Nuvi car charger flakey!

Ever since I had my nuvi, (2 yr) I have always had problems with the
cig/cigar socket when I plug in the charger cable. I cannot get a steady
light and of course this drives the nuvi crazy. It has to be wiggled to
find the right spot to keep the light on. I have 3 cig/cigar sockets in my
truck, all act the same with the nuvi. All my other devices, cell phone,
sirus radio, spot light etc never a problem. I have removed the fuse,
polished all the mating surfaces etc but no luck so far. Sometimes while
driving, the nuvi will beep and say "on battery...." The spring inside does
not seem to have a great deal of tension, nor does the little "tit" seem as
long as other plugs. Appreciate any suggesions, other than buy another
charger, which may be the last resort.

...

So replace the end with a new one.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2289559

wrote:


I was going to suggest that but very few people have any skill at
soldering. You can buy the plugs at Radio Shack but if you have to
buy a soldering iron and solder, it might be cheaper to just buy a new
charger/power adaptor on e-bay.

If you decide to go the repair route, be VERY careful about polarity!
If you get the wires reversed, you might end up with a lump of melted
plastic on your dash and a stink in your car.

Jack j

The Garmin plug has a circuit board inside with a voltage regulator chip,
capicators for filtering etc...I do not think the radio shack has all that,
it is just a connector.

Meebers wrote:

Have you opened one of those and seen that? Last I knew all the nuvis
would take a 9-35V DC input via the accessory DC power cable. Garmin
does not explain that very well, they say that the input power is
"vehicle power via the included vehicle power cable". I think it you
open a nuvi vehicle power cable you'll find a fuse and a direct
connection.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jacker at midmaine dot com)
(also receiving email at jackerbes at roadrunner dot com)