Re: 26XX Snap-in dock

Lizard_at_Lair.com
Date: 07/05/04 

Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 16:49:57 GMT

Looks like you build quite a nice "contraption"

I was just wondering how many times you could of plugged and unpluged
the 2 cords using the same time it took you to design, build and
"rig" your shortcut.

Anyway, to each his own !!

On 5 Jul 2004 08:45:24 -0700, stevelischynsky@solectron.com (Steve L.)
wrote:

>I got annoyed with hooking up the power and antenna cable every time.
>So I looked at putting together a snap-in dock that has it's own
>connector for all of the pins including the coax antenna as a DIY
>project.
>
>Being a engineer for telco equipment, I design electronic hardware for
>a living. But it was a challange to make this thing small enough to
>fit the bean bag and use off-the-shelf components as much as possible,
>include a snap in lock feature and retain Garmin's adjustable base. It
>took a few months, off and on, to figure out how to do this.
>
>I built one as a DIY'er. Here are some CAD shots and photos.
>
>http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v330/slischyn/5a54bc83.jpg
>http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v330/slischyn/1823fd91.jpg
>http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v330/slischyn/e6a88bc9.jpg
>http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v330/slischyn/Unsnapping.jpg
>http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v330/slischyn/d987922f.jpg
>http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v330/slischyn/Bean_bag_and_base.jpg
>
>
>I've been using this for about a week now. I find I use the GPS more
>since it is so easy to just snap it in. It powers up by itself as soon
>as it is snapped in and uses the external antenna that I have
>permanently mounted on my roof. I remove it by squeezing on the spring
>locks and lifting up- only takes a second. I used to put a hat or
>magazine on the gps for quick stops to hide it, but now I just unlock
>it and either hide it or put it in my jacket pocket.
>
>The base part of the dock stays with the vehicle. The power cable and
>external antenna are always plugged into this base. The GPSr mount
>part of the dock is always attached to the GPSr. The power and coax
>cable run from this mount to the GPSr and are always plugged in.
>
>Having some experience with it, I think I can move the speaker to the
>dock, including the DR connector and maybe a headphone jack. This
>would get rid of the huge lighter and speaker adapter that Garmin has
>and would make it only a 2 wire cable running to a standard lighter
>plug. It would also make it easier just to get rid of the lighter plug
>and hard wire the power cable into the vehicle. I'll start re-doing
>the CAD model to see if this is even do-able and maybe build a second
>one.
>
>I thought I'd share this project with you to see what you think. I
>think Garmin should have offered this in the first place.
>
>Steve L.

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