Mrs B and I have used our satnav on a basic cradle for several years, relying on the internal battery for power. Our TomTom Rider will manage several hours on a full charge, but we got caught out in France last year on longer days out, as it died when we needed it most, close to our destination.

Determined not to let that happen again I recently bought a powered cradle for it and looked for a way to wire it in. Then I had a brainwave! Simply plug it into the back of the headlight. It hardly takes any power, so isn't going to add any extra burden to the wiring, at least with a stock wattage bulb. The most difficult part was persuading the extra wires to go through the rubber grommet into the headlight shell.

Photos show my wiring inside the headlight, which hasn't altered the stock wires in any way, so no wires were harmed or butchered in making the connections! I simply used two blue 'piggy-back' spade connectors attached to the new wires, to which the pink stock connectors are fitted. Click the satnav onto the cradle, turn the ignition on, TomTom wakes up, as if by magic!

We can now set off for long day trips with peace of mind.....

 

Really cool way to wire up a GPS! I'm going to have to remember this for when I end up getting one. How do the spade connectors work and how exactly do they fit to the other connectors? I don't usually mess with wires much so thought I'd ask.

 

These are the type of connector I used:



Having fed the two satnav wires into the headlight I crimped one on each wire, disconnected the bike connectors, fitted the new ones in their place, then reconnected the bike connectors to the piggy-back part of the new connectors. The ground wires for the satnav are black, same as the bike, which makes things easy!

Hope that helps!

 

Good idea, but should also note that the High & Low beam are separate power circuits and you need to pick the one that you typically use. If wired to the low beam +12 wire, you'll loose the external power to the GPS when you switch to the high beam.

 

Thanks that helps a lot! I suppose if I ever do this it will be with the low beam. I only use the high beam to be seen in certain instances and at night.

 

If you take a close look at my photo, you will see that I have an HDI bike, with an additional sidelight bulb which is permanently on, which is where I connected my new wires. For other bikes you are quite right. My choice would be to use the low beam circuit, which even when using high beam will still extend the useful life of the satnav, by charging it's battery while on low beam.

 

where'd you get these? i got molested at the local napa shop for a few in a pack when i did my oil cooler fan install.

 

I got two in a bubble pack at my local corner auto store. They weren't cheap, for what they are. I live in the UK so can't be much more helpful than that, sorry!

 

your lovering the volt at the bulb and lover volt means less light, just so you nough

regards
RIX

 

No voltage doesn't work that way. (Electronics 101) The added circuit is in parallel with the bulb, voltage is not affected. If the added circuit was in series with the bulb, then you would get a voltage drop.