Can I Wire My Garmin Gps Like This?

[MrRetro]

I have an 09 ES350. I use a Garmin GPS with a vent mount, and the power plugs into the cigarette lighter. I am wondering if I can snake the power wire (which is just a thin USB extension cable) down and through the center air vent and get the other end to come out somewhere near the lower part of the dash. I actually want to route it into the center console where the 12v power plug is located, and this would be a little cleaner if I could do it this way. I do not know how to remove dash pieces if that is required - is there an easy way to accomplish this?

[1990LS400]

I have an 09 ES350. I use a Garmin GPS with a vent mount, and the power plugs into the cigarette lighter. I am wondering if I can snake the power wire (which is just a thin USB extension cable) down and through the center air vent and get the other end to come out somewhere near the lower part of the dash. I actually want to route it into the center console where the 12v power plug is located, and this would be a little cleaner if I could do it this way. I do not know how to remove dash pieces if that is required - is there an easy way to accomplish this?

I suppose you could use a vent mount but do really want to permanently block an air vent? We've got an Garmin air vent mount too but I can't imagine using it in anything besides rental cars.

My suggestion is to mount your Garmin on a bracket to the right of your radio. If you are going to pull all the trim and likely the radio to route a power cable, you might as well install a bracket dedicated to your Garmin. I'll attach instructions for pulling trim to install a Panavise bracket but there are other good brands of brackets. Even though a bracket may not be specifically for your car, based on the Panavise bracket installation instructions it looks like just about any similar bracket would work fine.

You could also power your Garmin by tapping into the cable leading to the cig lighter or accessory port or by at the underdash fuse box using an "add a circuit" piggyback fuse made to power accessories. I used $5 DC extension cords from Target so I wouldn't have to chop the plugs off our GPS power cords to splice them into the car's accessory circut.

I also recommend brackets from Pro.Fit International -- they have brackets specifically for the Garmin Nuvi; one for the LS should fit your car even if the application chart doesn't say it will.

Here is a link to my gallery that contains instructions on how I mounted portable GPS units on Pro.Fit brackets in our LS and Camry and routed the power cables inside the dash: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showuser=2157&tab=gallery

Panavise ES350 mount.pdf