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I have a 2019 touring bike with the GTS audio system and a media compartment where my iPhone plugs in. The problem is, my iPhone does not fit in the media compartment and I prefer to mount it on my handlebars any way. Here lies the problem. When I have the phone mounted on my handlebars, I have a USB cable running from the connector in the media compartment to my iPhone; I need this for CarPlay to work. The USB cable prevents the media compartment door from closing easily and it takes many attempts, sometimes while I am riding, to close it and keep it closed.
In my opinion, this is a horrible design by H-D, and they should have thought of a way to accommodate a USB cable coming out of the media compartment. I am sure others have / had this same issue and came up with some clever solutions. Please share what you have done to address this problem. Pictures are welcome.
I got a shorter charging cable from Amazon, with a small round file I cut a small groove in the plastic, zip tied the cable to the bars, problem solved. The door opens/closes like it's not even there.
I took out the grey foam padding which exposes a small hole on each side of the compartment..,then just run the cable out the hole to your handlebar, you can put the foam padding back in once youve run the cable through the hole and then just close the door. This works perfectly with an iPhone lightning cable because its so small and will fit through the hole and IMO is a better alternative to cutting a notch in the door.
I took out the grey foam padding which exposes a small hole on each side of the compartment..,then just run the cable out the hole to your handlebar, you can put the foam padding back in once youve run the cable through the hole and then just close the door. This works perfectly with an iPhone lightning cable because its so small and will fit through the hole and IMO is a better alternative to cutting a notch in the door.
I had actually filed a notch in the compartment, not the door, and it worked pretty well. But, I liked your idea better and just finished rerouting the cable. Thanks for the tip.
You probably already thought of this, but I don't think Harley's main concern was hooking up your phone. That was put there to upgrade the GPS and the radio system.
I took out the grey foam padding which exposes a small hole on each side of the compartment..,then just run the cable out the hole to your handlebar, you can put the foam padding back in once youve run the cable through the hole and then just close the door. This works perfectly with an iPhone lightning cable because its so small and will fit through the hole and IMO is a better alternative to cutting a notch in the door.
^^^^^^^^^ This 100x ^^^^^^^. Also, purchase a flat cable from Amazon...makes it easier to thread and will also (IIRC) allow the door to shut should you decide to route it that way.
bottom line is : H-D should have made the compartment deeper.
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Media Compartment Problem
