Hardwire GPS for on/off with ignition -- which fuse?

[rogersmj]

So I bought my wife a nice Garmin unit for the Edge, and discovered that the dang cigarette accessory outlets don't power off when you turn the car off. Hence the GPS will stay on forever.

 

To remedy that situation, and in the interest of keeping it simple rather than buying a relay and running wires into the steering column harness and who knows where else (I'm not *that* handy), I want to get a female cigarette lighter adapter such as this one, cut it, and wire it into a fuse that goes on/off with the ignition. I did something just like this with my old Accord and it worked great.

 

My question is, which fuse should I use? I did a search and combed through some old posts that discussed this for the 2008-era Edge, but the 2011 may be different and at any rate no one ever actually said what fused they used for the 2008 in the posts I came across. I found the fuse diagram in the owners manual (page 287), so I know which ones are unused, but how do I know which amperage to use and which one will go on/off with the car?

 

Thanks!

[wilsons66604]

Does the power actually stay on?

Try walking away from the car, take your fob into the house and leave it there. Now go back out to the car and l check to see if the power is still on.

I haven't tried this with the power outlets but I did notice that the USB ports get power as soon as it senses the Fob nearby.

Also, Are all the power outlets wired the same? Will some of them stay on and others power down?

 

EDIT:

I looked through the manual and it leads me to think that they are all powered all the time. Man! That is lame!

 

To have full capacity usage of your power point, the engine is required to

be running to avoid unintentional discharge of the battery. To prevent

the battery from being discharged:

• do not use the power point longer than necessary when the engine is

not running,

• do not leave battery chargers, video game adapters, computers and

other devices plugged in overnight or when the vehicle is parked for

extended periods.

Edited July 14, 2011 by wilsons66604

[cal3thousand]

So I bought my wife a nice Garmin unit for the Edge, and discovered that the dang cigarette accessory outlets don't power off when you turn the car off. Hence the GPS will stay on forever.

 

To remedy that situation, and in the interest of keeping it simple rather than buying a relay and running wires into the steering column harness and who knows where else (I'm not *that* handy), I want to get a female cigarette lighter adapter such as this one, cut it, and wire it into a fuse that goes on/off with the ignition. I did something just like this with my old Accord and it worked great.

 

My question is, which fuse should I use? I did a search and combed through some old posts that discussed this for the 2008-era Edge, but the 2011 may be different and at any rate no one ever actually said what fused they used for the 2008 in the posts I came across. I found the fuse diagram in the owners manual (page 287), so I know which ones are unused, but how do I know which amperage to use and which one will go on/off with the car?

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

Fuse #35 is for ignition as I have read.

 

 

[rogersmj]

Success! Thank you all for your help. I got a mini fuse tap from the local auto parts store, plugged that into #35, and cut off the end of the cigarette extension cord I bought and connected the red wire to that. Then ran the ground to the ground terminal just a few inches away from the fuse box, under the driver's door trim piece, and connected it with a ring terminal. Most of the wire running up to the GPS unit itself easily tucked into seams in the plastic trim, so it's a pretty clean look. I did leave the FM receiver box (high on the power cord, near the GPS unit itself) outside the dash instead of trying to tuck it inside, because it is kind of large to get in there without taking any panels off and I didn't know how much that would affect reception.

 

I snapped a few pics of the finished product.

[cal3thousand]

Success! Thank you all for your help. I got a mini fuse tap from the local auto parts store, plugged that into #35, and cut off the end of the cigarette extension cord I bought and connected the red wire to that. Then ran the ground to the ground terminal just a few inches away from the fuse box, under the driver's door trim piece, and connected it with a ring terminal. Most of the wire running up to the GPS unit itself easily tucked into seams in the plastic trim, so it's a pretty clean look. I did leave the FM receiver box (high on the power cord, near the GPS unit itself) outside the dash instead of trying to tuck it inside, because it is kind of large to get in there without taking any panels off and I didn't know how much that would affect reception.

 

I snapped a few pics of the finished product.

 

Looks good.