, thus your worst case scenario if your voltage sags much below 6.4V is that it will either switch off, or its battery will stop charging (have been working in engineering in portable consumer electronics firms for 20 years).

I can put enough load on the system to pull the battery voltage down so that the GPS switches to battery power (engine not running, lights, heater blower, etc.) so it appears to me that 6.4 V might be near the lower limit for operation, though I have not tried to measure it. However I suppose there's no harm to the GPS as it seems stable when traveling.

I was worried about ignition noise, since the 6V power is so close to the coil wire, but Garmin appears to have filtered that out. As I recall in modern cars there are some fairly high voltage transients in the electrical systems, probably no worse in a Model A.

Glad to hear your comment,

John

 

[FrankWest]

Great!
I know a guy that mounted this miniature simulated antique radio CD player in front of his dash.
Could be nice. Play old time radio.. Fun.

 

[bettlesr]

I have an older 7" Garmin in my car. The bracket is a split clamp with a piece of stainless holding the back of the original Garmin mounting bracket. The antenna is in the upper corner above the windshield. The Sport Coupe has a a cloth roof so it works great inside the car. I am running 12v so there is no voltage problem. This unit has an SD chip which I have loaded with music. As the output of the original speaker in the Garmin can hardly be heard above the noise of the car, I have a small amplifier behind the gas tank and speakers in the kick panels. OOPS, the picture of the speaker is upside down!

 

[Y-Blockhead]

I installed the "Model A" as my vehicle/cursor. wish I could make it Green