660 fitment/wiring advice- please

[YellowRS]

Hi All,

Fairly new so sorry if already been covered

I have just ordered a Zumo 660 and would like to draw on your experience.
I have a 2007 GSA:-

1/Where best to mount the gps and do you have any photos of it insitu??

2/ I believe it should be wired directly to the battery, is this best and what route does the wiring take and what do I need to dismantle to achieve it?

Appologies if a bit basic but any help much appreiciated

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Yonkyo]

Hello fella

Have a look through this thread. lots of info on mounting and wiring.
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186010&highlight=zumo

 

[ECILOP]

2/ I believe it should be wired directly to the battery, is this best and what route does the wiring take and what do I need to dismantle to achieve it?
Many thanks in advance.

Hello everyone,

I'm looking at purchasing an R1200GSA and already own a zumo 660.

Like the poster above, I would also like to know if the 660 can be wired straight to the battery. The other posts do not seem to address this question. I appreciate that you can get a canbus plug, etc., but personally, I would rather wire it straight to the battery using Garmin's own fused lead... Can this be done without affecting the BMW's clever computer?

Unless I am at work (with the luxury of secure parking) I never leave the 660 attached to my current bike when it is unattended and in that case it is switched off (the motorcycle mount recognises it has been deliberately switched off and so does not charge the 660).

My plan was to use the neat chrome bracket that BMW supply with their own brand version of the 660 and attach my one to that. This way I can also access the sockets on the 660 (in conjunction with an Autocom set-up) but don't need to use the RAM mount. The whole unit will be 'permanantly' mounted to the BMW and there is no need for an expensive Touratech mount.

So, my question is: has anyone wired their zumo directly to the battery, and if so, have you encountered any issues?

Thank you in anticipation...

 

[Yonkyo]

I not sure about any issues with wiring the 660 directly to the battery. However,
The 660 will not power on/off with the ignition, and you will have to remove the 660 from the cradle when the bike is parked, as it may continue to draw power from the battery.

Hi ECILOP, and welcome to the forum BTW

 

[casperfelix]

I've wired it straight to the battery using the fused lead that comes with it. The headphone socket pokes out by the left hand fuel injector and I mount it on the windscreen brace. All seems to work jolly well. When laid up over winter I take the fuse out - this decreases the degradation of the positive contact (or something like that) I'm told.

Hello everyone,

I'm looking at purchasing an R1200GSA and already own a zumo 660.

Like the poster above, I would also like to know if the 660 can be wired straight to the battery. The other posts do not seem to address this question. I appreciate that you can get a canbus plug, etc., but personally, I would rather wire it straight to the battery using Garmin's own fused lead... Can this be done without affecting the BMW's clever computer?

Unless I am at work (with the luxury of secure parking) I never leave the 660 attached to my current bike when it is unattended and in that case it is switched off (the motorcycle mount recognises it has been deliberately switched off and so does not charge the 660).

My plan was to use the neat chrome bracket that BMW supply with their own brand version of the 660 and attach my one to that. This way I can also access the sockets on the 660 (in conjunction with an Autocom set-up) but don't need to use the RAM mount. The whole unit will be 'permanantly' mounted to the BMW and there is no need for an expensive Touratech mount.

So, my question is: has anyone wired their zumo directly to the battery, and if so, have you encountered any issues?

Thank you in anticipation...

 

[ECILOP]

Thank you all for the advice which is very helpful, and for welcoming me to the forum.

 

[Schtum]

My plan was to use the neat chrome bracket that BMW supply with their own brand version of the 660 and attach my one to that. This way I can also access the sockets on the 660 (in conjunction with an Autocom set-up) but don't need to use the RAM mount. The whole unit will be 'permanantly' mounted to the BMW and there is no need for an expensive Touratech mount.

I think there might be a bit of misconception here. The Navigator IV (the BMW version of the 660) comes with a cradle which doesn't allow access to the 3.5mm headphone jack or the MCX GPS antenna socket because the buttons on the left hand side block these.

There was certianly no "chrome bracket", neat or otherwise, supplied with my Nav IV. In fact, where the Zumo 660 comes with RAM mount parts, no mounting hardware is supplied with the Nav IV.

HTH

 

[ECILOP]

Schtum,

I was looking at a BMW Navigator in a dealership yesterday that had been mounted on the top rail of the windshield brace on a brand new R1200GSA. I appreciate that the Navigator mount/cradle precludes the use of the sockets on the side of the zumo, and that is one reason why I don't want to go down that route.

The zumo I already own is perfectly good, and also has the extra maps for the USA that I need, so I have both USA and Europe maps. The chrome clamp (I am only going by what I was told by the dealer, and I am new here so am no expert) was a BMW part - sorry I don't know the number - that may well have to be ordered as an extra, I don't know. The clamp has four 1/2" long plastic spacers/isolators (or that is what they appear to be) that connect through to the back of the Navigator cradle which has identical spacing to the standard zumo 660. Therefore it will fit. In fact, the Navigator cradle appears to be the same as a standard zumo 660, but of course has a larger overall footprint to allow for the buttons on the side. If you compare the two side by side, you will see what I mean.

Unfortunately, I did not take pictures so cannot show you what I saw, but the salesman told me that the bracket is available seperately if I speak to the parts department.

Garmin's own lead looked more substantial to me when compared to the BMW specific version, and it also has the option to plug in other components (whether I do that or not is a seperate issue). I don't really want or need my zumo to switch on and off with the ignition because I will either switch it off manually, or simply remove it from the mounting completely.

I previously had a 550 and had to remove the whole mounting from the bike every time I stopped for gas/petrol, food, etc., for fear of theft, and so feel that for me, using the "BMW" chromed clamp part in conjunction with Garmin's standard mount is the best solution. In fact, this is similar to what I have on my current machine. It is wired straight back to the battery and I have never had a flat battery due to current drain.

Not knowing how the BMW system works, I was led to believe that if you connect something straight to the battery, somehow the system detects a current drain and that this can cause problems. This may be totally wrong, but that was another reason for asking on the forum!

Thanks again for the help and advice.

 

[Schtum]

I'm guessing that this is the BMW mount that you're referring to -

Part # 71 60 7 699 082

There are other options such as the Alder Enterprises GPS mount -

http://www.motorradonline.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=36&products_id=111

 

[ECILOP]

That is exactly it! The Alder Enterprises mount looks interesting too. I am still going with wiring straight to the battery, but will do some more research on the mounts.

 

[Schtum]

Personally, I'd just buy the cable from Nippy Norman so that I could plug the GPS into the dedicated plug on the bike -

http://www.nippynormans.com/product...zumo-660-into-the-bmw-harness-gar-canbuszu660

Owning a Navigator IV and being able to simply plug it into the bike and remove it easily when I want to use it on a rental bike in the US has been very helpful.

 

[wknight]

I usually wire my Garmin directly into the battery and I have never had any problems with this method.

 

[buncobooth]

I used the BMW Mount shown above with the Canbus plug, only cos I am a noddy and didn't want to mess around wiring it to the battery. The mount looks a bit flimsy but has been fine, as long as you check that the unit is firmly clicked into the mount, otherwise you watch it in slo mo bouncing down the forks and onto the road !!

 

[Andy B]

I have just wired a 660 to the socket hidden against the headstock on a 1200 and it was very straight forward (once I found it!). BMW put it there for that reason so why not use it?

A second option is the way North Oxford BMW wired my earlier 550 which was straight to the back of the auxillary socket below the seat.

To me, it seems essential that the Zumo turns on/off with the ignition. That's the way I've had it for about 6 years and IMHO it seems common sense. The battery in the Zumo gives you upwards of 5 hours if you are not powering off the bike so if you pull up anywhere and switch off it goes straight to battery power.

What could be better?!

 

[Bryn]

I usually wire my Garmin directly into the battery and I have never had any problems with this method.

My 660 is also wired directly to the battery... no issues whatsoever... I found it to be a pain when wired to a switched live, as every time the ignition was turned off, so was the zumo.... you then have to wait for it booting up

Neat mounting solution on my 1150... ram ball that replaces one of the handlebar clamp bolts.... and a short ram arm.... coupled with a TT locking cradle

 

[Andy B]

Neither my 550 wired to the aux socket or my 660 wired to the headstock turns off when I switch off and take the key out. They just go to the battery power and ask you whether you want to switch off or continue on battery power, so no rebooting to do!

 

[Bryn]

Neither my 550 wired to the aux socket or my 660 wired to the headstock turns off when I switch off and take the key out. They just go to the battery power and ask you whether you want to switch off or continue on battery power, so no rebooting to do!

Still a button to press though much easier for it just to stay on IMHO