[AndreyT]

Just finished installing a permanently-wired Garmin 3490LMT in my 335i. The idea of this install was to hide the wires and yet make it as reversible as possible, i.e. to make no permanent modifications to the car's interior. The only car part that gets modified is the center speaker cover (which is an easily replaceable inexpensive plastic part).

This GPS unit comes with a powered cradle/mount, so the cradle remains in the car at all times (although it is easily removable as well), while the GPS itself can be quickly taken out or snapped in. This GPS unit has traffic receiver/antenna integrated into the power cable. I de-cased the receiver and split the antenna from the actual power cable. (The antenna is housed in a separate insulating "tube" of the cable, which can be easily cut away from the power "tube" along its entire length. Also the antenna ends right before the cable enters the GPS cig adapter.) The receiver now resides under the Kuda mount, which is why I de-cased it since it woudn't fit there in its original plastic case. (On the second thought, I should've shrink-wrapped it before gluing it in, but forgot to do it.)



FM antenna is the white wire in the above picture on the left side of the PCB.

As can be seen above, I drilled an exit hole for the cables in the front metal "staircase" tab of the Kuda mount. Another hole was drilled later in the very tip of that "staircase" to fasten it with a screw to the speaker tray.

In this install the FM antenna for the traffic receiver is supposed to stay in the open, on top of the dashboard tucked under the lower edge of the windshield. The power cable is supposed to go to the fuse box under the dashboard, entering through the center speaker cover. I spliced a connector into the power cable to make it easier to thread it under the dashboard.



The above picture also shows a notch in the speaker cover, which allows the power cable and antenna to enter the space under the cover. The antenna then surfaces again through a hole in the front edge of the speaker cover, while the power cable remains hidden for good.

The next picture shows what the modified cig adapter (which hosts the GPS power converter) now looks like, with the ground connector and Add-A-Circuit tap. The Add-A-Circuit in this picture is a full-size one, which proved to be incorrect for my car. I planned to use a HomeLink fuse, which turned out to be a mini-fuse in my car. I later replaced the Add-A-Circuit tap with its mini version.

(The modification is pretty much the same as shown in this DIY).





The above picture also shows where the end of the FM antenna insulation was cut off from the power cable. At this point (right before entering the cig adapter) the antenna has already ended, so cutting it there did not damage the antenna.

The next picture is the very same cig adapter installed in the fuse box compartment and connected to the HomeLink fuse (number 7). It is tied by two Velcro straps to that curved metal bracket we all have there. The ring contact on the black ground wire is placed under the torx screw that goes into the very same bracket right behind the power supply in the picture



The entire "cig adapter" case is pretty large compared to the amount of space we have in the fuse box. It probably makes sense to get rid of the now-unnecessary cig adapter case and use a smaller case instead, since the actual power adapter is relatively small. (Maybe I'll try to find one later.) The red LED on the power adapter lights up the insides of the fuse compartment, so now it looks like a command post of a submarine. Or a darkroom

The next set of the pictures shows the mount and the GPS unit installed in the car. (As I already mentioned above, for more secure installation I had to drill another hole in the front metal "staircase" of the Kuda mount and screw it into one of the center speaker mounting holes, as suggested in this DIY)

On some pictures one can see the traffic antenna exiting the front edge of the center speaker cover and openly jumping to the lover edge of the windshield. I believe it is possible to make a reliable installation of that antenna under the top deck of the dashboard. I'll probably get around to it later.

[cole92]

Looks good, only thing I would be worried about is reception there with an external antenna. How's the sync to the satellites and how many can it pull mounted there?

[AndreyT]

You mean, without an external GPS antenna? So far I haven't noticed any issues with satellite lock acquisition. It seems to lock as quickly as it does under open sky.

As for "how many satellites", unfortunately I don't know how to retrieve this information from this GPS unit. Must be some internal menu, right? Oh, just found out that pressing on the "satellite signal strength" bars should give me that information. Will do it later today/tomorrow.

[AndreyT]

Just tested it on my way home. It quickly acquired 11 satellites and achieved 11-12 feet location precision. Is it good or not?

P.S. This morning: 10 satellites or so, 20 feet location precision.

[ZuerstBMW]

looks GREAT

[cole92]

Andrey, so now I know why you were asking all those questions about running wires and what not lol. Yes, that's normal accuracy for those units. And yes, I meant without an external antenna .

[aykim2188]

Could you make me one?! Lol

[Vrizrak]

Does this install voiding warranty? Should be removed before routine service?

[fl0wmastr]

Thanks for the post! Looks good!
So did you purchase the kuda mount & the garmin adapter or just the kuda mount?

[kyle335i]

Ugly. Should of gotten navi