Do I Need A New Fuse Block?

[SubVet]

I have purchased a GPS and will be getting it (hopefully) in about a week.

My questions are:

1) Should I wire it directly to my battery with an "in line fuse" or wire it into my existing fuse block and piggy back it onto an existing fuse or get an additional fuse block? Or, is there a better way of doing this?

2) I'm planning on a spring trip of about 3200 miles which will include an IronButt 1000. Thus, the GPS. Althought I don't intend on talking on my cell phone while I'm riding, I do want to keep it charged up. Any suggestions here?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[William_86]

yes the best way to keep ur stock electrical system is to wire it directly to the battery, with a relay enabled by the swich. please, take a look at the following website, there is a good diagram to a safe wiring setup for accessories <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://goldwingtech.info/auxwiring/auxpwrwiring.html">http://goldwingtech.info/auxwiring/auxpwrwiring.html</a><!-- m -->
you dont need to follow it 100% but it will give u an idea of what i say with a relay

[SIR tricky]

If you wire it to a a circuit that is controlled by the key, it will turn off each time you turn off the engine, possibly requiring you to restart it each time.
I would connect it to the battery with a fuse. I doubt they use very much current even if you forgot to turn it off after your journey.

[admin]

I would be inclined to wire it directly to the battery with a fuse so that it would not shut down with the bike in case I wanted to do some side of the road trip planning with the bike not running.

[William_86]

good point, i am not familiarized with GPS devices =(

[RustyTheDog]

I like using the same GPS in my truck, so I use the cigarette lighter plug and I made a velcro mount so it presses flat to either dashboard. (One disadvantage: The "shelf" of the GW dashboard isn't very solid so it vibrates a lot. One advantage: When I store a new location in the GPS, it's available for either vehicle.)

Maybe you don't have a 12 volt cig lighter adapter... But they're handy and you could always add one. Even if I had no devices, I would want one just so I could feel like my bike "has all the features".

Currently my cigarette lighter turns off with the key. If I were so inclined, I could rewire it for constant power. But personally, I don't see it as a disadvantage that the GPS turns off with the bike. I assume they're all like mine, such that they remember your current route even while turned off. Finding the satellites takes about 10 seconds in an open area.

[SIR tricky]

It sure is a pain with a GPS hooked up in a car with a laptop when the power shuts of with the key.
10 minutes for the coffee 20 minutes to get everything back online when you switch the car back on.

My Garmin (SOMETIMES) remembers the route, sometimes it doesnt.

My MP3player/FM modulator restarts it music from the beginning everytime I restart the bike..... or used to till I wired it up direct to the battery, used to be a pain listening to the first 1-1/2 hrs of 15 hours worth of music.. wired direct now.

[redwing1984]

Just a note: do NOT remove the 12 volt plug-in and put the wires directly on the battery terminals, Most GPS and Satellite radio's operate on a 5 volt system and actually drop the voltage so as to not damage the unit.

[SubVet]

Just a note: do NOT remove the 12 volt plug-in and put the wires directly on the battery terminals, Most GPS and Satellite radio's operate on a 5 volt system and actually drop the voltage so as to not damage the unit.

This is VERY interesting as that was exactly what I have planned to do. Hmm...Now I'm thinking that like it or not, I'll need to get a cig adapter. Rats...

[redwing1984]

Check the owners manual for your GPS, it should give you an operating voltage for your unit, if it is 5 volts like my satellite radio and my Garmin, then you will need to use a 12 outlet.
check under the specification part of the manual

[RustyTheDog]

Hold on now... that may have been misleading. If the GPS will drop the voltage from 12V "dowstream" of the cigarette lighter, the same wires will drop the voltage as necessary from 12V at the battery. If necessary, it will still be 5V internally.

As long as the plug itself does NOT drop the voltage, as is the case with my Garmin c320, you could cut its wires and supply it with 12V from anwhere.

To find out, open up the plug, usually with a screwdriver. If it only contains a fuse (or nothing), it's not doing anything to the voltage and you know that any drop in voltage it might need occurs "downstream" of that point, possibly inside the unit. If that's what you see inside, keep the fuse or note its spec... You should have a similar fuse in the new circuit and you can wire directly.

I agree: Don't do this is if the plug itself drops the voltage and you're going to ditch the plug. But that may not be the case.

Also make sure you get the polarity right. Ground is the outside of a lighter socket, and positive is the center "nubbin".

In other words, the battery terminals and the cig adapter are essentially the same. As long as you're just changing the way it gets 12V to the same point in the circuit without bypassing anything, you're not changing anything except the routing of the circuit.

[SubVet]

Check the owners manual for your GPS, it should give you an operating voltage for your unit, if it is 5 volts like my satellite radio and my Garmin, then you will need to use a 12 outlet.
check under the specification part of the manual

Although I don't have the unit "in hand", I checked the manual and it doesn't say anything about it. Just that it plugs into a 12v cig lighter outlet. I even check the mfg web site - - nothing.

[admin]

If you're going to be connecting a lot of electrical items onto your bike that aren't going to be switched off with the key you might want to consider investing in something like this;
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.crutchfield.com/S-kjmQX2AhHmt/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?i=686BBTIII">http://www.crutchfield.com/S-kjmQX2AhHm ... =686BBTIII</a><!-- m -->
It automatically switches off the battery power when it senses too much drain and then you can reconnect it via a remote control. No more dead batteries.

[redwing1984]

sometimes the 12 volt plug has a very small transformer in it which will reduce the voltage to approx. 5 volts, their is nothing misleading about that, My sirius satellite radio and my Garmin GPS both have these, all i'm saying is be sure of the operating voltage of your unit before connecting it directly to the battery, whatever you do is up to you.

[redwing1984]

if your manual doen't say anything about the voltage of the unit, then check to see if it says anything about NOT removing the 12 volt plug, this may be an indicator that the voltage could be reduced from the plug out to the unit.