To avoid having trailing cables to the sat nav I decided to install a PS
permanently. Siting a 2.5mm power socket on the top of the dash. Cutting
into the output cable discovered it has three wires - black red and white.
The black and red are the same gauge - the white slightly smaller. But at
the plug end at least the white and red are commoned. Any idea why? The
graphic on the PS just shows the normal 'sleeve and tip' connections.

--
*Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:53:51 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

To avoid having trailing cables to the sat nav I decided to install a PS
permanently. Siting a 2.5mm power socket on the top of the dash. Cutting
into the output cable discovered it has three wires - black red and white.
The black and red are the same gauge - the white slightly smaller. But at
the plug end at least the white and red are commoned. Any idea why? The
graphic on the PS just shows the normal 'sleeve and tip' connections.

It could be to enable (if suitably wired) it to sense whether or not
the lights are on in the car, to alter the display brightness.

--
Frank Erskine

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

To avoid having trailing cables to the sat nav I decided to install a
PS permanently. Siting a 2.5mm power socket on the top of the dash.
Cutting into the output cable discovered it has three wires - black
red and white. The black and red are the same gauge - the white
slightly smaller. But at the plug end at least the white and red are
commoned. Any idea why? The graphic on the PS just shows the normal
'sleeve and tip' connections.

Dunno - but I've cross-posted this to uk.rec.gps where someone might know.
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

On 2007-03-28 20:23:57 +0100, "Roger Mills" said:

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

To avoid having trailing cables to the sat nav I decided to install a
PS permanently. Siting a 2.5mm power socket on the top of the dash.
Cutting into the output cable discovered it has three wires - black
red and white. The black and red are the same gauge - the white
slightly smaller. But at the plug end at least the white and red are
commoned. Any idea why? The graphic on the PS just shows the normal
'sleeve and tip' connections.

Dunno - but I've cross-posted this to uk.rec.gps where someone might know.

http://www.satnav-shop.com/index.php?ln=en&pg=6&sec=9

--
Darren Griffin
PocketGPSWorld - www.PocketGPSWorld.com
The Premier GPS Resource for News, Reviews and Forums

"Roger Mills" wrote in message
...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

To avoid having trailing cables to the sat nav I decided to install a
PS permanently. Siting a 2.5mm power socket on the top of the dash.
Cutting into the output cable discovered it has three wires - black
red and white. The black and red are the same gauge - the white
slightly smaller. But at the plug end at least the white and red are
commoned. Any idea why? The graphic on the PS just shows the normal
'sleeve and tip' connections.

Dunno - but I've cross-posted this to uk.rec.gps where someone might know.
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

The white is the 'sense' wire to ensure the PSU only puts out 5V. When this
gets broken, your tomtom 'pops'- green charge light only fault.

In article ,
Darren Griffin - PocketGPSWorld.Com wrote:
On 2007-03-28 20:23:57 +0100, "Roger Mills" said:

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

To avoid having trailing cables to the sat nav I decided to install a
PS permanently. Siting a 2.5mm power socket on the top of the dash.
Cutting into the output cable discovered it has three wires - black
red and white. The black and red are the same gauge - the white
slightly smaller. But at the plug end at least the white and red are
commoned. Any idea why? The graphic on the PS just shows the normal
'sleeve and tip' connections.

Dunno - but I've cross-posted this to uk.rec.gps where someone might
know.

http://www.satnav-shop.com/index.php?ln=en&pg=6&sec=9

Interesting article - thanks. There shouldn't be any possibility of this
wire breaking now as there will be no movement - I've sited the PS inside
the dash rather than plugging it into the lighter socket.

--
*All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:


http://www.satnav-shop.com/index.php?ln=en&pg=6&sec=9

Interesting article - thanks. There shouldn't be any possibility of
this wire breaking now as there will be no movement - I've sited the
PS inside the dash rather than plugging it into the lighter socket.

Does your home made power supply output a regulated 5v ot 12v? If the
latter, you still need the 12v to 5v converter built into the TomTom plug at
the cigar lighter end of the cable - otherwise you'll fry the GPS.

Is your supply permanently live, or switched with the ignition. If powering
the TomTom through its cradle, it will turn on automatically when power is
applied - so the supply needs to go off with the engine if you don't want
the TomTom to light up your garage.
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

In article ,
Roger Mills wrote:
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:


http://www.satnav-shop.com/index.php?ln=en&pg=6&sec=9

Interesting article - thanks. There shouldn't be any possibility of
this wire breaking now as there will be no movement - I've sited the
PS inside the dash rather than plugging it into the lighter socket.

Does your home made power supply output a regulated 5v ot 12v? If the
latter, you still need the 12v to 5v converter built into the TomTom
plug at the cigar lighter end of the cable - otherwise you'll fry the
GPS.

? If it were a home made PS I'd not be asking about the output cable of
the supplied car one. I considered making one but at under 20 quid for the
SMPS one it would be difficult to do for the same sort of cost - and a
basic 2 amp 5 volt regulated supply would get too hot for where I've sited
it.
I've just plugged it into an additional concealed cigarette lighter type
socket I've fitted, and used a 2.5mm panel mounting socket on the dash
top. Then a short lead to the Tom tom.

Is your supply permanently live, or switched with the ignition. If
powering the TomTom through its cradle, it will turn on automatically
when power is applied - so the supply needs to go off with the engine if
you don't want the TomTom to light up your garage.

I've used an aux feed.

But the unit won't be left installed in the car anyway when not actually
in use - no garage.

--


Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I've just plugged it into an additional concealed cigarette lighter
type socket I've fitted, and used a 2.5mm panel mounting socket on
the dash top. Then a short lead to the Tom tom.

Ah, fine. It was the 2.5mm socket which had me fooled - I didn't realise you
still had the TT cigar lighter plug on the supply side of it.

Where are you connecting this white voltage sensing wire - to this 2.5mm
socket? I presume that in the original cable it's connected at the GPS end
rather than at the cigar plug end in order to compensate for any voltage
drop along the main supply cable. If that is the case, it needs to be
connected as near to the GPS as possible. Having said that, the mains
adaptor supplied with my TTG has a fairly weedy looking cable - which
appears only to have 2 conductors - 'cos it's a figure of 8 affair!
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

In article ,
Roger Mills wrote:
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I've just plugged it into an additional concealed cigarette lighter
type socket I've fitted, and used a 2.5mm panel mounting socket on
the dash top. Then a short lead to the Tom tom.

Ah, fine. It was the 2.5mm socket which had me fooled - I didn't realise
you still had the TT cigar lighter plug on the supply side of it.

Where are you connecting this white voltage sensing wire - to this 2.5mm
socket? I presume that in the original cable it's connected at the GPS
end rather than at the cigar plug end in order to compensate for any
voltage drop along the main supply cable. If that is the case, it needs
to be connected as near to the GPS as possible.

I've commoned it at the 2.5mm socket. The lead from here to the TT is only
2 inches long.

Having said that, the mains adaptor supplied with my TTG has a fairly
weedy looking cable - which appears only to have 2 conductors - 'cos
it's a figure of 8 affair!

The one on my wall wart appears to be a different cable although still
round - it's not as thick as the car one. But they're both horribly
inflexible cable - a real pain in a car if it's plugged into the fag
lighter.

--
*I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
But the unit won't be left installed in the car anyway when not
actually in use - no garage.

And talking of which... I had my van tanned while it was parked on the
kerb outside the BBC's new studios in Glasgow on Wednesday. (Rough
area!). The Main contractor won't let anyone use the huge car park
because apparently they will get charged rates on it if the contractors
park in it!

They smashed the passenger side window and opened the glove compartment,
but found and took nothing.

I had the Tomtom cradle attached to the screen, so that's probably what
they were looking for. It wasn't in the van! I've now removed the
cradle from the windscreen and leave the glove compartment open to show
it's not got anything of value in it.

Called AutoGlass since I recalled they were a recommended choice for my
insurer. Got charged the 60 quid excess there and then and told they
would get round as soon as possible. That was at 3.20pm. At 8pm I
called again. They said that night duty guys started at 9pm and someone
would call me. I then got a call shortly after which basically said I
could be "fitted in" at between 1am and 2am! Not great when you have an
early start in the morning! Guy arrived at 1am and finished fitting new
window at about half two in the morning!

Hmm, won't be calling AutoGlass again.

--
Clive Mitchell
http://www.bigclive.com

In article ,
Clive Mitchell wrote:
Called AutoGlass since I recalled they were a recommended choice for my
insurer. Got charged the 60 quid excess there and then and told they
would get round as soon as possible. That was at 3.20pm. At 8pm I
called again. They said that night duty guys started at 9pm and someone
would call me. I then got a call shortly after which basically said I
could be "fitted in" at between 1am and 2am! Not great when you have an
early start in the morning! Guy arrived at 1am and finished fitting new
window at about half two in the morning!

Hmm, won't be calling AutoGlass again.

Same here - my insurance insist they were used.
First they said there wasn't a spare screen in the country. I did some
research and discovered there was one - at one of their branches. Man in
van came out to fit it. It leaked. Took it to their depot and they put a
hose on it then some sealer and pronounced it fixed. Except that it
wasn't. Later they took it out and did the job properly - it doesn't leak
now. But they gouged the paint in three places - taking out a screen
complete is much more difficult than the broken bits of one.

--
*Forget the Joneses, I keep us up with the Simpsons.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message , Clive Mitchell
writes
Called AutoGlass since I recalled they were a recommended choice for my
insurer. Got charged the 60 quid excess there and then and told they
would get round as soon as possible. That was at 3.20pm. At 8pm I
called again. They said that night duty guys started at 9pm and
someone would call me. I then got a call shortly after which basically
said I could be "fitted in" at between 1am and 2am! Not great when you
have an early start in the morning! Guy arrived at 1am and finished
fitting new window at about half two in the morning!

Hmm, won't be calling AutoGlass again.

I had my rear side window broken last year, AutoGlass were double the
price of every other company who quoted - about £300 [1]. The company I
settled on charged just over £100

[1] - when they discovered that it wasn't an insurance job, they offered
me 20% discount


--
geoff

On Fri, 30 Mar 2007 23:03:52 +0100, wrote:

On 30 Mar,
Clive Mitchell wrote:

Called AutoGlass since I recalled they were a recommended choice for my
insurer. Got charged the 60 quid excess there and then and told they
would get round as soon as possible. That was at 3.20pm. At 8pm I
called again. They said that night duty guys started at 9pm and someone
would call me. I then got a call shortly after which basically said I
could be "fitted in" at between 1am and 2am! Not great when you have an
early start in the morning! Guy arrived at 1am and finished fitting new
window at about half two in the morning!

Hmm, won't be calling AutoGlass again.

Son had similar problem a few months ago. 5pm, and the insurer's recommended
was RAC windscreens. They turned up about 2 am. At least we didn't have to
pay in advance, but muggins had to sit up to wait.

I don't think it's unique to autoglass. They turned up quite quickly for
another car (windscreen rather than door glass).

I was happy with RAC AutoWindscreens a couple of fortnights ago when I
was told by a neighbour at about 8 am on a Saturday that I'd had a
passenger-side window smashed (clearly an attempt to nick a satnav
since the windscreen mount was visible (a neighbour with a similar car
wasn't touched)). The Satnav was in the house, but the scrote did get
away with a pair of binoculars from the glove-box.

After the usual long delay involving Northumbria Police (as it happens
Norwich Union Direct weren't interested in a crime reference), AW
phoned to say that they didn't have a spare window glass but could fit
a bit of Perspex temporarily by 11 am or so, if I could take the car
to their place a couple of miles away.
I called back (after walking the dog for a mile or so) at about noon
on the same day and they'd sourced a proper window light and fitted it
(ok - there was still a bit of glass shrapnel in the passenger
footwell) but at least the job was done promptly and properly.

It cost me the 60 quid excess but at least my NCB shouldn't be
affected. There was a little bit of damage around the driver's door
handle (not the lock), but I had that fixed for 75 quid by a local
garage.

--
Frank Erskine

In article ,
raden wrote:
I had my rear side window broken last year, AutoGlass were double the
price of every other company who quoted - about £300 [1]. The company I
settled on charged just over £100

I was shown the top copy of the bill which the insurance company gets and
they charged them about 350 quid for the rear screen alone. (it's an old
car) The specialist for the make only charges 175 for a new screen but
didn't have one of the correct colour. Secondhand ones go for about a
tenner - they don't usually break or get chipped etc unlike windscreens.
Mine shattered - I think - because of a faulty heating element causing
local overheating.

--
*Why does the sun lighten our hair, but darken our skin?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message , Frank Erskine
writes
It cost me the 60 quid excess but at least my NCB shouldn't be
affected. There was a little bit of damage around the driver's door
handle (not the lock), but I had that fixed for 75 quid by a local
garage.

I was told the No Claims Bonus wouldn't be affected too. I'm guessing
this doesn't mean the cost of the insurance isn't going to be affected.

Of course.... If they actually punished the scum windows wouldn't get
broken, but it's just another layer of profit for our self perpetuating
legal system.

--
Clive Mitchell
http://www.bigclive.com

In article , Clive Mitchell
writes

I had the Tomtom cradle attached to the screen, so that's probably what
they were looking for. It wasn't in the van! I've now removed the
cradle from the windscreen and leave the glove compartment open to show
it's not got anything of value in it.

I've been playing 'the game' with car thieves in Glasgow for a v long time
and have a few suggestions.

As I'm sure you've discovered, nothing visible in the car/van at any time
("but it's only an empty bag", "they don't know it's empty . . .")

I'd probably not leave the glove box open, anything 'different' attracts
attention and once they're attracted then bricks are cheap.

Tomtom cradles are a known magnet but (possible urban myth) suction
cup marks are also suggested to be a hint.

As they seem to be in a hurry/a bit thick then visible deterrence has to be
very visible, current car has a big yellow half frying pan stylee steering lock
as I've had a previous car broken into with a view to joyriding with a strong
but less visible lock in place, I just think they were in too much of a hurry
to notice it.

HTH
--
fred
Plusnet - I hope you like vanilla

In message , fred writes
Tomtom cradles are a known magnet but (possible urban myth) suction cup
marks are also suggested to be a hint.

Strangely enough I removed the cradle and then rubbed off the suction
cup marks with that in mind.

--
Clive Mitchell
http://www.bigclive.com