Hook up GPS to cigar lighter for 47 Plymouth

[central52]

I want to hook up a GPS unit to my 47 Plymouth through the cigar lighter assembly. But I don't have one, just the hole where it should be. Where can I get one for it? Would any replacement units now on the market fit? Or should I try to find an original one from someone who's parting out old cars? Thanks, Ed P.

[Frank Elder]

Have you converted to 12V ?

[martybose]

A universal replacement unit will fit just fine; I've got one in my car for my GPS unit.

Marty

[BobT-47P15]

If he hasn't gone to 12V, then perhaps a power inverter of 6 to 12 V

just for the GPS. Any aftermarket cigar/cigarette lighter recepticle

should work. Probably better than getting an old or used one....as

it will be new, clean....and make better connection.

[Young Ed]

I asked this same question to a friend of mine. His claim was that my 6v lighter socket was enough power for my devises. Now we were talking about an ipod and a cell phone not a GPS but it might be enough for that too.

[BobT-47P15]

Have you ever tried actually hooking up one of those things, Ed?

Of course, you'd need a reeaalllly long cord at the present time.

[Young Ed]

Bob I haven't tried it yet. I could try it with my spare dash and a 6v charger though. The lighter in my car is currently for looks only

[JIPJOBXX]

I would stick to a map of your general area! Kind of old fashion but you know it works.

[JIPJOBXX]

How can a 12 volt cell phone work on a 6 volt system? I would just like to know? But if you really wanted to run a GPS in your older rig than you should buy one of these and use it as your power supply. I use my portable emergency battery to power up my 110 casset radio player to play second world war music when at car shows. The portable battery is in the trunk and I run an extention up to the front. Jon

[Young Ed]

John look again. My cell phone battery is only 3.7v

[JIPJOBXX]

Well I just use my plug in charger to change the voltage from 12 to 3.5. I always keep it plugged into my car cigarette lighter and that way its always charged.

[Young Ed]

So does the charger know or care if its reducing 12 to 3.x or 6 to 3.x?

[RobertKB]

I personally love maps. Everywhere I go, I get one of the city, province, state, etc. that I visit. If I go back there I get out the map and look at it. Even with cities, I usually only have to look once and it is in my head. I know GPS is great but I still prefer the traditional map.

[TodFitch]

How can a 12 volt cell phone work on a 6 volt system? I would just like to know? <snip>

It might actually work.

Most portable devices actually run on less than 5v so the adaptor/cord usually has a voltage reduction device built into it. And I would not be surprised if many of them are protected against the wrong polarity. The question is if that reduction device can work with 6v positive ground. And I would not be surprised if some, but probably not all or even most, of them can.

Maybe someone should start a page with results people post on using portable electronic devices designed for 12v negative ground on a 6v positive ground system.

Were it me, I'd hide a 6v positive to 12v negative converter somewhere and run the cigar lighter (12v convenience plug) from it. You can get that type of converter through a number of old car suppliers.

In my case, the car has no lighter nor a place to mount one. But I have considered getting a converter and putting it in a box with a 12v lighter receptacle with a cable and connector on it. I'd hook that up to a matching connector under the dash and use it for keeping the cell phone charged on longer trips. And it could be simply unplugged and removed when ever desired.

[JIPJOBXX]

Well I don't know but I think that 12 volt plug in reduces the electricity down to the proper voltage to operate my cell phone and not burn it up. I'm not much an electrical engineer all I know is that my 12 volt battery does a good job and it was easy to install. Cost around 60 dollars and I can use it to start up the car if I need too.

PS. I can run a cassette recorder for almost eight hours with it also.

[P15Mike]

Guys , Did the 47 p15 even come with cigar lighter's ? I thought it was 48's and up when they started ? hmmm .... i'd really like to know for sure as i have one on the 48 and was thinking of selling it cause i didnt think it was availible for 47's when new .

Mike

[central52]

Interesting point about 12v to 6v power for GPS unit. Never thought about it. I think I'll email TomTom and ask them about it. Ed P.

[central52]

The TomTom tech guy on the phone said that the GPS unit will work fine in any 6 volt system negative or postive ground. And their e-mail response said that the unit is designed not to overcharge, and if it does, there is a fuse in the charger that will blow.

So, I'm all set to go. Now I have to find a cigar lighter unit to put in my car. Ed P.

[greg g]

I have a Tom Tom, w onder if its would be running off the car or running off its internal battery??? I hate to say it but I wouldn't put my trust in their tech people. I would venture a guess that none of them even know the that 6 V positive systems exist nor do the designers of the units themselves. The comment about over charging is jut the opposite of what the concern would be. But since you have it in writing, plug your's in and see what happens, will be waiting the report......

As to cigar lighters in early cars, mine is an October built 46 and has one, since it is a deluxe and not a Special Deluxe, I believe it is a dealer install or aftermarket unit. It does have wiring very similar to the rest of the stuff under the dash, so it was probably added early in the car's life.

[Young Ed]

The lighter is a 2 piece afair one goes in from the front and then the back goes over it and screws onto the first piece. A wire attaches to the back and you're done. I'll try to snap a pic of one when I get home

[BobT-47P15]

You should be able to install a cigar lighter in any Special Deluxe.

And probably in a Deluxe as well.

In that chrome unit below the dash where the ignition switch resides,

there should be a hole on the passenger side end large enough to

accommodate a lighter. The hole may have a chrome cap on it, or

there may be something else using that hole.

In most cases, the lighter has a housing that screws off, so you place

the inner portion into the hole, then screw on the outer portion behind

the dash....that holds it in place. There will be one wire to a stud in

the center rear of the lighter. Hook that up to some power source, like

a post on the ignition switch. You can choose to attach to a source

that is always powered, or one that is not powered when the key is

turned off. Just have to find a connecting point to do what you want.

I don't think the lighter wire even contains a fuse. Lighters are pretty

much universal. There are some older models, maybe made by Sinko,

and probably others, that have plastic handles that kind of blend

in with the P15 knobs.

In this pic, I don't currently have a lighter, but instead am using a

starter dash button to operate my oogah horn. But this is where

the lighter would go.

[BobT-47P15]

Here's a pic of my spare dash showing the lighter hole.

Here's the back side of a dash, you can see the lighter housing on the left and a black wire coming off it.

The wire isn't going to a hookup place.....just put it up there to get it out of the way.

[oldmopar]

If you check you GPS it may have some infor. The lighter connection for my garmin says

input 10-30 VDC max 1A

output 4.9-5.25 VDC/1A

So the output to the charger seems to be happy with close to 6v but the input wants closer to 12v I do not have enough electronic knowledge to know why but it seems to want more then 6v from the lighter outlet

[martybose]

In a prior life (or at least it feels that way) I worked for a company that used 110V and 220V AC power supplies. Then they went to a single supply that was switch selectable for 110/220V AC. This was okay until someone would forgot to check which way the switch was set and fried them (did I mention that this equipment used a bank of 8 of these power supplies? VERY expensive to replace them all!) We eventually came up with a design that would work seamlessly from 80V to 264V AC, even worked from 47 hertz to 70 hertz. But I guarantee you'll never find something like this in consumer electronics, way too expensive!

In the DC arena we used a nominal 48V DC input, the last design would run from 36V to 60V, but you won't ever find a DC input power supply that works from 6V to 12V seamlessly in a cigar lighter adapter!

Marty

[David Maxwell]

...1946 and the cigar lighter is shown. Plus all P15s regardless of year either have the lighter or the knockout plug to install one.

Guys , Did the 47 p15 even come with cigar lighter's ? I thought it was 48's and up when they started ? hmmm .... i'd really like to know for sure as i have one on the 48 and was thinking of selling it cause i didnt think it was availible for 47's when new .

Mike