RTFM
I have had the new [?] car for nearly three years now.
This is good news as the loan will shortly be paid off and we’ll have an extra few squids coming in. It has just occurred to me that my monthly payments on that loan are almost exactly four times our original mortgage. How times change? Anyhows, back to the car.
I learned how to set the clock yesterday.
This may seem a little remiss on my part and I suppose it shows either my disinterest in time these days or just plain laziness. I prefer the former.
Since I got the car, I haven’t done any real driving. Yes, I have been down to the village countless times and zapped up and down the motorway a few times but I have never really driven it cross country. Seeing as my old Focus not only was well acquainted with the West Coast but had also been down through France several times, this is more than a little overdue. I thought maybe it was time to open the manual [it’s a massive tome] and have a look to see what I might have been missing. Hence my new ability to set the clock.
I’m still not quite sure about the new [?] car [it’s a Dacia Logan Signature if anyone is interested]. There’s no doubt that it’s bigger inside than anything I have driven before but it seems lighter. Somehow it just doesn’t seem quite as solid as my previous vehicles [except maybe for the Datsun Cherry that was determined to grow rust at a phenomenal rate]. I still haven’t quite got the hang of reversing it in spite of the camera I had fitted on the boot. My parallel parking leaves a lot to be desired these days and I’m always nervous reversing in through my own gate.
One of it’s little quirks which I find very irritating is the cigarette lighter. Why the fuck does it switch off during the act of starting the engine? This may sound utterly trivial but it is a pain in the arse. Why?
Well, the lighter socket is used to power my SatNav. The latter takes an age to boot up before I can programme it. So I sit into the car, switch on the ignition and programme the SatNav. When all is set, I start the engine and the fucking SatNav reboots and I have to start all over again while the engine is running. I’m sure that can be fixed with a judicious spot of rewiring but that’s the kind of job that could land me in trouble.
Anyway, having discovered the delights of setting the clock it’s maybe time I switch manuals to read the one for the radio.
That’s even more complicated.
You could try running a temporary direct power from the battery’s positive terminal to the feed on the lighter-socket (disconnect the original feed). Then try starting the engine and see if the sat-nav still drops out.
If it does, there’s little you can do – the starter motor’s grabbing every ounce of power to start it and will continue to do so. If the sat-nav keeps working, that’s your answer – replace the standard live feed with a permanent direct one, thus omitting the fuse-box/ECU/relay which will be the cause of your grief.
However, it would be smart to fit an in-line fuse, say 30amp, into the new direct power circuit just in case – lighter sockets are notorious for going dodgy.
Usual consultancy fees apply. . . .
Does your car have a USB socket? Some cars do and some SatNavs accept that as power.
Does your smart phone have a road map nav function? My sons use their phones as Sat Navs.
I sometimes use maps. Nice to know what you are driving near to, and how do you tell a bossy Sat Nav lady that the road she insists you take is closed and you need an alternative.
A Turn around when possible. Goto A.
There is one on the radio for an external hard drive. The problem is that if I plug the USB into the SatNav it powers up but goes into maintenance mode expecting updates and the like.
There is one on the radio for an external hard drive which presumably supplies power. The problem is that if I plug the USB into the SatNav it powers up but goes into maintenance mode expecting updates and the like.
I would leave the existing wiring alone – Dacia’s are basically made of old Renault running gear, and from my experience of working on a Citroen (also French) you’ll probably find all the wires are the same colour! Buy a cigar lighter extension lead and run that directly to the battery with a small (5 amps or so) fuse in the positive. There are plenty of leads to choose from on eBay if you can’t get one locally. I’m sure there’s somewhere under the dash you can put the socket.
As for the clock, it’s possible this will set automatically if the radio is tuned to a VHF FM station broadcasting the RDS signal. My Vauxhall does this but it needs to be on for a few minutes to “grab” the correct information.
To be honest, it’s not really that big a problem. It’s a nuisance rather than a hindrance. So I would hesitate before mucking about with the wiring.
I’m not that pushed about music while I drive so haven’t really explored the radio. I currently have it set to automatically connect via Bluetooth to my mobile when I get into the car. That is a very handy feature
I just use Google maps on my phone. It is generally fairly reliable and would work on the phone battery when there is no power from the Gitanes lighter.
I thought of that. Does the phone have to be connected to the network to work? If so, I would imagine it would be expensive to run on Prepay.
Aside from that, what I generally use the SatNav for is to show speed [the speedometer is almost invisible in daytime driving – crap design]. The only time I use t for navigating is when I’m on an unfamiliar route.
I assume it needs some connection, but your prepay allowance should far exceed what you might use on Google Maps. I’m not sure what prepay provider you have, but an Post prepay allows 16 Gb a month. My total usage for all apps since I switched to Eir last week has been 1.6 Gb