please help

[ashbury04]

Hi guys
The speaker of my GPS quit working but the headphone jack works ok. Is there anyway I can connect the headphone jack to the car speakers or even a separate speaker with volume controls so I can hear the GPS announcement loud enogh. Please explain it like I am a 6 year old

Thanks

[Glowbug]

Do you have a stock stereo or aftermarket?

If it's aftermarket, you may have an auxiliary input on the back that you can plug a 3.5mm phone plug from your GPS into. RadioShack would have the cable.

If it's a stock head unit with no aux. input, you could either use a cassette tape adapter if you have a tape deck (it looks like a cassette tape with a cord coming out of it), or an FM transmitter. You'd set your radio to an empty frequency on the FM band, set the transmitter to the same frequency, and you'd have the GPS audio coming through the radio.

[Perry Babin]

Mini Audio Amplifier - RadioShack.com

This and the proper cable should work but you'd have to turn it on/off each time you entered/exited the vehicle.

Have you checked on the price of repair?

Have you confirmed that the speaker is defective?

[ashbury04]

Thanks gentlemen
Although Jim's suggestion is a very good one but since I wanted a permanent fixture type solution I went out and bought a radio shack mini amp. I can easily hide this under the dash and adjust the volume if I have to. The mini amp. needs 9v battery or a 9v dc adater to operate. I looked online for a 9v dc adater but the ones that came up showed 1.5-12v output with a 12v input. Am I correct to assume that hard wiring the mini-amp directly from the ignition wiring will work and will turn it on/off with the switch without damaging anything.
Thanks again

[Perry Babin]

If you try to use an adapter without an isolated ground, it could cause engine noise. If you want to minimize the chance of engine noise, ground the GPS and the adapter to the same point.

If you power it from the 9v battery and the battery life is acceptable (switching it on/off manually), you could wire in a relay that would break the connection to the battery when you turn the ignition off.

[ashbury04]

Hi Perry
What if I do not use an adapter at all and hardwire directly from ignition and use the chasis as ground for both the GPS and the power source.
By the way the GPS speaker is definitely bad and of course the maufacturer would not repair it but would sell me a refurbished one for $109.00

[ppia600]

Originally Posted by Perry Babin

If you try to use an adapter without an isolated ground, it could cause engine noise. If you want to minimize the chance of engine noise, ground the GPS and the adapter to the same point.

If you power it from the 9v battery and the battery life is acceptable (switching it on/off manually), you could wire in a relay that would break the connection to the battery when you turn the ignition off.

I was going to say the same thing. He could also install a ground loop isolator inline between the gps and the amp/speaker to avoid engine noise and be able to use a 12v to 9v converter at the same time.