On Mon, 19 Dec 2016 16:19:54 -0500, Tekkie®
wrote:

posted for all of us...



On Sat, 17 Dec 2016 07:55:43 -0500, Retired wrote:

On 12/16/16 11:33 PM, micky wrote:
I have a long foreign trip planned starting in March and plan to rent a
car, maybe a Kia Picante (I think it is) or a Mazda 2.

I will have a phone with maps, most days (If I know where I'm going the
night before and take the time to dl the proper map) and I may have
paper maps of much of the area (I really prefer paper maps.) but there
will be times when I'm just wandering around, on roads that wind and
have barely any relationship to north, south, east or west.

I just installed a rear view mirror with a compass in my own car, and
it's great. I've used the sun or the shadow of telephone poles and
speed limit signs to navigate in the past, but that's really hard when
it's anywhere near noon, or when it's overcast.

The rentacar will probably be this year's model or last year's, and I
think they will be too cheap to have a compass, but they may have a
electically self-dimming mirror... Do you think even these little cars
will?

So I wonder what you think about the idea of taking my rear view mirror
with me on this trip, and changing the mirror for my own until I return
the car?? Likely to work? I don't see how I can get in trouble,
right? Is a cheap, small Japanese car likely to have an electric
mirror. (used for self-dimming)

I planned to take a hand compass, but that might mean stopping and
getting out of the car each time I want to check direction.

My own car doesn't have the standard 6 pin connector which iiuc late
model cars have for the rear view mirror. But it was easy enough to
figure out which 3 of the 6 pins on the compass/mirror were needed** and
make my own adapter to fit my two pin connector, an adapter that I can
take with me. It has two wires that are stripped, twisted, and soldered
so that I can insert them in the 2-pin socket that is meant for the
mirror.

Won't the rentacar have either a 2-pin socket like mine, or a 6-pin
socket that will just plug into my mirror without any adapter? These
things are standardized aren't they?

*No, they are not*



I would go look at such cars at local dealers to see if the mirrors are
electric, but I don't think they have those models here. (I"ll still go
to look at the connectors (but I don't think they'll let me unplug
anything!)

I can buy an allen wrench, or bring one if my luggage is not too heavy.
If it doesnt' take an allen wrench, I can buy whatever it takes. I can
buy or bring a cheap meter to verify which lead is positive, but won't
the 2-pin connector be just like mine, and the 6-pin connector go on in
only one way? So I won't need a meter.

Just this past Monday I was coming back from Camden NJ on local roads,
headed for the Delaware Mem. Bridge. The sun was down but it was still
light out. Two cars in front of me turned right and one car behind me
did, and I figured that right was the way to go, but the compass showed
I was going west and if I turned, I'd be going north, away from the
bridge! I love the compass.


**It also has a thermometer, but a) the car already has one, b) I'd have
to install a sensor near the grill and run a wire, so I'm glad about a.


If all you need is a *portable* compass, consider an "old-school"
automotive compass such as this one:

https://www.napaonline.com/napa/en/p...551/BK_7305551

I like this solution as the best. Others are pale in comparison. Then you
can relate the points to your paper maps.
Definitely the cheapest option at $12 if you can find one in stock.

On Mon, 19 Dec 2016 16:55:03 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2016 16:19:54 -0500, Tekkie®
wrote:

posted for all of us...



On Sat, 17 Dec 2016 07:55:43 -0500, Retired wrote:

On 12/16/16 11:33 PM, micky wrote:
I have a long foreign trip planned starting in March and plan to rent a
car, maybe a Kia Picante (I think it is) or a Mazda 2.

I will have a phone with maps, most days (If I know where I'm going the
night before and take the time to dl the proper map) and I may have
paper maps of much of the area (I really prefer paper maps.) but there
will be times when I'm just wandering around, on roads that wind and
have barely any relationship to north, south, east or west.

I just installed a rear view mirror with a compass in my own car, and
it's great. I've used the sun or the shadow of telephone poles and
speed limit signs to navigate in the past, but that's really hard when
it's anywhere near noon, or when it's overcast.

The rentacar will probably be this year's model or last year's, and I
think they will be too cheap to have a compass, but they may have a
electically self-dimming mirror... Do you think even these little cars
will?

So I wonder what you think about the idea of taking my rear view mirror
with me on this trip, and changing the mirror for my own until I return
the car?? Likely to work? I don't see how I can get in trouble,
right? Is a cheap, small Japanese car likely to have an electric
mirror. (used for self-dimming)

I planned to take a hand compass, but that might mean stopping and
getting out of the car each time I want to check direction.

My own car doesn't have the standard 6 pin connector which iiuc late
model cars have for the rear view mirror. But it was easy enough to
figure out which 3 of the 6 pins on the compass/mirror were needed** and
make my own adapter to fit my two pin connector, an adapter that I can
take with me. It has two wires that are stripped, twisted, and soldered
so that I can insert them in the 2-pin socket that is meant for the
mirror.

Won't the rentacar have either a 2-pin socket like mine, or a 6-pin
socket that will just plug into my mirror without any adapter? These
things are standardized aren't they?

*No, they are not*



I would go look at such cars at local dealers to see if the mirrors are
electric, but I don't think they have those models here. (I"ll still go
to look at the connectors (but I don't think they'll let me unplug
anything!)

I can buy an allen wrench, or bring one if my luggage is not too heavy.
If it doesnt' take an allen wrench, I can buy whatever it takes. I can
buy or bring a cheap meter to verify which lead is positive, but won't
the 2-pin connector be just like mine, and the 6-pin connector go on in
only one way? So I won't need a meter.

Just this past Monday I was coming back from Camden NJ on local roads,
headed for the Delaware Mem. Bridge. The sun was down but it was still
light out. Two cars in front of me turned right and one car behind me
did, and I figured that right was the way to go, but the compass showed
I was going west and if I turned, I'd be going north, away from the
bridge! I love the compass.


**It also has a thermometer, but a) the car already has one, b) I'd have
to install a sensor near the grill and run a wire, so I'm glad about a.


If all you need is a *portable* compass, consider an "old-school"
automotive compass such as this one:

https://www.napaonline.com/napa/en/p...551/BK_7305551

I like this solution as the best. Others are pale in comparison. Then you
can relate the points to your paper maps.
Definitely the cheapest option at $12 if you can find one in stock.
A lot of the OEM mirror compasses are just displays, with the actual
compass in the BCM computer.