I had my Alpine Navigation monitor stolen last week and now I'm just looking for some ideas for a more concealed mounting option for a new one which is already on its way. I love customizing my truck with gadgets and do all the work myself. The monitor was in a perfect spot and when I took it off to put it away the cable was neatly concealed and the mount left only a 2" round metal piece where it would connect to. The only good idea i've come up with so far is removing the cupholders and building a bracket that would mount to the cupholder door, so when not in use could be closed up. Out of sight out of mind. The only depressing thing about that is I lose the cupholder. Any Ideas would be great... Remember its a touch screen and I have to be able to reach it. The new monitor is an Alpine TME-M740BT.

Here is a pic of before it was stolen

And after it was stolen

Here's a pic of my custom installed air gauges

The one on the left displays "tank" pressure the one on the right displays "suspension pressure. I canadjust setpoints high or low to automatically regulate pressure in tank and air bags. The ashtray which I dont use still closes just fine even with the gauges inside to conceal them when I am parked in rough neighborhoods. People wouldn't know what to do with them but would break-in and steal them just beacuase y'know. (Its eye candy - It looks cool must be worth something mentality)

Anyways any ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

I dont know if this would be possible, but your cup holder. Have it open up, and then you lift the screen back up. I dont know if that made any sense. I will try and draw it up later.

 

Do you already have an overhead console, you could set it like a flip down monitor. Closed up normal person wouldnt notice it, then flip open when you need to use it.
You can some that swivel. also. Seen some emtpy ones some where online, but could always buy a cheap one and just swap yours in.
This is just an example, this on dont swivel and has a dvd player

 

Thanks for the ideas guys. Looks like I have alot of toying around to do.

 

Good luck! and hopefully you wont get it stolen again!

 

Thanks, I hope not. See with all the driving around I do, doing service calls navigation is a must (the road atlas books are nice but get dangerous with the traffic we have around here). Plus I also had a rear camera plugged into the monitor beacause I have a utility body cap on and cant see anything behind me.

 

No matter what way you choose, there is always going to be a way to have your monitor stolen. Since you are good at installing and hiding wiring and harness', you might want to look into a PC cable lock set for the monitor. It is a thin steel cable that you mount to the monitor and then you can lock the other end of the cable through the dash and to a part of the truck frame or firewall. This way, the only way it is going to get stolen again, is either going to break the monior or they are going to have to have bolt cutters. The cable is thin enough to hide like a 4 guage wire and can not be broken by pure strength without damaging the monitor. You also get to keep your cupholders and use the existing holes that you already have. I don't know what the back of the monitor looks like, but you might have to make some sort of braket for the lock if the monitor is to thin. I got several ideas for this as well.

You don't want to put your monitor lower than you have it now because it sucks. I have a 7" LCD for my backup camera mounted just under my lower open din and it is a pain looking at it that low, I am actually looking to move it higher so it is easier for me to view.

Here is a link to one site for the cables. If you have any questions, let me know.
http://www.tryten.com/products/pcdesktopsecurity.php

 

Thanks. I am remodeling an inner city school right now (where it was stolen) and I see those cables you are talking about attached to all the computers. When I get my new monitor in I will have to look at that possibility. I agree about not moving it lower. I thought it was in the perfect spot, not in anyone's way and pretty much level with the radio. The only other idea I came up with was actually building a folding bracket that would attach to the inside of the center console. When not in use the monitor would be out of sight out of mind inside the console (which ends up being nothing but a junk drawer in mhy truck), when its out it would be almost at the same height as before.We are renovating all the city's schools (15year project), I dont want to give the junkies a reason to break in again. Right now all my toys are hidden and made to look stock when not in use, except the monitor. I also have the infinity 6disc premium sound (sounds awesome but stock). Before I became an electrician I installed custom audio/video and have seen many cars broken into becausethe stufflooks flashy, it gives someone a reason to want it and its not a matter of if but when it will be stolen.

 

I was thinking about doing the hide away where the monitor pulls out manually and folds up. Seemed pretty easy to do but my monitor has all the input and power wires on the sides, so it would have made it a little hard to do that. I could get frsiky and change all the plugs to the bottom, but I am to lazy for that.

 

The monitor I had and my new one comming are both Alpine which has only one small flat plug that plugs into the back from the bottom so the cable doesnt add any thickness to the monitor (if you can picture what i mean). All the other inputs, camera, navigation, etc.. plug into the brain which is hidden under the front middle seat, in the storage compartment. So the folding bracket wouldn't be to hard. Its just designing and trying out the bracket now. I think I am going to toy around with some metal tonight.