Hi all, Does anyone know of a good bike/car electrician in the Greater London/Surrey/Kent region who won't charge a fortune to hard wire a TomTom Rider into the ignition/lights, don't want to run it directly to the battery for obvious reasons and I don't feel comfortable doing it myself. I know my local Triumph Dealer could do it but need to save a few quid... Appreciate any assistance. Cheers. GAJA
can i ask why you don't want it direct to the battery? I only ask as I have mine wired there. What part of London are you in?
Hi, sure, it will drain the battery! I want it to switch on when I turn the ignition on. I am Purley based but don't mind a ride out to get the job done. Cheers.
Oh OK. I take mine off whenever I leave the bike so hopefully won't draw anything then. cant really help on the mechanic front although Ive heard these guys have good reports
I believe the tom-tom 410 has an active dock so if connected directly to the battery it's constantly on. Thanks for the link to the garage, but I think I need to find a place further out around the Croydon area...
Do you know if your bike has an accessory plug? My new Speed Triple is made with a plug ready and waiting for an accessory socket to be attached, but I will be simply popping a couple of spade connectors on the Tomtom lead and plugging these in the socket rather than fitting an accessory socket.
Sorry for the hijack but where is this plug? I'm also trying to hook up a tomtom 410. Is it the same plug the heated grips use? Cause in that case i already used mine :-D
Hmm i just lifted the tank but i didn't find a plug there :-( My dealership installed the grips for me so im not sure what they did or how.
Yeah i just found it, took me a while but im routing the power cable as we speak :-D Edit : Well here is an interesting twist, the connector seems to NOT be wired in with the ignition. Does anyone know if the draw from the tomtom dock is substantial enough to warrant a switch of some kind?
I have been searching and haven't really found much info, but what I can gather is, if it does its not much but the main concern for having it live is water damage to the connectors.
Who would believe that Triumph would add an accessory socket that is not switched with the ignition. I believe it has an active (read live) dock, so maybe even if the sat nav is removed there is a draw of some sort. I wouldn't be happy purely for the case of if I fit the sat nav in the garage the day before I ride, or even keep it on the bike, then there will be a continuous draw if the feed is not switched with the ignition, and the battery is likely to go flat. I just found the following on the TomTom forum, this is what the TomTom guy advised: "Do not connect the directly to the battery (with or without a fuse). This ruines your coppered contacts. Connect the dock to your headlight or something like that." "The constant Voltage/Current on the contacts, of the dock, reacts with the moisture in the air (and rain ofcourse). This electrolytic (good english??) process ruins the contacts and could over a long period (multiple years) also ruins the contacts on the Rider itself but that chance is low"
Actually I believe the rear light is possibly better to tap into else you need to choose between led and headlight feed
Personally i always take my gps off the bike so im not really worried about that draining the battery. Maybe i can use a multimeter to determine the drain on the battery with just the dock plugged in. Corrosion of the contacts over several years isn't really a deal breaker since getting it installed by my dealer would cost me 80-100€ and a new dock goes for 35-40€
Afternoon All - Not sure if you've solved your issue. I ended up installing one of these - http://www.nippynormans.com/f650stf650csf650gsf650-dakar/fuzeblock-switchable-fuse-panel I can now add/change my accessories to be either switched or permanently live.
Personally i decided to just keep it plugged in and keep an eye on the battery voltage. If it does become a problem i will most likely install a double circuit switch, or just unplug the cable at the dock.
I've found a local independent bike shop, going to run the bike down to them, 5 minutes away, not sure of cost yet but I can't imagine that it will be prohibitive, I think it's worth getting it wired into the lights/ignition etc so that when the bike is on, dock is connected with the Rider & I get power. Good to see other solutions... Thanks all for your help.