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MG TD TF 1500 - Sat nav


I want to buy a sat nav system, I've been to several stores and asked a question and nobody could give me an answer.

Are sat Nav systems positive and negative earth. sensitive.

I have cars with positive and negative earth, and I want to be certain that the sat nav can be used in both.

Thanks.
R Bowden

Negative earth only. I use one in my TF which is positive earth. I installed a couple of plastic plug in recepticles that I wired the polarity for the GPS and the cell phone. They are further isolated by the wood mount. Since both devices are entirely plastic bodied there is no chance of a reverse wire short.

MG LaVerne

Works very well

MG LaVerne

Now if I could just change the car color to green.

MG LaVerne

Now there's an area in which I envy you TF'ers. That cubby hole effect on your dash. There's no way on earth of getting a shielded view of a GPS in a TD. Bud
Bud Krueger

I just use the gps nav in my phone for all uses. It's a Nokia 920 so the screen is big and visible. Nokia driving app is one of the best around, and you can download and store maps offline so you don't need a constant connection. I have Canada, the US and MX all stored.
Geoffrey M Baker

LaVerne, how did you get a TF icon on your gps? That is really neat!
David
D. Sander

More TD ish David. I was just looking though some of the set up stuff and there it was! Perfect icon I thought.

I think on some of the new ones you can get on line and of course pay a fee...and the create or modify the icon.

One of these days I'm gonna delete the "mooing cow" I chose that indicates yer over the speed limit.

MG LaVerne

My TD is positive earth. I wired a power plug and connected the car positive earth to the positive terminal on the plug. It's a Garmin and it works great. I mounted it with the suction cup to the windshield and I use a shroud to block the sun glare when the top is down. From where I sit the background around the GPS is mostly the hood so it doesn't interfere with my vision.
I was also able to upload about 100 songs into the Garmin Media Player and I can listen with ear pods. The music is put on hold while directions are given and then it starts up again. Of course the music is all oldies from the 50's & 60's.

Mort 50 TD (Mobius)

I have both a dedicated gps and a smartphone. With the latter I use the FREE sat nav capabilities of GOOGLE MAPS. Maps can be cached so no download is needed while in route and the features of Google Maps match or far exceed those of my dedicated gps! I have used it in US, Great Britain (yes, it knows about roundabouts and driving on the wrong side of the road), and Italy and it works great and I never had need for other than battery power except to recharge it at night either to a wall outlet or via USB recharge through a laptop. The GPS feature of the smartphone coupled with the cached maps make it work even without a cell signal as I remember. You can even set up your routes, stops, POI's, etc. on your regular computer from home before you leave and pull them up from the car as "My Places". And of course Google Maps can direct you to the closest pub, gas station, or whatever even with voice prompts and it's incredible "street view" features and live traffic. I haven't updated my stand alone gps maps database in five years and never even use it anymore. My smartphone is about 4 years old now and I'll bet new versions are even better.
And of course you can make phone calls, email, texts, and surf the web (including this forum). Try that on a dedicated gps! And did I mention it's FREE, no data charges, no airtime charges, no nothing! Remember, those guys at the retail stores just want to sell you something!
Maybe I should work for Google, eh?
Ed
efh Haskell

efh, you can't surf the web unless you have a fulltime data connection and plan. The google service is free (meaning you don't have to sign up for it), but your surfing (and google, if you haven't cached it beforehand) runs through your cellular data connection. (You are correct that now google lets you cache maps, something it did not use to do).
Myself, I pay $8/mo for my cell , use wifi when I want the web, and have all the maps I'll ever need on the phone, along with every feature you mention. And if I'm driving in Kansas with no cell towers for miles, the gps/phone doesn't care. And it updates the maps whenever it needs to, I don't have to think about it.
I stopped using a dedicated gps quite a while ago too; I just don't need it. And if I do need cellular data? I buy it for $2 a day when I'm in another city, when its handier to have a continuous data connection.
I should be a spokesperson for Nokia :)
Geoffrey M Baker

Just a note, in most states it is illegal to have earphones or plugs in while driving. Something about being able to hear sirens and warnings.
Tom Maine

Might add that I have driven a lot of places where there is no cell phone service. I have used the map for a lot of things..very handy... but I much prefer the GPS for driving.
MG LaVerne

My Nav system:
"Woof" is left...
"Ruff" is right...
"Lick" means time to stop for a cold one.

Half the time we have no idea where we are going anyway ...so it works.

David Sheward

Geoff, yea, we do have a data plan but we've never used even 1% of the 2gb limit any month even when using it for nav. You must have an "unlocked" phone and use wifi and cache the maps at home. (Why don't I do that?)
As far as "Kansas", I 70 has cell towers coast to coast these days. Even if you have to pick up a cell signal to navigate, we only have 3G and it was as fast as you could want, even in Europe on the "B" roads. 4G is even faster I'm sure.
So many choices. One could spend a lifetime exploring them. I'm waiting for a "HUD" (Heads Up Display) built into the windshield. Military has had them for decades. When do we get them?
Ed
efh Haskell

Well I prefer to use the Garmin as it will say "recalculating" when I know a better way to get there and it drives the wife crazy :)


Apparently my goal in life ..... :)

Rod

R D Jones

I gave my GPS a Stroke by always taking the road less travelled.... :-)
CR Tyrell

And if you want a real adventure try Apple maps!
Geoffrey M Baker

My parents call the voice in their sat nav "Amelia", for obvious reasons.
David Littlefield

My thanks to LaVerne.
I've wired up a plug-in socket direct from the battery for the sat nav, with a switch to isolate it when not in use, works a treat, thanks for the advice. We can now go to France with confidence, the wife would be the first to admit she is hopeless at navigation!!
R Bowden

Amelia? Ours is called "Our Lady of Perpetual Misdirection"
Lew Palmer

Ed

At the moment we have HUDS readily available however they display speed only. Speed limit buzzer warnings are also a standard feature.

I would be surprised if the same units are not available in the USA.

I have a unit fitted in my TF, bit of a juggle to position it so it displays on the windscreen, however doable.
G Evans

Gentlemen, I am amazed that anyone would feel the need to abondon the getting-lost equipment that is standard in the TF. I can understand the people who feel the need to update things like gearboxes to something at least occasionally reliable, but sat nav to replace the standard system of getting lost because of the world's faintest map light (you will have noticed the comparitive superior illumination of the cockpit by Alpha Centuri) and incorrectly folded maps would destroy the whole experience of TFing!

However, I must admit that a sat nav does expand the possibilities for disorientation. I had no experience of these infernal machines until a recent holiday in Sicily. I was assigned to drive, my mate to navigate. Bad decisions. I was doubtful at the outset at giving my mate this responsibility because of his poor record of finding his way home from the pub on the corner. He assured me though that he had this new machine that was better than a homing pidgeon.

It turned out that the lady in the machine (whose name from what she kept telling us seemed to be "Recalibrating") had a macabre sense of humour. He first favourate trick was to direct us toward the centre of the island on roads that progressivly degenerated till useful only to something small and four legged. Retreat involved passing through horrific cutings with the constant possibility of an insane Sicilian driver (there is no other kind) occupying the whole road width around every corner.

But the second trick was the better. This was to take us into the medieval town centre then insist to get out we must take an ally that was a metre narrower than Mr Hertz's Lancia. Only the sympathy of Sicilian policemen redirecting traffic averted our becoming permanent town features.

My advice is that unless you have your grandson to master the GPS demon, stay with tradition.

Bill McGee
Bill McGee

I have my Cigarette lighter socket wired for Negative ground devices and have had some interesting shorts:
1)I plugged in my little light with a flexible neck which I use as a map light. Turns out that the flexible metal tubing is grounded, making it minus, and will spark
i.e. short, to any metal, positive, in the car. I had to take the light apart and cut off the wire which was grounding this flex-sheath. I don't know why it was grounded in the first place?
2) when I plugged my Garmin GPS cord into the neg ground socket and left it dangle I got a good, solid, wire melting short when the body of the usb plug touched the seat rail.
Again, the bare metal outer shell of the USB plug was Hot!

I had another unrelated but interesting melt down when I hung my clip-on sunglasses on the choke and one of the clips on the glasses found the always hot green hole in the test terminal pair 3 inches away. I now have a wooden cover over the test points. I have new clip-ons, too!

Call me Sparky! (Chuck)
cj schmit

Our Garmin GPS with the female Australian accent is called, of course, Matilda. We have also been on some mostly unused roads in Europe especially in Scotland but she has always gotten us to our destination and home. It does make a difference in how you program her for either fastest or shortest route.

Jim
Jim Neel

You can also block highways and/or toll roads. That keeps you on interesting back roads.

I am now installing a dual USB port just below the dash. For running with the iPhone/iPad on and keeping the charge. I'll wire it the way I did for my power port with a positive ground car.

I'll post some pictures when done.

Mort
Mort 50 TD (Mobius)

My female voiced Garman has earned the nickname "Naggie".
David
D. Sander

This thread was discussed between 09/04/2014 and 28/04/2014

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