Fitting and wiring a zumo, autocom and PMR to an 08 GSA

[stevekdavis]

Hi everyone,

I picked up the new bike on Saturday and am ready to fit the following to the bike and was after some advice:

1) Zumo 550
2) Autcom
3) Autocom PTT switch
4) PMR

1) I see there are some 3rd party GPS fittings and ram mounts but is there any reason I can't use the garmin supplied RAM mount and u-bolt and fit straight onto the metal hoop around the instrument cluster?

2) I've bought the BMW 3-wire cable that connects to the aux socket at the front of the bike and was going to wire this into the Zumo power lead. Am I right in thinking the socket is already fused?

3) I'm going to put the autocom unit, bluetooth dongle and PMR radio (bike powered) in the tool tray and take the power from the back of the rear aux socket. Is this likely to cause power/canbus issues? I don't plan on using anything else in the socket.

Is it possible to get a switched fusebox for the GSA? The nippy norman one with the relay says it won't work with a canbus system.

4) I need to run an audio lead (autocom earth loop filtered) and the press to talk lead from the front of the bike back to the tool tray. Where's the best place to route the cables and how much bodywork needs to be removed to route them.

Anything else I should be aware of?

thanks in advance

Steve

 

[stevekdavis]

08 GSA and 6'8" rider - screen options?

deleted

 

[trebor]

1) Personally I would either get the Migsel mount, or BMW's own mount, and place it on the upper bar of the screen. It will look a lot neater.
You could use the Ram mount but I think you may find the U bolt a bit too large and may need a bit of padding around the bar

2) Yes, the can bus is electronically fused at 5 amp. If it trips you just turn the power off and on again to reset it.
I also wired the Autocom to the same cable, this reduces the chance of ground loop interference since the power for the two devices is taken from the same point. I have not had to use ground loop filters on my installation.
It also saves having to strip back the cable at the rear socket to get power.

3) Putting Autocom unit, bluetooth dongle and PMR radio (bike powered) in the tool tray - Although they will all fit, though I think you may need to either remove the upper tray or modify it, it will be a tight squeeze. I put my Autocom where the handbook is supposed to go, using Velcro. Autocom do not recommend this location due to the fact that water running off the tank can get to it, but many do with no problems. I spent a half day riding back from Scotland in monsoon conditions recently and it was fine. Having said this, I would suggest protecting it by loosely covering it with some waterproof material tucked up under the tank panel.
The dongle and the radio can then sit comfortablely in the tool tray.

I'm not sure why the fuse box from Nippy Norman's will not work. I bought one of these automotive relays and these fuse box kits from eBay (though I've yet to fit them). To fit the relay kits you would need to have a suitable crimp tool.


4) Mine is a GS rather than a GSA, the panels on the LHS of the bike come off rather easily and I just routed the wires along with some other cables. I shouldn't think the GSA would be much different.

HTH

Bob

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

Hi everyone,

I picked up the new bike on Saturday and am ready to fit the following to the bike and was after some advice:

1) Zumo 550
2) Autcom
3) Autocom PTT switch
4) PMR

1) I see there are some 3rd party GPS fittings and ram mounts but is there any reason I can't use the garmin supplied RAM mount and u-bolt and fit straight onto the metal hoop around the instrument cluster? This is what I've done, fitted at around 10 o'clock, but as the metal bar is oval rather than round, you need an adapter from RAM. Cost very little.
2) I've bought the BMW 3-wire cable that connects to the aux socket at the front of the bike and was going to wire this into the Zumo power lead. Am I right in thinking the socket is already fused? No experience of this

3) I'm going to put the autocom unit, bluetooth dongle and PMR radio (bike powered) in the tool tray and take the power from the back of the rear aux socket. Is this likely to cause power/canbus issues? I don't plan on using anything else in the socket. No experience of this either.

Is it possible to get a switched fusebox for the GSA? The nippy norman one with the relay says it won't work with a canbus system. No experience of this.4) I need to run an audio lead (autocom earth loop filtered) and the press to talk lead from the front of the bike back to the tool tray. Where's the best place to route the cables and how much bodywork needs to be removed to route them. Removing the fuel tank is not very difficult, and you can then route the cable out of sight. However, if you remove both side panels on on eside, you can also run the cable to the battery area invisibly, with the advantage that you can remove them in two minutes. I do this, so I don't have to worry too much about the "light-fingered."
Anything else I should be aware of?

thanks in advance

Steve

See comments in red.

 

[Palerider]

For mounting the unit itself I've gone for this TT Bracket and then you can either use the BMW bracket (although these are currently on backorder) or the TT one.

The reason I went for this is that I found fixing the cradle directly to the cross bar above the clocks made the unit slightly too far away to use on the fly.

Powered it via the front canbus connector

Autocom I'm powering directly from the battery with an in-line fuse. If you're getting a number of items to be fed then a fuse block will work across the battery (NN's does one).

P

 

[stevekdavis]

I'm not sure why the fuse box from Nippy Norman's will not work. I bought one of these automotive relays and these fuse box kits from eBay (though I've yet to fit them). To fit the relay kits you would need to have a suitable crimp tool.


Bob

Hi Bob,

Thanks for responding. Where did you take the 12v switched feed from for the relay? Can this be taken from the back of the rear accessory socket and then power the fuse box (via the relay) directly from the battery?

Touratech do a kit for about £30 but they recommend you take a spur from a sidelight feed, I was wondering why they say this. http://www.touratech.com/shops/008/product_info.php?cPath=2_33_238&products_id=5082

Steve

 

[swissrob]

you can use the standard ram mount U bolt on the bar around the instrument cluster without any problems - its exactly what i have done and it works fine - i dont see any need for an adaptor just because the bar is oval shaped.

One drawback placing the unit there is that u need to lean forward to do anything and this can get annoying after a while.

 

[trebor]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for responding. Where did you take the 12v switched feed from for the relay? Can this be taken from the back of the rear accessory socket and then power the fuse box (via the relay) directly from the battery?

I haven't actually fitted the relay and fuse box yet, but when I do I was considering powering the relay from either the rear socket or the front GPS socket and feed the fuse box via the relay directly from the battery (with a fuse, of course). There is no reason I can see for not connecting it this way, the relay only draws a very small current (can't remember exactly how much but it's something like 100 or 200 mA).

Bob

 

[wilbjr21]

I haven't actually fitted the relay and fuse box yet, but when I do I was considering powering the relay from either the rear socket or the front GPS socket and feed the fuse box via the relay directly from the battery (with a fuse, of course). There is no reason I can see for not connecting it this way, the relay only draws a very small current (can't remember exactly how much but it's something like 100 or 200 mA).

Bob

Touratech recommend the sidelight circuit so that you will still be able to use the BMW battery charger through the socket.

If you connect any device to the socket (or the GPS socket) the BMW charger will not funtion correctly ie. it won't be able to switch the charge on and off with battery voltage. If you don't use this form of charger then this problem doesn't arise and power can be taken from the rear of the socket without issue.

Hope this helps

 

[stevekdavis]

Touratech recommend the sidelight circuit so that you will still be able to use the BMW battery charger through the socket.

If you connect any device to the socket (or the GPS socket) the BMW charger will not funtion correctly ie. it won't be able to switch the charge on and off with battery voltage. If you don't use this form of charger then this problem doesn't arise and power can be taken from the rear of the socket without issue.

Hope this helps

That's exactly what I was after - It's the touratech kit I've ordered (TPS15) and was wondering why they provide a bloody great long lead to run from the sidelights. As I don't intend spending more silly money on a BMW charger I should be fine running from the socket.

Thanks

Steve

 

[tustinr]

I use the standard Zumo mount as described above. Just wrapped a piece of bicycle tubing around the metal loop beforehand - have done 20K so far on pretty rough roads without a problem. Its great to be able to read the speedo on the Zumo and compare it to the speed on speedometer as the two are located next to one another. Leaning forward is not a problem. The bluetooth also works well with my Starcom intercom unit with bluetooth dongle. I mounted a second accessory socket direct from the battery next to the OEM accessory socket under the seat LHS and power the intercom unit from this socket and use the Canbus socket for the bluetooth dongle. The Zumo is also powered directly off the battery via a powerlet socket mounted next to the instrument cluster - also use this socket to charge the battery. This way no interference with Canbus which seems a little unpredictable to me. I used to get crackling on my intercom unit when it was connected to the Canbus socket.