After going through several lousy car mounts with dangling cigarette lighter wires and suction cups popping off the windshield and dashboard I had had enough of this *(&*^&*&^(*)(%$%$#. Time to put on a professional looking permanent installation!
After much research I came upon a solution for my AT&T Tilt. I have an older Taurus which does not have any external (even in the back of the radio) connectivity for audio inputs, so I decided against making changes to integrate the sound between the tilt and the car (but I did want the unit's batteries charged in the mount). Note all powered car mounts need a small transformer, which in many of the versions out there in the marketplace are oin the mount itself, which makes it very bulky. I preferrred one that comes with a separate transformer which can be hidden. I also wanted the PDA up near the windshield so I would not have to look far away from the road while driving, which I consider dangerous - but did not want to have some huge clunky thing sticking up in the middle of the dash - I wanted it as small and unobtrusive as possible. The only mount specifically designed for snapping into place on my model car my car (www.proclipusa.com) actually put the mount on the console down near the shifter between the seats so that was not very useful either. I had decided upon the active Brodit car mount as I wanted to be able to open the keyboard while the unit is in the mount, and wanted to be able to move the mount any which way without worrying if the mount would come loose. This car kit is minimal in size and has a separate transformer which can be hidden as well. With all the above caveats there was nothing else on the market that was handy, unobtrusive, and didn't end up with a lousy plug for the lighter to power the unit (yech). So, here was my solution (7 photos attached). All the parts shown can be purchased at www.proclipusa.com.
Photo #1: Dashboard showing my situation (this was actually part way through the installation, you can see the transformer hanging down under the steering wheel, I just stuffed it up out of view when I was finished with the work).
Photo #2: Fuse Box Connections (under the steering wheel by the firewall). Note all I did was pull the cover off the fuse box, pull the 20 amp fuse out, and wrap the red positive lead around one of the prongs of the fuse which I just stuck in place later. I will probably buy an in-line fuse and put it on the red wire later. (I used the 20 amp fuse for the ignition for the ignition which is only powered while the car is running - I wanted this for the mount's transformer so as not to wear down the battery when the car is not in use). The black lead only has to go to the ground in the car so you can see I was just starting to wrap it around the nut holding the fusebox in place, which is grounded.
Photo #3: Note - all powered car mounts need a small transformer, which in many of the versions out there in the marketplace are on the mount itself, which makes is very bulky. I preferrred one that comes with a separate transformer which can be hidden. So with everything wired up and installed, I hid the wire (and transformer below) andnothing is in view but the wire for the brodit mount going up to the dash. Also note the block attached to the dashboard - to the left of the steering wheel. Easily visibly by the driver, and not destroying the look of the dash in the middle of the car. This block was still too horizontal but it is very solidly connected to the dashboard on the left of the driver's seat, up near the windshield but neatly out of the way. No windshield obstruction whatsoever!
Photo #4: I mounted a second block on top of the first to improve the angle. Note the center two holes which were added for screws to connect the two block and still leave the surface of the second block flat for the brodit mount. It not only made the installation rock solid, but I decided to improve that even further by replacing the two screws on the bottom first block and putting longer screws on the bottom going through both blocks. (I did not want to glue the second block onto the first because that way I would have no way of removing the screws holding the first block in place later - and glue comes undone.) This thing is rock hard - not going anywhere. Most other car mounts get loose over time and with just a little wiggling end up coming off. Not this baby! Won't even wiggle!
Photo #5: Brodit mount screwed onto the top block. Beautiful! Swivels 360% around and tilts every which way. The screw in the center of the mount can be tightened slightly so that the mount only moves if you really try to move it using definite force. Nothing at all loose here - rock solid! (Also note, this mount can be swapped for another brodit mount fitting any PDA on the market, just by loosening that center screw!) Note the two circled areas. They are tiny plastic adhesive wire holders which can be purchased at any hardware store to keep the wires where you want them...
Photo #6: Vertical use with AT&T Tilt - (see white circle - being charged)!
Photo #7: Horizontal use with AT&T Tilt - note you can easily slide the keyboard open - (see white circle - still being charged)!
After much research I came upon a solution for my AT&T Tilt. I have an older Taurus which does not have any external (even in the back of the radio) connectivity for audio inputs, so I decided against making changes to integrate the sound between the tilt and the car (but I did want the unit's batteries charged in the mount). Note all powered car mounts need a small transformer, which in many of the versions out there in the marketplace are oin the mount itself, which makes it very bulky. I preferrred one that comes with a separate transformer which can be hidden. I also wanted the PDA up near the windshield so I would not have to look far away from the road while driving, which I consider dangerous - but did not want to have some huge clunky thing sticking up in the middle of the dash - I wanted it as small and unobtrusive as possible. The only mount specifically designed for snapping into place on my model car my car (www.proclipusa.com) actually put the mount on the console down near the shifter between the seats so that was not very useful either. I had decided upon the active Brodit car mount as I wanted to be able to open the keyboard while the unit is in the mount, and wanted to be able to move the mount any which way without worrying if the mount would come loose. This car kit is minimal in size and has a separate transformer which can be hidden as well. With all the above caveats there was nothing else on the market that was handy, unobtrusive, and didn't end up with a lousy plug for the lighter to power the unit (yech). So, here was my solution (7 photos attached). All the parts shown can be purchased at www.proclipusa.com.
Photo #1: Dashboard showing my situation (this was actually part way through the installation, you can see the transformer hanging down under the steering wheel, I just stuffed it up out of view when I was finished with the work).
Photo #2: Fuse Box Connections (under the steering wheel by the firewall). Note all I did was pull the cover off the fuse box, pull the 20 amp fuse out, and wrap the red positive lead around one of the prongs of the fuse which I just stuck in place later. I will probably buy an in-line fuse and put it on the red wire later. (I used the 20 amp fuse for the ignition for the ignition which is only powered while the car is running - I wanted this for the mount's transformer so as not to wear down the battery when the car is not in use). The black lead only has to go to the ground in the car so you can see I was just starting to wrap it around the nut holding the fusebox in place, which is grounded.
Photo #3: Note - all powered car mounts need a small transformer, which in many of the versions out there in the marketplace are on the mount itself, which makes is very bulky. I preferrred one that comes with a separate transformer which can be hidden. So with everything wired up and installed, I hid the wire (and transformer below) andnothing is in view but the wire for the brodit mount going up to the dash. Also note the block attached to the dashboard - to the left of the steering wheel. Easily visibly by the driver, and not destroying the look of the dash in the middle of the car. This block was still too horizontal but it is very solidly connected to the dashboard on the left of the driver's seat, up near the windshield but neatly out of the way. No windshield obstruction whatsoever!
Photo #4: I mounted a second block on top of the first to improve the angle. Note the center two holes which were added for screws to connect the two block and still leave the surface of the second block flat for the brodit mount. It not only made the installation rock solid, but I decided to improve that even further by replacing the two screws on the bottom first block and putting longer screws on the bottom going through both blocks. (I did not want to glue the second block onto the first because that way I would have no way of removing the screws holding the first block in place later - and glue comes undone.) This thing is rock hard - not going anywhere. Most other car mounts get loose over time and with just a little wiggling end up coming off. Not this baby! Won't even wiggle!
Photo #5: Brodit mount screwed onto the top block. Beautiful! Swivels 360% around and tilts every which way. The screw in the center of the mount can be tightened slightly so that the mount only moves if you really try to move it using definite force. Nothing at all loose here - rock solid! (Also note, this mount can be swapped for another brodit mount fitting any PDA on the market, just by loosening that center screw!) Note the two circled areas. They are tiny plastic adhesive wire holders which can be purchased at any hardware store to keep the wires where you want them...
Photo #6: Vertical use with AT&T Tilt - (see white circle - being charged)!
Photo #7: Horizontal use with AT&T Tilt - note you can easily slide the keyboard open - (see white circle - still being charged)!
