So yesterday I embarked on buying an XM sat radio yesterday because where im moving in august only has one radio station, and i know i have my ipod but i wanted to try this out anyways.

Basically you hook the power up by plugging an attachment into the cigarette lighter. Now this looks stupid, and is very annoying to have in there all of the time. I want to hardwire my radio up to the power in the truck but im not sure as how about doing that.

I know i should find a switched power source for the sat radio so that the power is cut off when the ignition is off, just not sure about how to to it, and what kind of fuses i will need.

Thanks and any help is appreciated!

Matt

 

I added a cig lighter and hid it behind the lower panel in front of the gear shifter and put the unit in the storage slot right above it so no one can get any funny ideas seeing on the dash board and steal it.

 

I've done this at work a couple times. It's not the best solution, but it works.
I open up the part that plugs into the lighter, remove the connection to the little circuit board and solder my own POS and NEG wires. I then tap into a wire behind the dash for power and ground.

 

I'm pretty sure the cig lighter is switched power, at least it seems to be on my 94, I know when my cell charger is plugged in the light goes out when I shut the key off.
For hard wiring you could use 89's method and tap into the factory radio power supply.
Where are you moving that you'll only get CBC1?

 

Make sure you don't try to wire the XM unit straight to 12v without the adapter in the circuit somewhere (either by the suggestions here about wiring a socket or disassembling the plug and wiring directly to the PC board).

Most of the XM units now use 5v and not 12v.

 

The easiest way is what olharleyman said; get a aftermarket cig adaptor, (just a socket with two wires) and a quick splice connector). Tap into the hot wire from the stock lighter socket and ground anywhere, then decide where your going to mount the unit. Run the wire underneath the dash and hide the rest of the wire underneath the interior panels. Never tried how 89dlx described. What I did was just get a wire from radioshack 5v or 12v with the appropriate tip for my unit and spliced into the wire(same thing with no bulky sockets just a fuse) I did it awile ago on a soobie with sirius radio, radar detector, and my gps. I hate wires drapped over my dashboard.

Theyre plugged off because I sold this one but you get the idea.