Stereo & Electronics - hardwiring gps into tcs switch?

I want to hardwire my magellan roadmate 1200 gps into my dash (I have a 2000 Pontiac Trans Am M6), and the plate covering the tcs switch readily comes off, so I was thinking about tapping into the power wire and ground for the switch to the power cord of of my navi. I have two problems, I am not entirely certain which is the power and ground wires (I am guessing the red is power and the black wire with the white stripe is ground), and I also don't know what the current rating is for the tcs switch power (is it enough?). I was thinking about using something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-12V-Bare-Wire-Cable-for-Magellan-RoadMate-1200-1400_W0QQitemZ110294789674QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_El ectronics_CatchAll?hash=item110294789674&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18

And then putting a small hole in the plate for the connector to peek out. Any thoughts?

NO NO NO

Just take 2 minutes and remove upper console and tap the cig. lighter wires. but make sure to save the fuse and end cord adapter!

but the cig lighter is always on and it will kill the battery. any way to make the lighter only work when the ignition is on?

There is no power available at the TCS switch. It is a grounding switch that merely presents a ground signal to the Electronic Brake Control Module when pressed.

The best place to get accessory power is the dash fuse panel. There are special ports there designed for adding ignition-controlled, accessory-controlled, or battery (constant) power.

If you don't want to do that, the radio harness should provide enough power to add a GPS. The yellow wire in the black 10-pin connector is accessory-controlled power and the black wire in the same connector is ground.

Wow it has been a long time for me. I thought one of the wires was ACC. Ok then yes the fuse panel is the next place to go. :bang:

sorry for sounding stupid, but what's the difference between accessory power and ignition power? Thanks again.

sorry for sounding stupid, but what's the difference between accessory power and ignition power? Thanks again.Ignition-controlled power is available when the ignition is on. Accessory-controlled power is part of the RAP (Retained Accessory Power) system which provides power when the ignition is on plus several minutes after the ignition is off until a door is opened - like the radio and power windows.

So I read somewhere that GM has a color coding for wires, and that pink means ignition power, and my TCS switch has one in it. So I decided to wire the power cable to that anyway and it worked! Check out the pics. This was a pretty easy install that looks awesome. The navi now turns on and off with the key.

Well, you got lucky. The dumbass that told you that GM uses consistent wire colors for certain functions (such as pink for ignition controlled power) doesn't really know as much as he thinks he does. In fact, GM doesn't even consistently use black for ground wires - an industry standard. In this case, the pink wire at the TCS switch is actually from the GAUGES fuse and is a low current circuit used only to power the indicator light in the switch. Your GPS must not require much power. You should not add any other devices to that pink wire to avoid overloading the circuit.

Yeah, I would change that.

I got the idea from install university. They wired their shift light through that wire. The gps only uses 5V 1mA, and I have a transformer/fuse in-line of the wiring. I don't really see any harm.

http://www.installuniversity.com/install_university/index.htm

1mA? Really? Not 1A? 5V 1mA is not enough to power any type of screen. Any it's going to use 12V unless it's got a 12-5V converter inside it.

1mA? Really? Not 1A? 5V 1mA is not enough to power any type of screen. Any it's going to use 12V unless it's got a 12-5V converter inside it.

hes right... i would deff move it before u mess somethin up

My bad, its 5V 1000mA, I meant to just say 1A and I forgot to take out the m.
I bought a specific cable for hardwiring this GPS and it has an in-line converter with a fuse. It doesn't seem like this is remotely enough power draw to ruin anything. Does anyone know for sure? I appreciate all the concern from everyone, but is there anyone who knows definitively if this is bad? No offense to anyone, but it seems you guys are just being precautionary. thanks again.

No, it's probably not enough current draw to hurt anything. And yes, we are being cautious. But why connect to a circuit that might not be able to handle it when you can get power from the radio harness just a few inches away? Cautious is always good when working with electrical circuits.