Weatherproof USB Power Ports

[Fire Escape]

At the beginning of the week, I hadn't heard of these Power Ports. Today two of them and a Tapp Capp were already in my mail box. They look well made and especially well thought out. The proof will of course be in how well they work but for the first time since learning that DeLorme no longer offered mobile power cords, I have some confidence that my PN-60 may become more than a 'desk ornament'.


Bruce

[Shov3BR]

Originally Posted by Fire Escape

At the beginning of the week, I hadn't heard of these Power Ports. Today two of them and a Tapp Capp were already in my mail box. They look well made and especially well thought out. The proof will of course be in how well they work but for the first time since learning that DeLorme no longer offered mobile power cords, I have some confidence that my PN-60 may become more than a 'desk ornament'.


Bruce

Thanks for the bump. If you have a chance we would love to see pics of your install.
-D

[satur9]

i had them custom make me one that plugs into my coax/barrel/baryl or whatever most people call them heated gear battery harnesses i have on my bikes. works great.adn thier version of the heated gear plugs are covered so with a tapp capped cable youre weatherproof

[killowatt]

Originally Posted by Shov3BR

Ta Dah!

Thanks Low594 - I was wondering if I should have left the pins out of the housing and have MP punch them in. I now feel confident that it's correct.

Hey - MP send me a message with your shipping address and we'll get this thing to you.

How about one of these with a SAE two pole connector. Say 12" long. This could connect to the plug I have already installed for my battery tender mounted near the head set. I already have an SAE to cigar lighter with a 12" whip that works well in the tank bag. It seems that going straight to USB would help eliminate a problematic loose connection point.

[CA Stu]

Do the TAPP lite USB power ports use any power when wired directly to an always hot auxiliary power wire on the wiring harness?

Any parasitic loss?

Thanks
CA Stu

[Shov3BR]

Yes, contrary to what you might read in other ADVRider threads, all switching requlators have some quiescent (no load) power drain.
TAPP Lite draws 8mA (.008A) which isn't much so unless your bike sits for a long time, it won't drain the battery.
TAPP 2.1A with its MOSFET switcher draws a whopping 35mA and will kick the snot out of all but the biggest touring bike batteries in a few days. We recommend connecting the TAPP 2.1A family of USB power ports to a switched circuit like an accessory or taillight circuit. We provide one of those triple-trick PosiTaps to make the connection very easy.
Hope this helps.
-Shov

[bikyto]

Originally Posted by Shov3BR

Yes, contrary to what you might read in other ADVRider threads, all switching requlators have some quiescent (no load) power drain.
TAPP Lite draws 8mA (.008A) which isn't much so unless your bike sits for a long time, it won't drain the battery.
TAPP 2.1A with its MOSFET switcher draws a whopping 35mA and will kick the snot out of all but the biggest touring bike batteries in a few days. We recommend connecting the TAPP 2.1A family of USB power ports to a switched circuit like an accessory or taillight circuit. We provide one of those triple-trick PosiTaps to make the connection very easy.
Hope this helps.
-Shov

I have my TAPP Lite hooked up to a fuzeblock FZ1 on a switched only circuit. Great products!!

[CA Stu]

Originally Posted by Shov3BR

Yes, contrary to what you might read in other ADVRider threads, all switching requlators have some quiescent (no load) power drain.
TAPP Lite draws 8mA (.008A) which isn't much so unless your bike sits for a long time, it won't drain the battery.
TAPP 2.1A with its MOSFET switcher draws a whopping 35mA and will kick the snot out of all but the biggest touring bike batteries in a few days. We recommend connecting the TAPP 2.1A family of USB power ports to a switched circuit like an accessory or taillight circuit. We provide one of those triple-trick PosiTaps to make the connection very easy.
Hope this helps.
-Shov

Sure does, thanks!

Great product, I own 4 of them, but I had 2 dead batteries and had to ask...

Will re-wire them to switched hot wires, much grass!

Thanks
CA Stu

[Kainic]

Originally Posted by bikyto

I have my TAPP Lite hooked up to a fuzeblock FZ1 on a switched only circuit. Great products!!

Not sure what I did wrong. I hooked up my TAPP to my fuzeblock and it doesn't seem to work?

[Shov3BR]

Originally Posted by Kainic

Not sure what I did wrong. I hooked up my TAPP to my fuzeblock and it doesn't seem to work?

The most common problem is reversed polarity. TAPP is protected against reversed polarity. It won't hurt the TAPP it just won't work. Is it located where you can temporarily connect it directly to the battery to see if it works? If that doesn't help send us an email (address on "support" tab of webpage) & we'll see what we can sort out.

[dwrads]

Originally Posted by Shov3BR

Yes, contrary to what you might read in other ADVRider threads, all switching requlators have some quiescent (no load) power drain.
TAPP Lite draws 8mA (.008A) which isn't much so unless your bike sits for a long time, it won't drain the battery.
TAPP 2.1A with its MOSFET switcher draws a whopping 35mA and will kick the snot out of all but the biggest touring bike batteries in a few days. We recommend connecting the TAPP 2.1A family of USB power ports to a switched circuit like an accessory or taillight circuit. We provide one of those triple-trick PosiTaps to make the connection very easy.
Hope this helps.
-Shov

Hi in the interest of keeping it simple, and avoiding the inherent power drain with the TAPP 2.1, would it make sense to put a small water proof switch right behind the USB head?

I need to put one of these on my 500 exc.

DW

[Kainic]

Originally Posted by Shov3BR

The most common problem is reversed polarity. TAPP is protected against reversed polarity. It won't hurt the TAPP it just won't work. Is it located where you can temporarily connect it directly to the battery to see if it works? If that doesn't help send us an email (address on "support" tab of webpage) & we'll see what we can sort out.

I am sure I screwed it up. I cut off the terminals and using red to switched (+) and black to (-).

[Shov3BR]

Originally Posted by dwrads

Hi in the interest of keeping it simple, and avoiding the inherent power drain with the TAPP 2.1, would it make sense to put a small water proof switch right behind the USB head?

I need to put one of these on my 500 exc.

DW

Tapping (no pun inteneded) into a switched circuit like the taillight circuit is easier. We now supply one of those cool PosiTaps in each kit to make it easy. If you have an older kit that doesn't have a PosiTap let me know & we'll get one in the mail to you.

That said, I did put a switch on the TAPP that powers my SPOT tracker on my 990 so it wouldn't turn off when shut down for fueling. I only shut it off at night or when the bike is going to sit for a while.
I have a second TAPP (I get them for free) that is wired into ACC2 so it turns off with the ignitiion.

[Shov3BR]

Originally Posted by Kainic

I am sure I screwed it up. I cut off the terminals and using red to switched (+) and black to (-).

That's all good. Something else is going on here. Have you checked your source circuit to be sure it has power? If so, check on the far side of the fuse (TAPP side) to be sure you have power there.

[dwrads]

Originally Posted by Shov3BR

Tapping (no pun inteneded) into a switched circuit like the taillight circuit is easier. We now supply one of those cool PosiTaps in each kit to make it easy. If you have an older kit that doesn't have a PosiTap let me know & we'll get one in the mail to you.

That said, I did put a switch on the TAPP that powers my SPOT tracker on my 990 so it wouldn't turn off when shut down for fueling. I only shut it off at night or when the bike is going to sit for a while.
I have a second TAPP (I get them for free) that is wired into ACC2 so it turns off with the ignitiion.

Hi Shov, yes I would want to have a way to charge device's when the bike is off. It seemed like an easy way to switch off the power drain when the bike is sitting for days or a couple of weeks would be cool.

At this point I don't have anything, but I will need to get some sort of USB charging point set up on my bike. I'll probably just get a low voltage TAPP, but would prefer to have the TAPP 2, just want some way to deal with the power drain issue on my small single cylinder moto's battery. So I was just curious what you thought about a switch.

Thanks for your response.

DW