Wiring Street Pilot III

[troll]

So I picked a street pilot III. Pretty cool unit, but with the accessories it comes with, the options for custom wiring seem to be limited.

I'd like to hard wire it in two seperate bikes with custom mounts and be able to move it back and forth. The questions is, are they are cables out there that will plug right into the unit like the one provided, that I can hack up to fit my needs? Or am I stuck buying those pricy 12v w/speaker adapters like it comes with and hacking those up? Seems kind of rediculous to do it that way. Figured someone around here might have experience or ideas on how to achieve this, and with minimal expense.

I'd like to keep the provided 12v intact for use in a car. As for on the bike, I have speakers in my lid which I tap into for the voice, Just need power! :)

What are others using for speakers for these? I've tossed it into the tank bag on batteries once, and quite enjoyed the nagging voice telling me where to go, especially when I ignored it's route because I had other plans :)

I've thought about wiring up my own connector for the audio. I currently was using a 3/32 to 1/4 stereo adapter into the unit, since I have a 1/4 cable running for my audio. But obviously the unit is mono and I get one speaker working. But if I took a mono male 3/32 and wired it to a stereo female 1/4 with both sides tapped in, I should at least get both speakers w/audio albeit actually mono.

What I'd like to do ideally is be able to tap both my mp3 player and GPS into the one set of speakers, and I could fab a connector/cable up for that, but am worried about signal loss causing low volumes for either. Anyone have a setup like this and can offer suggestions? I do have a custom audio system on my sportbike which works great around town and is rather loud, so I can just keep the gps plugged into the lid. But at extended highway speeds, the wind and exhaust noise tend to make the onboard audio kind of pointless, and in the lid works better, and is more easily heard. And on the other bike, onboard audio is not available.

Just fishing for ideas here, sorry for rambling on :)

Troll

[David_S]

You can get cables HERE for about $10.00. I get them from the guy in Florida and he ships them out fast. SP III will run directly off of 12 volts so you can hook to the battery or what ever source you choose.

For sound you will need something to get it into your ear, in ear speakers etc. You will also probably need a cable with a ground loop isolator or it will be all electronic jumble (at least mine was). You can get the cables for the audio HERE If your un sure of what you need for the audio email Sean and he'll fix you up. He also sells an inexpensive mixer that will allow you to run 2 mono sources and one stereo all at once. I use the mixer with a boostaroo for the V1 and xm. a nice cheap set up to go with the expensive in the ear speakers . I found the voice on the SP III became irritating to me so I rarely connect it.

[troll]

I see. Actually, I was working on a cable that just had two inputs going to one jack. And well, it kinda worked. But I mentioned it to my buddy and it's behavoir. He brought up a good point about the signals from either unit feeding back to the other and possibly causing damage, especially over extended periods of use.

He mentioned using a multiplexer type circuit that switches between sources automatically and doesn't allow signals to go back down lines, which is probably what a lot of these products like you mentioned use. Trying to find diagragms or small premade circuits to integrate is proving difficult online.

I suppose the link you gave is an option, but If I could make the same thing for half the price when I have half the components already I may go that route.

Oh, duh, didn't notice the link for the power cables, thanks. (edit)

Troll

[troll]

I went ahead and ordered the 'mixer' a power cable, and even a boostaroo. I'll let everyone know how it works out :)

Now I just need to fab a mount to work on my sporbike... Not a whole lot of room :( I usually run a tankbag as well. Might fab up something that sandwhiches between the bar and riser, then is bent up into a table. Could do it in one piece too.



Troll

[David_S]

Troll I don't know if you would be interested in drilling a small hole in your top triple tree or not but I did it on a Duc of mine and it worked out great. Tap a 1/4 x 20 hole and mount a RAM ball using loctite and you can then attach what ever arm works for the height you need.

[troll]

Originally Posted by David_S

Troll I don't know if you would be interested in drilling a small hole in your top triple tree or not but I did it on a Duc of mine and it worked out great. Tap a 1/4 x 20 hole and mount a RAM ball using loctite and you can then attach what ever arm works for the height you need.

My unit doesn't have a mount like that. And I have an idea on how to do what will work with what I do have available though. I'll followup this thread once I get something worked out for anyone who's interested.

A buddy suggested a washer to pipe kind of thing under the head nut. Not too keen on that.

Troll

[Manuel Garcia O'Kely]

Originally Posted by troll

My unit doesn't have a mount like that. And I have an idea on how to do what will work with what I do have available though. I'll followup this thread once I get something worked out for anyone who's interested.

A buddy suggested a washer to pipe kind of thing under the head nut. Not too keen on that.

Troll

What our friend is trying to say, is that you tap a hole to mount the RAM ball end on the top of the triple clamp - then you use the ram arm [which is like a clamp] and will come with a mount for whatever you want to install on it - I have a Garmin V on a RAM mount on my DL1000 handlebars - nice and easy to install.

[troll]

Originally Posted by Manuel Garcia O'Kely

What our friend is trying to say, is that you tap a hole to mount the RAM ball end on the top of the triple clamp - then you use the ram arm [which is like a clamp] and will come with a mount for whatever you want to install on it - I have a Garmin V on a RAM mount on my DL1000 handlebars - nice and easy to install.

And what I was saying is that I have nothing to interface with the other end of that?! At least nothing that works with my unit. So theres more to it that is necessary to buy to make it work? Any more info?

Troll

[David_S]

If you go HERE at the bottom they have a list of different mounting options for the SP III. I guess your unfamiliar with the RAM mounting system. It is sweet because there are so many combinations and despite the look they are very solid. I low sided then high sided totaling a bike and my radar detector never moved. Made a believer out of me! THIS page show a lot of the different pieces available. Feel free to send and email or private message if you have any questions. I'm no expert by any means but I'm running an, XM roady, Street pilot III and an V1 radar detector all set up on RAM mounts.

[troll]

Originally Posted by David_S

If you go HERE at the bottom they have a list of different mounting options for the SP III. I guess your unfamiliar with the RAM mounting system. It is sweet because there are so many combinations and despite the look they are very solid. I low sided then high sided totaling a bike and my radar detector never moved. Made a believer out of me! THIS page show a lot of the different pieces available. Feel free to send and email or private message if you have any questions. I'm no expert by any means but I'm running an, XM roady, Street pilot III and an V1 radar detector all set up on RAM mounts.

Ok, thanks. Indeed I was scratching my head wondering if I was missing something in my box for mounting options! :)

Those actually look pretty neat, able to move it around wherever necessary. I may have to get drilling and tapping :)

Troll

[troll]

Granted this is an old thread, but I need to thank you for the mention of the RAM mount systems.

I indeed did drill and tap a hole in my top triple and popped a ball in there and just use a 2" inch arm to a plate screwed into the SPIII mount. I've used it on two road trips with excellent results. Thanks.

I even mounted a ball on the A-pillar in my truck and thats where I mount the garmin when I'm using it there.

[matey peeps]

It may be just a smidge late to let you know, but RAM does make a U-bolt mount that I have on my GS so you didn't need to do any drilling/tapping.

Shame I just found this today, I have a SPIII and all sortsa RAM goodies for it and my camera.

[rick danger]

Any of you SP111 dues haveing trouble with the unit powering up onthe batteries? I left dead batteries in mine for like a year and when I put new ones in it wont power up. Its hard wired to the bike so not too big a deal, but sometimes at rallys they will load the route in your gps for you and they use the same plug in spot as the power cable so I cant do it

[troll]

Originally Posted by matey peeps

It may be just a smidge late to let you know, but RAM does make a U-bolt mount that I have on my GS so you didn't need to do any drilling/tapping.

Shame I just found this today, I have a SPIII and all sortsa RAM goodies for it and my camera.

Sportbike, clipons... You get the idea...