I'm having trouble with the cig adapter keeping its connection on very bumpy trails. When this happens the eTrex of course turns off if I don't notice and switch to the batteries. I checked Garmin's site and can't find any kind of spec to see if the Vista can run on straight 12V or if it will fry it. The cig adapter says it converts 12V DC to 3V DC so I'm kind of hesitant to directly wire it to the rectifier on my sled.

Anyone done this or know if it will/will not work?

A friend I rode with a couple weeks ago had the Etrex hardwired to his AC900. He used the Polaris cig./adapater. Wiring wise, I forget exactly what he did, but he also had the problem with the plug bouncing out and losing contact. What he did solved the problem.

He took the plug and cut the prongs (that make contact inside the recepticle). He cut them on the very end (on the end that goes in last) and then bent them outward. Now, when he pushed the plug into the recepticle, and with a slight twist, they seat themselves into the grooves inside the recepticle. This keeps the plug in place and has never lost contact yet. To remove, you simply twist in the opposite direction and pull out, sort of like a cannon plug.

Hope this helps,
Jon

Here is an excellent plug to solve disconnect problems...have used it for a couple of years on all my rec vehicles and works great.

To get your 3 volts to the Marinco plug/recepticle you could gut your Garmin plug and wire the internals inline (before the Marinco recepticle) under the hood/dash out of sight.

http://polar.polarcomm.com/~rspoonla/atv/12vplug.jpg

I started my sled and started testing accessory power hookups under the hook. I found a set that was out putting 20 volts DC. Since auto voltage varies between 12-20 volts I soldered a couple wires with plugs into the cigarette lighter end and plugged them in. Everything works great. Do not by pass the cigerate adapter as this converts incoming to 3 volts for the GPS.

Good luck..

A couple good ideas, I figured it would be too easy to loose the cig adapter. I may try and bend the prongs out and see how that goes first.

I cut a piece of hook side velcro with adhesive backing and stuck it around the plug. Shove the plug in and it stays now. I used a Marinco receptacle. Maybe someday I'll gut the plug and hook up a Marinco plug but the velcro works fine.

Well, that should be the end of that problem. A little solder, a little hot glue and voila! I also soldered the same connector to the rectifer. Plugged it in and it works like a champ, no chance of it vibrating loose from the cig adapter female now.

Art, check out the mic plug I showed in my thread. I was in Radio Shack considering about 4 different plug types, including a cig plug like you're using, but went with the mic plug for the reasons you've mentioned. It screws on nice and tight. Over 700 miles last week and never lost contact once, yet still easy to move from one sled to the other. I'm even thinking about putting the same type plug somewhere on the dash of my Yukon so I could use the same cord for the sleds and truck.

I just wound a rubberband around my cig-lighter and have had 1500 miles trouble free on my sled and all summer on my motorcycle. If it is really cold and you kill the engine, do not let the vista shut down. Let it run on batteries, or put it in your pocket. Mine doesn't like to start up when it is real cold.