Garmin Montana hardwire problem

[warrenpfo]

I purchased a Garmin Montana a while back and have enjoyed using it. At the same time i purchased the AMPS Rugged Mount with Audio/Power Cable which loks like this and have mounted it to a Ram mount. The reason for going with this mount is that i had the idea of cutting the cable and putting a join in so that i can remove the GPS from the dash when not used.

Not having given it much thought or use other than to hold the GPS a few times i thought i would tackle the instalation of it over the weekend.

The first job was to cut the cable close to the mount and put in a joiner so that i can hard wire the cable in but remove the mount from the windscreen when not used or needed.

On further inspection the tag on the cable says +pos is 10.5V and not the 12V i had thought it required. On further investigation it turns out the mount is designed for a bike or ATV and not a car.

Is there anyway of dropping down 12v to 10.5v and if so how?

 

[TonyP]

Bikes run 12v so thats a bit odd. Either way you can easily build a voltage regulator circuit to step down to 10v using something like the LM7810 voltage regulator.

Whats the current requirement?

If you need help with a circuit let me know.

Edit: In fact here is a circuit of what you need
http://www.circuitdiagram.org/24v-or-12 ... m7810.html
Simples

 

[warrenpfo]

Thanks Tony.

All it says is ground and 10.5v

Ill take a look at what you reccomend I do and come back to you.

If it says 10.5 would 10 be ok or can i get bang on 10.5v??

 

[isle of man]

I have the same mount for the Montana and it works fine on 12V

 

[warrenpfo]

Hmmm did you hard wire yours in? Are you sure its the same as they also do them with a 12v cig lighter plug that i asume drops it down to 10.5v?

 

[TonyP]

10 would work. You can also get a variable regulator that you can set the voltage to anything you want, but I would be surprised if it fide jitters work off 12v. Might be worth sending Garmin a email first

 

[iledrew]

I purchased a Garmin Montana a while back and have enjoyed using it. At the same time i purchased the AMPS Rugged Mount with Audio/Power Cable which loks like this and have mounted it to a Ram mount. The reason for going with this mount is that i had the idea of cutting the cable and putting a join in so that i can remove the GPS from the dash when not used.

Not having given it much thought or use other than to hold the GPS a few times i thought i would tackle the instalation of it over the weekend.

The first job was to cut the cable close to the mount and put in a joiner so that i can hard wire the cable in but remove the mount from the windscreen when not used or needed.

On further inspection the tag on the cable says +pos is 10.5V and not the 12V i had thought it required. On further investigation it turns out the mount is designed for a bike or ATV and not a car.

Is there anyway of dropping down 12v to 10.5v and if so how?

The montana regulates power from the the base or cigarette lighter internally so its doesn't matter what voltage is written on the wire. The unit actually needs only 4.5 volts to run ie = 3 AA batteries output. The cigarette lighter charger has 4.9 volts written on it.

 

[fast but dim]

If you have any problems let me know, I've got a mate who works as a techy geek for garmin uk. I wish i could afford a montana!