Charger Jack

[danh600]

How hard is it to add a charging jack to a bike? Just something to run a GPS or cell phone? Is there generally a circuit you can just splice into?

[dt]

Dan, you can find outlets and adapters at places like Powerlet ( www.powerlet.com ). The gadget(s) that you’re going to wire will give you the specs on what adapters or outlets are appropriate.

As far as the actual wiring, there are lots of views on this (like oil discussions). Direct battery (rarely appropriate), plug into bikes existing fuse box, or splice into a specific amp rated wire in the wiring harness. In response to your question, they’re all easy (except perhaps finding the right wire to splice). However, if I could, I’d like to suggest you look into a dedicated fuse block like the FZ-1 Fuze Block ( www.fuzeblocks.com ). I say “like” because FZ-1 is the gold-standard and priced accordingly. There are other brands of fuse blocks that do the exact same thing but for half the price (look up Blue Sea Fuse Block for example…half the price...plus someone was just talking about a new kind on another forum that I'll go find again).

This is just my opinion, but the bike’s wiring and harness was built for the bike and connecting anything to it wasn’t likely anticipated. It’s not just a problem for your bike, but for the expensive accessory that you’re planning to attach to that maze of wires that only some engineer in Japan really understands. You’ll see that a dedicated fuse block simply connects to the battery terminals. They provide multiple, fused circuits and let you choose whether you want to have the circuit switched or constant.

I have a factory dash adapter outlet on my mc that is already tied to the fuse box. It's amp rated so I can use for my new gps. I am actually back on the heated liner thing and will be getting a fuse block of some sort to support that and some possible auxiliary lights that I'm looking at. If I had an old junker bike, I'd probably splice, but I'm not messing around with this new one.

[dt]

Here's the other one I was referring to: Eastern Beaver

http://easternbeaver.com/Main/main.html

This one looks a little pricey too compared to some others.

[danh600]

Thanks. Great response. Gives me lots to look into.

[dt]

If you ultimately decide to use the bike’s existing fuse block and it has the mini-fuse blades, the best little gizmo to use is a fuse tap. You’ll find them in the fuse section in auto stores and they also have them at radio shack. I’ve used these in auto fuse boxes. Most recently I used one of these to tap a circuit on my Jeep for a electronic speed calibrator. In that case, the instructions said specifically which fuse circuit to use...way better than searching, testing and splicing wires. You just have to make sure to mount them on the hot side of the blade fuse using a circuit tester.

[v65infla]

This is one of 3 power outlets I have on the ST.

http://www.amazon.com/EKLIPES-Motorcycle-Snowmobile-Phone-Adapter/dp/B001ST1HKO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316144523&sr=8-1

Of the other 2, one is from WallyWorld and the other from Radio Shack.  I like to spread the love around.  
The one with the link I posted is in the top box on the back with a dual splitter for charging passenger's cell or a lap top on a trip.  The one from WallyWorld is under the seat with the radar detector plugged in and the one from RS is in a glove box and is used for my cell/gps/mp3 player.  They are all direct wired to the battery but a fuse block like Bill suggest's is on the menu.  It will especially be nice to be able to choose which devices you want to shut off with the key so I can stop forgetting to turn the radar detector off when I park the bike. 

[dt]

On the Fuse Blocks here are few write-ups on Cyclenutz with some good diagrams…

Fuse Block Installations. This is a good write up because it distinguishes between blocks that provide the grounding (negative bus) and those that you have to ground the accessory some place else.

Fuse Blockwith Relay Installation

At the bottom of the pages there are some links to various fuse blocks. I guess the best price for a block with a negative buss ( accessory grounds at the block ) is the Blue Sea. If you look at the dimensions, it's kind of big though. Another consideration, you need to have a place to fit them.

Some of these fuse blocks have 12 circuits…not sure what one needs that many for. There’s a Blue Sea with 4 circuits; the one in the photo is six.

[niteman]

Sounds like v65 could find a use for all 12  (I kid).

This is a good post. I would like to set something up soon on mine so I could charge phone/mp3 player and a gps when I get around to mounting it.

[dt]

This is a good post. I would like to set something up soon on mine so I could charge phone/mp3 player and a gps when I get around to mounting it.

That’s planning ahead. I think most folks might wire one accessory in at a time, but then start adding accessories down the road and have a jumbled mess of wires. That’s where the fuse blocks are a helpful. Once installed, you’ve got a bunch of dedicated circuits to use for whatever. On the other hand, if it’s absolutely just one or two devices then probably tapping the existing panel is fine. You could always add the fuse block down the road if more accessories were planned.

I’m going to scope out a place for a fuse block sometime this weekend. I could put it in a compartment under the seat but I’d like to keep that space available for other uses. Also my battery and the fuse panel are up front under the right panel. Seems like picking a box has more to do with how much space you have to install it. The Blue Sea is 5 in x 3.5 inch and the FuzeBlock is 3.25 in x 2.5 in. Big difference.

[dt]

I had to run into Cyclegear today and ended up picking up this Trackside Power Adapter on sale for $14.99 from $19.99. It looks like a pretty decent/rugged adapter…comes with a real nice bar mount. The same mount alone is $19.99 on Powerlet!

The wires are really short and after getting home note that the reviewers complained about that fact. That won’t be an issue for me ‘cuz like I previously mentioned I’d rather wire up some kind of a fuse block for accessories...plus easy enough to extend them if you wanted to go straight to the battery with it. This will go on the KL and I have some 2 inch auxiliary lights coming for it, too, that’ll need to be wired in. 

[dt]

I pieced together my wire harness today. See the photo below…think I got it right. 

This is a switched, 3 circuit harness for the KL and the relay will be triggered off the tail light power. I have a set of 2 inch auxiliary spot lights on order and a cigarette lighter type adapter (see previous post) to tie in. I intend to run an air compressor off the adapter (and maybe my GPS). Then there’s a third circuit should I decide to add another accessory down the road.

I was going to use a six-circuit Bussmann Fuse Panel I found on AdvanceAuto’s website, but when I saw it, I didn’t like it. What I did like were the heavy-duty Bussmann in-line fuse holders they had there. I got three for $2.49 each and zipped them together making my own little panel. Plus I got a 30A four pin Dorman Relay for $6.99. Everything else I had.

[Croz]

Can't comment on the design, as my experience with this stuff is more theoretical than practical, but it looks like it should be right. Definitely suggest you tie it all in to your electrical before you mount it all and test everything, but I'm sure you're thinking of that already.

Watching your progress on your bike really shows the difference in prep between working on it for running around town, and working on it in prep for a trip to Alaska. Kind of like watching a web version of Long Way Round, without the huge budget and vendors donating stuff to the trip.

[dt]

Donations! Now there’s an idea! 

Hope I get the lights this week. Then I can run the rest of the wiring next weekend or maybe one day this week.

[dt]

I decided to go with the FZ-1 Fuzeblock for the Yamaha and ordered it yesterday. Like I’d mentioned above, it’s a little pricier than the others, but I got to thinking that it’s also a compact, do-it-all unit. It’s 3.25 x 2.5 x 1.25 inches, which was quite a bit smaller than my second choice…Blue Sea, 4.9 x 3.3 x 1.5 inches. I also looked at a Centec model. All have the negative bus, provide for switched and unswitched circuits, but the Fuzeblock has a built in 30A relay…that’s about eight bucks of the difference alone and less wiring to screw around with.

So I’ll wire this up for the lights, another outlet and my air compressor and have three circuits left over for whatever else pops up in the future. I’m passing again this year on the heated gear.

Here’s the diagram of all the innerds…

[dt]

I finally got around to installing the FZ-1 Fuzeblock last night. Just the fuse block for now. I might take a shot at installing the auxiliary lights and air compressor lead today, but I don’t have the cable for my gps yet (requires a step down cable from 12V to 5V), and I’m rethinking that. Those cables are like $40! I might do something else for that.

Anyway, I decided to locate the Fuzeblock under the upper panel above most of the electrical system.



There was a nice compartment right in that spot, but it was divided by a plastic barrier. So I got my dremel and grinded it out. The regulator is right on the other side of that wall in the compartment, so I removed that so I could drill some holes for mounting.



This isn’t the most convenient place to get to. Where the lower side panel pops right off with four hex tabs, the top panel takes a little more work and has two of those button connectors. However, I’ve read some folks placing the block where they can’t easily get to the terminals on the sides. One person blocked out all the grounding ports and had to use a separate ground block. This is an expensive little gizmo (at $80) not to be able to use it to it’s fullest.



The power line (red), ground (black) and relay trigger (green) connect to the top of the fuzeblock with easy screw down terminal clamps. The power comes straight off the positive terminal on the battery and negative goes to the negative terminal of the battery; this is called negative bus, where grounding of all accessories is accommodated at one source.



The factory wiring harness had two connectors for optional factory equipment, one for the auxiliary lighting and one for the heated grips. These are located down behind the more easily accessible lower panel. I used the switched auxiliary lighting circuit for the relay trigger (green). Unfortunately after a trip to two autozones and radioshack, I was stuck using a hit-or-miss wire tap, so I’m sure I’ll be replacing that. Note that I zipped the little bugger on both sides and taped it to hold it together better.



Although a relatively simply install, I continuously tested circuits as I assembled and installed the fuzeblock. The first test was to make sure that my switched power source worked once the source wire was tapped. However, on this type of fuzeblock, with an integrated relay, I found that you really can’t test the final individual circuits without power. There was sort of like a circuit board on the back, but I didn’t have any guide as to what went to what, so I left that alone. Once installed with power, I tested each of the six circuits for both constant power and switched power. Ultimately I select which path will be used for each accessory installed, but I wanted to make sure that each circuit functioned on both paths…and they did.



And there you go, all ready to plug and play. The only place I touched the factory harness was the auxiliary light connector.




Now, the positive and negative feeds for each accessory simply plug into one of the six connectors on the sides and I decide on constant power and switched power for the particular accessory.

Of course, auxiliary lights will require switched power (they only come on when the ignition is turned on). I’ll put my air compressor on constant power, because I wouldn’t want to light up the entire bike just to put some air in the tires (it’s a big draw, so need to take care not to drain the battery using an air compressor). On the gps, I read a post the other day that a guy has his on constant power the reason being he tinkers with maps and coordinates at stops and whatnot and doesn’t want to light up the entire system just to mess around with the gps. That’s interesting, but my gps has an eight hour battery so, assuming I ever figure out how to “really” use my gps, I’ll probably just turn it on battery power and put it on a switched path.

[Zarticus]

Very nice Bill!!!!!, I wish I had room somewhere for one of those. I wound up running 3 sets power & ground wires from my battery, 1 for my gps, 1 for my power plug for compressor & 1 for my new tank bag that has connections for my Ipod,headphone amp & cell phone charger. Everything connects with ase connectors.

[v65infla]

Bill, I am not sure why your GPS would require a step down in voltage.  But, why not just hard wire a cigarette power adapter to your fuse block and then use a regular cigarette power adapter for the GPS? 

[dt]

Bill, I am not sure why your GPS would require a step down in voltage.  But, why not just hard wire a cigarette power adapter to your fuse block and then use a regular cigarette power adapter for the GPS? 

It's a Garmin Nuvi 550 and operates on 5V according to the manual. Plus places like powerlet talk about the required step down. 12V direct off the fuse block would fry it. I guess not all gps are like this. The current cig lighter adapter I have for the cig plug in the dash steps it down from 12V to 5V like a regulator/rectifier sort of thing (it came with the gps). What I really wanted to do was hardwire it so I don't have all that cable over the bars and everything. Plus the plug vibrates loose in the one in the dash. I can get a little cig lighter plug for five bucks at advance auto parts and hide it someplace.