F800GS How did you wire up your GPS?

Ordered a spare canbus connector from BMW, got the end cut off the stock Zumo 660 lead and paid the local garage to fit the canbus connector. It's plugged into the auxillary canbus connector near the battery compartment. It's the neatest, most reliable, most factory-looking way of doing it without risking flatting the battery, IMO.

Y'all be careful out there, some GPS systems run on 12V and some on 5V.

If you feed 12V it a model that wants 5V it will likely ruin your day (and your GPS)!

I completely understand your point of view. There is a lot of satisfaction in doing the job perfectly even if no one can see it. You know what is under the fairings.

Just got finished wiring up the GPS. My buddy came over with his Fluke multi-meter and we tested all the connections to verify power/ground/continuity/etc.... I used the BMW "test" plug and soldered it to the Garmin GPS supplied wire harness and heat-shrink wrapped the connections. The BMW test plug has (3) wires labeled 1, 2, & 3. 1 is ground and 3 is positive. I cut the Garmin wire harness and spliced in an SAE plug between the voltage reducer and Mini-USB that plugs into the back of the GPS. I also soldered and heat-shrink wrapped those connections. Now, I can leave the GPS wire harness with fuse block and voltage reducer permanently plugged into the BMW GPS connector on the bike and when I remove the GPS from the bike I can just disconnect the SAE plug and the Mini-USB comes inside along with the GPS and the SAE plug just gets a cover installed on the bike and is weather proof. VIOLA!!!! I'm set now BTW... as previously stated the power coming from the BMW GPS plug is 12V so if your GPS requires less than 12V be sure to use the voltage reducer or you will fry your GPS.

Tonight I actually hooked up the GPS and the power wouldn't shut down after I turned the key off. I ended up having to remove the battery from the GPS so that the CanBus would turn off after the key is turned off. I tested this several times without any issues and the GPS turning off every time after 1 minute. Just for verification I put the battery back in the GPS and started the bike and turned it off and the GPS would never shut down so after removing the battery it now works with the keyed switch power.

If it's so easy to wire directly to the battery, why spend the extra $25 and time and trouble hooking up to the accessory plug? Is that answered in the second paragraph above, or are there other good reasons?

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I've read this elsewhere. But Garmin sells a cable with a 4-pin plug and bare wire ends for direct hookup and the Garmin site shows it on the list of accessories designed for my GPSMap 60CSx. It has an in-line fuse - is that adequate?


I also have a 690 Enduro and need a power option there, too. It doesn't have any fancy-schmancy adaptors built in or CANbus. I was going to hard wire there too.

I like your setup. Can you tell me the p/n and the vendor for your switches.I have been looking for some weather proof switches.


Just a little heads up to all. Make sure you make your connections weather proof. Raychem makes what we refer to as environment splices. I am sure a quick internet search will reveal several vendors.

Yeppers...... All has been soldered....and crimp fluxed...... And it has been proven itself in torrential downpours.....
I bought`em here...:

http://shop.vetcosurplus.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=8805

http://shop.vetcosurplus.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=8806



Erling

It only depends *how* the power is going into the GPS unit you may have, that's all.

All USB/mini USB ports are 5V

With my Nuvi 765T, I bought a cable that had bare wires on one end, and the appropriate Garmin plug on the other. Not for the mini USB port, but the larger multi-pin connector that goes through the mounting clip.

I bought the OEM BMW accessory GPS adapter plug from F800Depot, and soldered the proper wires together. Works like a charm, no 5Volt thingies need apply.

Now, if I had another model of GPS where there was only a 5V mini USB power plug in, or for some strange reason I wanted to put the power to my GPS through the mini USB port, this is where you would need to make sure you had the correct inline voltage reducer.

I chose to go this route instead of just hardwiring directly to my battery, because I already have a Battery Tender SAE pigtail wired up to the terminals and I don't want to overcrowd the thing. (and I don't need or want to install a secondary multi-accessory fuseblock) Plus the GPS power source plug was already there, so meh.

When I purchased my F800, I had the dealer install 2 addition BMW outlets. They are fused to a BlueSea circuit box located under the seat. They are hot all the time. I removed the cig. plug and got a BMW 90 degree plug and wired it to the Garmin wires. Easy to do. I like my GPS to not shut off when stopped with the engine off. That leaves one outlet to power a charger or other stuff. Vest is wired to the BlueSea box.

You can save the cost of an adapter. As long as the GPS has a cable with wires designed to attach to 12 volts, you can strip them down, tin them with a little solder to stiffen them up, and the insert the stiffened wires into the BMW connector.

I did this on my GSA and on my 800 GS - no issues. Once the wires are inserted ( sorry, I don't remember the color codings on the BMW end ) a good wrap of electrical tape will hold the wires in place and weatherproof it. TA DA!

Thanks - clearest answer I've seen. The point about crowding the terminals is a good one. I've got pigtails on both bikes, more for running the 12V air compressor on the trail. The 690 has no handy accessory plug and the wires on the Garmin adaptor are super thin, so I'm going to go that route for now and carry extra terminal screws. I'll get the adaptor for the 800.

Exactly!

I carry a little 12v air compressor on longer trips too, and wanted a "universal" power source at the ready. The SAE pigtail is great because I can simply plug in whatever I want to use, at any given time.

In my tankbag, I have a regular 12v cigarette type socket with SAE terminal on the other end, and can plug in a compressor, attach a set of mini jumper cables for another bike, power a twin USB-out adapter plug, a little 75watt AC adapter, or even plug in my GPS 12v cable that came with my Nuvi for car use. (in case the hardwire cable ever gets damaged or the bike's CanBus controlled GPS outlet ever goes wonky, nice to have a simple 12v source capable backup)


In fairness to beammeup's suggestion, I too, thought briefly of saving the 25.00 or so bucks for the OEM BMW plug, but in all honesty I like the nice fit and finish of the end result, and was suspicious of my skill at jabbing tiny bare wires into the holes and holding them there with tape

Visions of sticking a fork in a wall outlet came to mind

Hmmm...great idea. I also have a Nuvi, use it mainly in the truck, but I think it would be a better bet than the 60CSx on more road oriented trips on the 800.

So, where did you get said socket/SAE connector?

I also used the aforementioned connector, nice and clean hookup.

Does anyone know the specs for the pulse signal? Is it 1 pulse per wheel rev or something else? Voltage levels? I haven't got my oscilloscope mount from Tourtech yet.

Thinking of a microcontroller project along the lines of a rally computer.

A great guy, bohemianbiker4vr on e-bay (I have no affiliation or connection, just a super happy customer)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Battery-Tender-...370?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item33676d48aa


I use my Nuvi 765T even though it's not weather resistant, because it was cheap and my old reading glasses eyes needed a bigger screen to see

Amen! You can get helmets with flip-down sun shades, why not some flip-down readers?

I wired in a 12v cigarette lighter/accessory socket (£3) with an in line fuse to the battery. It's located under the saddle. I routed the Garmin in car power lead so that the plug is at the GPS mount and the power plug is under the saddle to plug into the 12v socket.
This arrangement means that you have another accessory socket to plug other things into, that can be locked under the seat. I use mine to charge my phone securely while setting up camp.
The socket is always live, so don't leave any thing plugged in when the bike is not running for too long.

I hard wired mine to the battery but after leaving it connected one fateful day and having a dead battery (pop starting a 500lb moto is hard) I opted to install a on/off switch that I have mounted in a similar fashion to the photo that someone posted. Mine is smaller and does not light up (left side of the key).

I did mine direct to battery terminals.
But quite strange because it only fully turned off after a minute i remove my ignition key.