I am new to the forum and just recently rejoined the "Lexus-Club" with the purchase of a '96 ES300 with 63k miles. Nice, clean car.

I received a Megellan GPS system for XMAS and as most of you know, to use the power connection in the cigarette lighter, I lose access to the cup holder. Has anybody out there addressed this and found a slick way to put in another power station without ruining the look of the interior?

Also, one of the "fingers" is broken on the passenger side cup holder - is there a fix beyond just replacing the entire unit (expensive ). If I have to go the replacement route, how difficult is it?

I have a few bulbs out in the console area (above the radio) and I might just try to kill several birds with one fix if I can plan an attack on these three (power, cup holder, burnt bulbs) problems.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions....

 

Just run the cord into the dash to a 12v power supply & ground it. There are a hundred different 12v power supplys in the cab.

 

To elaborate a little more, you will need to cut the cigarette light connecter from the GPS unit. But, before you do that, take it apart and follow the wires to make sure which wire is hot and which is ground. The center pin nipple thing is always your hot(12v) and outside is always ground. Do yourself a favor and fuse the connection because the cigarette adapter from the GPS may have a fuse on the inside that you would have just bypassed. If you dont want to cut into stock wires in the dash, you can run fresh wires to the fusebox to a circuit that is not being used or used very little(heated seats?). If you need to use the GPS when the car is off, make sure you wire from a "constant" hot wire in the fusebox. When you connect the wire in the fusebox make sure to connect it to the side of the fuse that does not test hot when the fuse is pulled out, otherwise the fuse is not given a chance to do its thing. Let us know if you need help.

 

Thanks Lexbox and Pheonix!!!!

 

Ya. I will say when you're picking where you want to tap your power from. DO NOT use the cigg lighter, or anything powered by that circuit.
Toyota only uses 10-15amp fuses on it - which isn't an immediate problem - but the wiring is really only good for about 5amp.

I've seen many Toyota's where people plug something into the lighter & the wiring melts in places that take pulling the entire dash to get to.