l008com

I have a Garmin navigation system that i put in the spot where the ashtray used to be. I still have the ash tray and I can toss it right back when my lease is up. But in the mean time I have the navigation in that hole plugged into the power.

There are two problems with this setup. Three actually. One is that the device gets poor signal being down in the hole like that. The second and third problems are that there is so much noise down there, when I try to use the speakerphone, no one can hear me, and I can barely hear them.

All these problems have solutions. I'm getting an external antenna and external microphone for the unit for christmas. I will eventually get a speaker too I just have to pick one. So this brings us to the point of this thread:

How can I get a wire from the ash tray hole, preferably back behind the radio, and up onto the dash right against the glass? The antenna is really small and you'd never notice it right there, and it should get excellent signal from there too.

Also, how can I do something similar with the mic and possibly the speaker. I don't know where the mic is going yet, I don't know how long the cord is so I have some options. If you have any suggestions about where to put it, that would be helpful too.

The whole reason I bought the Nuvi model, which was $200 more than the regular model, was because I wanted the bluetooth link to my cell phone. It is the best bluetooth link I've ever seen. It lets me use my phone's voice dialing, it lets me browse my phone's phonebook. It even tells me the name of someone who calls me if they are in my address book. All in all its a REALLY nice bluetooth speakerphone.

Compare it to the system built into the Acura TL I used to own. That thing did NONE of these features. It was nearly useless. But at least you could actually hear and be heard on it.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

If you take out the radio unit and the upper panel...you can run the wires easily.

It's a bit of a PIA to remove the radio headunit and all that stuff..

You might be able to feed it up the passenger side under dash ...depending on how big the plug/end is

l008com

I wrote that popular radio removal DIY on whatsmyip.org so that shouldn't be too hard. Do you have any additional instructions for getting the top panel off? I've never done that before. I've got no factory nav obviously.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

It's held on with plastic clips......just pop it up carefully.....

laythor

You can run a wire from the ashtray to the A pillar all the way to the roofline without remove the dash. If you look at the door sill about where you're left knee hits on the drivers side or your right knee hits on the passenger side, you'll see an access door. You can feed a wire from the radio area behind the glove box or under the steering column to the door then up the A pillar.

Dumi

I ran all my wires up and behind the HU and all that other junk. I then removed the center speaker and ran the wires (Police Scanner, GPS, Sirius) through there. Its a pretty clean install! Also this is where I also mounted my Sirius antenna.