Jimibigguns Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 OK...so maybe I'm just a little OCD about things, but I hate wires hanging out all over the place when I include "add-ons" to my vehicle. Anyone else out there feel the same way? It's gotta have a clean appearance in order for me to feel good about it. Case in point... I have a "plug & play" Sirius Satellite Radio receiver and a Mio GPS system. In order for both of these things to work they need to be plugged into a power source...typically the cigarette lighter plugs (A/C adapters). This is easy enough, but all those wires flying around everywhere drives me nuts!!! This is what I've learned so far about the Edge: The center console trim (plastic casing around the shifter) just pops off if you pull up on it. The side panels do as well making satellite radio install a snap...literally. I also tucked the wires that were exposed to the sat. readio received into the center console and popped the trim back on and Voila...all the wires are hidden. They just get snuck into the armrest compartment through the small hole that's exposed giving you access to the 1/8" input and A/C adapter. I'm even thinking about drilling a small hole in the plastic divider to just run wires directly up from the inside of the center armrest compartment to the front of the center console right under the dash. Now, I haven't tried this yet for the GPS, but I'm sure the dash trim works in pretty much the same way. Pop and snap. But here's a question... Does anyone know if you can just cut the male end of an A/C cord for, say, the GPS, and just attach it directly to the A/C input or power line in the stereo wiring harness? Does it need to be connected using the given connectors...or can these units be bypassed allowing me to connect devices to a power supply directly? Thanks in advance for any help you can give on this topic. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
druck52 Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 I don't know abou the GPS but i know that the sirius radio used 5V and if you tap straight into the power point or other 12V source you will fry the radio. The lighter adapter that comes with the radio has a reducer in it to go from the 12V to 5V. I did it on my old car but took the end of the lighter adapter apart and soldered some wires to it to wire to a 12V source. I don't know if the GPS is the same but i hope that helps some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimibigguns Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Interesting... So it's all about voltage then. Makes complete sense. I'll have to check the voltage that my GPS runs at to see if it's 12V. If not, do you know of any other ways to reduce voltage? Maybe that's a question better asked to an electrician... Thanks though...good info. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYEdge Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 I installed my XM inno radio exactly as you did. After the wires are installed it looks seamless. Just a little bit of info: I hardwired my radar detector into the rear view mirror wire harness that had 12V. (test the wires first with a multi-meter) After the install the wires are all out of the way behind the mirror unit and you can't easily see them in the driver or passenger seat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCFlyer Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 (edited) Does anyone know if you can just cut the male end of an A/C cord for, say, the GPS, and just attach it directly to the A/C input or power line in the stereo wiring harness? Does it need to be connected using the given connectors...or can these units be bypassed allowing me to connect devices to a power supply directly? I had a similar situation in a different vehicle. I went to Radio Shack and bought a cigarette lighter extension cord. It had a plug on one end and a female lighter socket on the other. I cut the wire and connected the female socket side directly into the 12v line under the dash. I then plugged the XM Radio power adapter into the extension socket and tucked it all behind the radio. Worked like a champ. This was a japanese car, and the aux power jacks go off with the key. In the Edge, they stay on all the time, so if you do this the power will always be on. They draw a tiny amount of current, but could have a negative impact on the life of the battery. In my prior company car (a Ford Freestar) I left the XM radio on all the time, and the OEM battery failed after one year. I don't know if this was the cause, but lead-acid batteries don't like to be drained down on a regular basis. Perhaps you could find a switched 12V line, and this wouldn't be an issue. Edited January 17, 2008 by KCFlyer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Talionis Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 I have also cut wires and wired right into the fuse box (or even the battery depending on the need) and did just that on my Sirius in my current car. You cannot see a single wire that runs from the back of my VW and down through the car and up to the dash. I also pull up the panels and pillar molding and molding at the feet and have even drilled well concealed holes to pull wire through. I also hate exposed wires as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimibigguns Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 So I'm not alone here... This is all great info. So it is possible to hard-wire add-ons like GPS...as long as the voltage matches and you can have a switch to turn things on and off. Otherwise the battery gets drained. Funny, my old car was a Nissan and the A/C adapters went off as soon as the car was turned off. Why don't Ford's do this as well? I wonder if it would be easy to install a universal A/C switch into the dash somewhere, run all the A/C add-ons to this switch, and then hard wire this switch to the power lead on the radio wiring harness? Any thoughts? Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYEdge Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 So I'm not alone here... This is all great info. So it is possible to hard-wire add-ons like GPS...as long as the voltage matches and you can have a switch to turn things on and off. Otherwise the battery gets drained. Funny, my old car was a Nissan and the A/C adapters went off as soon as the car was turned off. Why don't Ford's do this as well? I wonder if it would be easy to install a universal A/C switch into the dash somewhere, run all the A/C add-ons to this switch, and then hard wire this switch to the power lead on the radio wiring harness? Any thoughts? Jim You can easily wire in a 12v relay under the dash that would be able to handle enough amperage for all of your accessories at once. In case your not familiar with the wiring of a relay, a constant 12v battery source is on one terminal, ground on another terminal, a switching 12v source to turn on the relay (in this case you can tap into an existing 12v source that powers up with the accessory circuit in the vehicle, or hard wire a manual switch, and the last terminal is the 12v switched output from the battery source to all of your electrical components. You can wire a radar detector, satellite radio, gps, etc.. to all come on when the vehicle starts, and then shut off when the vehicle turns off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Talionis Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 another tip I would add. you can go to Radio Shack and get very handy in-line fuses. they are a cool screw top enclosed plastic tube that holds a fuse (put fuse in a and close and the circuit is complete) and you put that inline with your power/hot.. this way, added protection. I have done this for all of my after-market mods (air suspension, pusher fan, KC lights, fuel pump for rear tank, etc.) and wiring needs on my FJ40 and it is a nice feature and saves the electronics for a mere 7-8$. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimibigguns Posted February 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 (edited) Thanks for your help with this guys... Looks like I'm not alone. So I'm really convinced that I need to create some way of being able to manually turn all of my accessories on and off with the touch of a button...as well as have them all turn off once the vehicle is turned off. In my Nissan this would happen automatically when the car was turned off. Any idea why this doesn't happen in the Ford Edge? Can someone provide a step-by-step instruction guide in setting up a 12 volt relay system? I would be running a Sirius Satellite Radio tuner as well as a GPS system...none of which run at 12 volts. I would like to be able to get in the vehicle, turn on the ignition, have all my accessories (sat radio, GPS, etc) turn on as well...and when I leave the vehicle, be able to turn off the ignition and all the accessories AND AC power sources turn off as well. On top of this, I would also like to be able to turn on/off the AC outlet for my Sirius Radio at any given time without turning off the other AC outlets as this causes interference with my iPod when plugged in together. Any ideas??? Thanks in advance. Jim Edited February 3, 2008 by Jimibigguns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Talionis Posted February 3, 2008 Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 (edited) I cant give full details or totally meet your step by step needs.... but on a high level view & basics as I see it... you would need to tap into the ignition wire to make sure all items got power and come on ONLY when key powered up and key shut down when car turned off. I never do this as often, when adding after-market items I want them to run when the car is not on or key not in ignition. As for why yours do not turn right off right when vehicle is turned off.. they would not if not tied into an ignition wire. Plus, I understand - but do not know exact specifics - the Edge has like a 10 minute 'convenience' feature that keeps power to items in the car (stereo, map lights, nav, etc) for that time or until you get out. So that would explain that.. Anyway, one way you could do this is to tap into your ignition wire so that everything powers on and off at that time with key insert.. then, run everything through a rocker or toggle type switch(es) from radio Shack as they have a killer selection - you could get 1 with correct voltage/amp to handle them all, or do a cool concealed bank of them (maybe all in that deep dash center console) with all the same cool matching switch. This way, when car powers up, all items have power and then 1 throw (or push or flip) of one switch (or all if you put them on different switches) would power them all up. Sounds like you would want 1 switch though and if so, you could leave the switch always on and then the car turning on would turn them all on or off and maybe at times you could flip it to off if you wanted none of them active. you could still conceal it in the center console for example. hope it helps in some way to get the juices flowing as it sound like you want kind of a tricky setup that covers a lot of options. Edited February 3, 2008 by Lex Talionis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimibigguns Posted February 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 Nice. Yeah, this definitely helps alot. Thanks for the feedback Lex. My head's spinning with ideas now. I would want to tap into the ignition...makes sense...any idea on how to do that? Or is that something I'd be better off getting done at a pro audio shop? I really like the "bank of switches" idea. This way I could power up only certain items when needed. And it would solve my interference problem when having 2 audio sources run off the Aux input. Plus it would just be cool to have more buttons to do things. Can't beat having more buttons to mess around with! Thanks for the info...much appreciated. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USAF_Ron Posted November 12, 2008 Report Share Posted November 12, 2008 (edited) I installed my XM inno radio exactly as you did. I'm thinking about buying the Inno since I have two XM subscriptions already. Are you happy with the reception? Did you have to use an external antenna? Thanks! Edited November 12, 2008 by USAF_Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKXgeek Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 (edited) Nice. Yeah, this definitely helps alot. Thanks for the feedback Lex. My head's spinning with ideas now. I would want to tap into the ignition...makes sense...any idea on how to do that? Or is that something I'd be better off getting done at a pro audio shop? I really like the "bank of switches" idea. This way I could power up only certain items when needed. And it would solve my interference problem when having 2 audio sources run off the Aux input. Plus it would just be cool to have more buttons to do things. Can't beat having more buttons to mess around with! Thanks for the info...much appreciated. Jim Jim, Here is our off-line email thread. Good Luck MKXgeek ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks! And congrats on the new truck. I'm sure you gonna love it. My Edge has been fantastic. Let me know what you come up...I'd be curious to know. Sounds like you have alot of experience with this. Not me. If you want to post this just copy/paste into the thread as a reply post. Jim QUOTE Remember that most Cig. plug adapters for things like GPS and RADAR detectors have a 2-5 amp fuse built in. If you are going to run a separate line up to run the GPS I would recommend an in-line fuse close to the fuse block. BTW I have been doing this kind of stuff since High School in the 60s when I installed a FM radio in my Mother's 68 Mustang. It had a built in speaker and I had to mount it upside down under the dash so she could hear it. The only thing the family remembers is that it was upside down. I picked up my new MKX last night so this weekend I will be going over it with a fine toothed comb, programming the Nav and media system, playing.... I'll try and look at the where the fuse block is and then make some detailed recommendations. Is there a way our messages can get to the forum for everyone's benefit?? Jay QUOTE Hey...thanks for the info. That was the best answer to my question that I've gotten! Everyone else made it sound like I had to have an electrician look at my Edge to make happen what I want. I will look into this...especially as I add on a GPS unit. BTW...welcome to the forums. This is a good place. Enjoy! Jim QUOTE Jim, Did you ever get your accessory wiring project completed? I am new to the forum. No one every mention pulling power right off the accessory portion of the fuse block. Most car I have worked with have room to use a "spade" lug that slips right over a terminal on the fuse block. That way everything you add goes on and off with the car. MKXgeek Edited November 14, 2008 by MKXgeek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mano1192 Posted November 25, 2008 Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 The following will turn your accessories on and off automatically when your key is in the accessory position or your car is running, the same as your radio. In order to wire your accessories correctly and professionally you should get a standard 12v SPST relay, wire pin 86 to 12v (in steering column harness), wire pin 86 to your accessory wire (in steering column harness) , wire pin 85 to ground, then wire pic 30 to your accessories like satellite radio power, radar detector, neon lights, ect. For each cigarette lighter powered accessory, look on the wire near the plug, there is usually a small box with a fuse and a voltage reducer, sometimes it will also state the voltage on the back of the unit near the serial numbers/product numbers. As stated above, you will need to wire the voltage reducer inline with your wire form pic 30 or you can damage your accessory. These are cheap from radio shack. Make sure to fuse your 12v connection also. This is the safe way to wire accessories without any potential damage to your vehicle. I have done this for many years on many cars. On german cars you also need a diode, but we dont need to worry about that with edges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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