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Hard wired GPS

Mavagrand

Mavagrand

Senior Member
As some of you may remember, I ran with an oil cooler installed for a brief period. Didn't like the oil cooler so I removed it. No problem....except the cooler came with a light I installed on the dash that would illuminate when the cooler fan was running..so when I removed the cooler I was left with two options...leave the light in to act as a plug or remove the light and do something with the hole in my dash. Well, some of you may remember I just bought a 12 Ford Escape..this thing came loaded included built in navigation. That left me with a newly purcharsed Garmin Nuvi.

So..using the already drilled hole in my dash I screwed the ball end of a Ram mount to my dash where it is now permanetn. I already have a Ram mount for the GPS so all I needed now was power. I've always ridden with the GPS plugged into my cigarette lighter but don't like doing that becuase on sharp left turns the charger can bang against the tank. So, I ran the power cord into the fairing thru the factory hold for the clutch cable. Removing the outer fairing, I wired up an old power point I had in the shed. Plugged the GPS into the power point, zipped tied them to the fairing bracket, reinstalled the outer fairing and I now have a neatly installed GPS,...when not in use I can remove the GPS and have the ram mount on the dash as well as a small length of power cord that I can tuck up against the clutch cable. Took it for a test ride and it held up well. It's nice to have GPS without that long power cord dangling down.

Thought I'd share.
 
Sounds like a neat fixup there Mavagrand. Florida has changed so much I'm lost with GPS.
 
RWB, yea GPS is definately handy to have. I use it more to keep track of where I go..especially keeping track of restaurants I like. :)

BGDV1, I'll take a photo after work and post it. I installed the Ram mount in the upper left corner of the fairing, right above and to the left of the gas gauge. Like I say, it's not especially pretty but is practical as I ride alot.
 
Bgdv1 said:
I had one mounted on the fairing and the vibration broke the mount.
Click to expand...

Mavagrand said:
I installed the Ram mount in the upper left corner of the fairing, right above and to the left of the gas gauge. Like I say, it's not especially pretty but is practical as I ride alot.
Click to expand...

Sounds like something you should keep an eye on to make sure the vibration gremlin doesn't get you.
 
Sunday was a rainy day here, and I was tired of the tv, so I went to the garage to find something to do. Even though I recently added a aux. power outlet under the tank of the E.G., I decided I wanted to "hard wire" my gps, so it would be on all the time. Well, I guess I confused "hard wiring" with "hot wiring". I cut the wall socket off of an old phone charge cord that had the same end as my Garmin and plugged it into an extra12v battery on my work bench.
OOPs, I forgot to consider that the big black plug on the Garmin cord, has some kind of magic electrical stuff in it that throttles 12v DC down the to 3.7V that the gps battery requires. :( My new Garmin is scheduled for delivery Wednesday. :53:
I removed and autopsied the gps battery, and maybe the gps did not suffer damage, as there are several tiny "magic electrical" circuits potted into the top of the battery. Maybe I fried them instead of the gps circuitry. I ordered a new battery, my wife will use that gps if it will still work.

Moral of my story; I should ask for HDT advice before playing with electricity. :bigsmiley12:
(I really wanted a new gps though)
 
Dr. Dolittle said:
Sounds like something you should keep an eye on to make sure the vibration gremlin doesn't get you.
Click to expand...

As you can see in the pix, I actually screwed the Ram mount into the dash..I don't think vibration will be an issue. Pix included.
Now if your referring to the connection inside the fairing, I used copious amounts of electrical tape to secure the power point and the plug together so they shouldn't vibrate apart either.
 

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Mavagrand said:
As you can see in the pix, I actually screwed the Ram mount into the dash..I don't think vibration will be an issue. Pix included.
Now if your referring to the connection inside the fairing, I used copious amounts of electrical tape to secure the power point and the plug together so they shouldn't vibrate apart either.
Click to expand...
Pretty nifty mount Mav, and way to make good use of your spare GPS! A friend of mine purchased a GPS that was an off brand. Worse yet, his mount wasn't near as good as the Garmins. Well, long story short, we were out riding one day and I was behind him. All of a sudden I see something fall of of his bike and bounce along the country road that we were riding on. You guessed it! It was his GPS! Ya can't beat that ball mount that Garmin & Ram incorporate in their design. They take a little steady, twisting pull to remove them from their harnesses and that's reassuring to me that they ain't comin' off! :s
 
That mount looks a little sturdier than the all plastic ball mount i had. Like i said vibration killed mine. Cracked right by the base were the ball arm met the base. I liked it up there better and made for a cleaner look imho.


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