Question about Magellan RoadMate 700 GPS Receiver
I believe not,and there is sparse info about the insides of these on the net; however This is often possible for many types of electronic equipment - the thing to check first is use a multimeter and check the voltage at the cradle where it connects to the gps - if it is 12 volts(11.2 - 13.8v) there then the cradle has no power electronics except perhaps a fuse or surge protector, or a noise suppression filter. However looking at photos of the cradle, the price for a replacement, and the other features built into the cradle, I believe there is stuff in there, bypassing which will not do your unit any favours. To make absolutely sure, see if you can open the cradle up and see what it actually contains without breaking it - post us a photo if you are unsure. Especially considering the damage to the resale value of the unit, I have to ask is it not better just to get a handheld or flush-mounted unit rather than modifying your 700? If you just have got fed up with replacing damaged cradles (as some have according to reviews) then the universal cradle appears to be a more reliable replacement than the original; http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Magellan-Roadmate-700-Universal-Cradle-702176/sem/rpsm/oid/135062/catOid/-13128/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do although it is sold elsewhere also. If your reason is that you want to be able to move it around from the cradle position without moving the cradle, then so long as you can identify the power terminals on the cradle/unit you should be able to merely connect a cable between them, within reason and almost certainly within the dimensions of a vehicle. Hope this helps, please post again if you would like more help :)
Posted on Jun 22, 2007
From the assorted reviews I have read, I think the easiest and neatest solution would be a universal cradle - There was only one negative review i discovered about that, and only one positive one about the original cradle design.
The spring (that holds the unit into the cradle) in the original cradle sounds like it is the most likely culprit - maybe there is a way to fix or improve that but I get the feeling from what I have read that it is a design fault.
check this link for the AC adaptor for the 700;
http://www.radiooutfitter.com/store/8315...
as far as i can tell it plugs directly into the unit without the cradle - I had no luck with establishing exactly what DC output voltage it produced, but it suggests that you could plug direct DC into the same socket, hopefully 12V.
Perhaps you have one of these adaptors as I believe it was sold with the unit - check the available voltage (probably written on it, but even blowing up the photo and trying to crisp it didn't show anything legible) else check with a meter.
Hope this gives you some more ideas, post back with anything you think and I can try and investigate further :)
ps there is however a little confusion on that link if the adaptor is for the 700 or the 500 - sorry only just noticed.
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The cradle is a poor design and I was hoping just to bypass the entire unit and design my own mounting system. The problem that I have had is sometimes vibration causes the units to trip off. I did take one of the cradles apart and looked at the circuit board. I did not take any measurements of the contacts on the cradle but was hoping that someone in cyber land had all of them labeled as to the function of each contact. I was concerned that the board inside the cradle did some voltage changes within the unit at various locations. Thanks for the help.
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