I have a stupid question....

I had my XM roady installed in my '08 by going directly to the fuse panel. I kept the cigarette lighter connection in case I moved it to another car.

Now, I'm installing it in the new mini. I cut the wires to remove the cigarette lighter end but I can't make it work.

Am I missing something?

I took the black wire with the stripe and connected to a good, known to work fuse and grounded the black wire to a good, known to work ground.

I couldn't get the XM roady to turn on. I thought that perhaps I misread so I switched wires... still no workie.

I know the power source and ground are correct because I tried my radar detector on it.

My stupid question is, isn't the XM roady only a 5V system? Is there some sort of resistor built into the cigarette lighter end therefore allowing it to work?

Granted, I didn't have the satelite cable hooked up but I thought I would still get power.

Did I miss something? Pretty damn simple but apparently smarter than I. WTF?


Mark

 

Hey Mark,

Saw your question and since no one answered, I thought I would. Apparently, you can not cut the cigarette lighter end to hardwire it for two reasons.

a) the system is 5V, not 12V

b) once you cut the wires, you simply can't just connect them again. Not sure why but I've had a couple of stereo stores reiterate this.

You can however, buy this.

Granted, the link was for a 6V setup but they do make a 5V also.

Hope that helps.

Mark

 

Mark, dude, thanks a bunch.... I couldn't find anything, that's exactly what I was looking for.

Much appreciated. I owe you one.


BTW, you're really a cool dude.

Thanks,

Mark

 

Or, an easier and cheaper option is to go to auto zone and get a $5 spare cig lighter socket. i did this for my garmin install and it works great. i tapped the power from the fuze box with an add-a-fuze, and simply grounded the socket. I didnt have to cut or screw with the power cable for the GPS in anyway, just plug it in the exta socket behind the dash, and electrical tape it up. I am also going to be installing XM this weekend and i am going to do the whole process again for the XM.

 

I did that on my last mini... that way if I ever wanted to install it in another vehicle, the cigarette lighter end was still there but I wanted something even cleaner.

The 19 bucks wasn't a big deal, the 19 dollar overnight fee was...lol. (I wanted it by tomorrow since I'm driving from NC to FL tomorrow.)

I'm tired of driving without my XM.

Today, I installed the radio antenna cable so I don't have to ruin my paint with that stupid magnet antenna.

Mark

 

I've had the roof mount antenna for over a year and it has not left any marks on the roof. I put a good layer of wax down before I installed it, and I'm careful to always pull it straight up if I have to remove it.

 

I did the same but noticed after almost a year, the vibration has started to mar the clearcoat. (easily fixable but eventually, it could cause an issue)

Having said that.... for the 20 bucks, I was able to run the cable and it took less than 10 minutes to install it. No fuss, no muss.


Mark