AUTOCOM WIRING

[Kremmen]

Hi all,
No doubt this has been asked & answered before... what is the best method for wiring in an Autocom intercom .... hard wired, or into to Aux. socket??

If the answer is hard, how many Can-bus wiring in points are there & where are they on a sept 09 GS... the one under the headlamp is already powering the nav -sat.

Regards

 

[Islandbob]

Autocom wireing

Ive wired mine direct to the battery and connected it to the Garmin with the supplied cables. Works fine and once fitted isnt a bother again. Likewise the Canbus socket under the headlamp is now occupied with powering the garmin. I guess the down side maybe that the Autocom could drain the battery if it develops a fault.

 

[AberdeenAngus]

I put mine in the tool tray and took a feed off the wires that feed the aux socket.
Just lift the tool tray out - you can easily get at the wires.

 

[freeloader]

I put mine in the tool tray and took a feed off the wires that feed the aux socket.
Just lift the tool tray out - you can easily get at the wires.

Coincidentally I asked about this very subject at my local BMW dealer today, and I asked the technician rather than someone behind a desk - take the power off the feed to the auxiliary socket, is what I was advised.

My bike isn't a 1200 any more but the same advice holds, apparently.

 

[wheelnut]

I put mine in the tool tray and took a feed off the wires that feed the aux socket.
Just lift the tool tray out - you can easily get at the wires.

Is the sensible way to do it. Take the negative straight from the battery if you want.

 

[mherkin]

I spliced into the wires behind the aux socket. That way I reckoned that if I hashed it up I could just replace that section of the wiring and the Autocom turns off after a minute or so.

 

[claw]

Is the sensible way to do it. Take the negative straight from the battery if you want.

Its recommended by autocom to always earth 'directly' to the battery and just take the positive from the aux socket connection.

 

[madmax]

Its recommended by autocom to always earth 'directly' to the battery and just take the positive from the aux socket connection.

That's the way mine is wired up, and it works perfectly.

 

[jimbo]

on my GS (1150) the aux socket is perminately live. Surely you don't want the autocom on perminately?
I'm currently wiring mine to the rear brake feed (on a different bike) as recommended by autocom.

interestingly, it looks like there was one previously fitted there at some point.

Typical places to find an ignition switched fused supply are the positive feed to the tail lights, or rear
brake light switch. Ask your bike dealer if you are not completely sure. Please note that you can split the red
and black power cable as required and cut them to length but don’t do this until you make the final
installation/connection, remember that you may need to move the system to a better location to avoid electrical
noise after testing, or perhaps someday onto another bike, so leave plenty of spare power lead neatly coiled
up and secured with a tie-wrap so that it can never fall onto the exhaust or back wheel/chain etc.
Do not connect to the brake light circuit if your bike has ABS braking and/or a brake light failure warning
system (consult your bike supplier/ manufacturer for approval before connecting to any ABS brake light
circuit or bikes that have CANbus).

OK so not as recommended by Autocom, beacuse I have ABS, but I don't think it will mind.

 

[Wapping]

on my GS (1150) the aux socket is perminately live. Surely you don't want the autocom on perminately?.

"It's progress, Jim, but not as we know it".

It ain't permanently live on the 1200.

 

[jimbo]

"It's progress, Jim, but not as we know it".

It ain't permanently live on the 1200.

so you can't plug in the trickle charger there anymore? Nor my ipod speakers when ithe garage

As you say not progress as I know it.

 

[Kremmen]

As i don't pick the unit up until Saturday,can someone who has a unit confirm if the control module has a switch?? .... because permanently wiring to the battery or indeed the Aux will as already noted render the unit permanently live..... this cannot be correct, and as Jim (not kirk) as stated previously.

Surely it must be either switched through the ignition or a separate isolation.

regards

 

[claw]

so you can't plug in the trickle charger there anymore? Nor my ipod speakers when ithe garage

As you say not progress as I know it.

yes you can, with a BMW charger it can charge through the aux socket no problems, it must use some canbus trickery

 

[Wapping]

As i don't pick the unit up until Saturday,can someone who has a unit confirm if the control module has a switch?? .... because permanently wiring to the battery or indeed the Aux will as already noted render the unit permanently live..... this cannot be correct, and as Jim (not kirk) as stated previously.

Surely it must be either switched through the ignition or a separate isolation.

regards

What on earth are you burbling about?

Unit? Control module? What's those? Do you mean the Autocom box of tricks? If so, it has no switch.

Look, it's dead easy to install; even old numbnuts himself, PH4824, managed it in the end and got shamed into writing an article how to. There are umpteen threads on it, along with a sticky on power the easy way, but:

(a) On the 1200GS / GSA the standard auxiliary socket is not permanently live, it switches on and off with the ignition. It follows that anything connected to it will switch on and off, too.

(b) Simply connect the Autocom to the auxiliary socket's supply, by splicing into the wires. Some like to go back to the battery for the negative line, which there is no harm in. The Autocom unit will draw well under 5 amps so there is no danger of it shutting down.

If you do not want to splice, get a plug and plug it into the socket, direct.

That's it job done.

If you want to be more complicated, find any other switched power supply. For instance:

(i) The rear light. Take care not use the brake light feed or the Autocom will only be powered when you put the brakes on.

(ii) The side light feed.

(iii) The spur that people use to power GPS devices, hidden away behind the headstock / oil cooler.

To name but three.

 

[Wapping]

yes you can, with a BMW charger it can charge through the aux socket no problems, it must use some canbus trickery

True.

Though sometimes they get confused if an Autocom is sitting on the supply, too.

The reason? I'm not sure. I can only guess that as the BuMW charger is sending charge back down the wires, some must leak through to the Autocom unit. This the Canbus system interprets as a drain, and shuts things down. If it happens, you can buy a gizmo fron Autocom which 'fools' the system into not 'seeing' the Autocom. Better still, buy an Optimate and avoid all the buggeration.