Garmin power supply

[Bart1664]

Fairly easy to measure parasitic draw. Put multimeter in series on negative side of battery set to DC amps and turn ignition off. watch reading which should drop after a short while. you can set to mA once you can see draw is low enough. if you do without any accessories conncected you will get reading for bike in manuf state, then add accessories and see. Remove fuses to isolate any problem circuit. If there is a parasitic draw, it is normally an accessory - but this doesn't mean all accessories do cause a parasitic draw, as most are fine

That sounds like science and extreme wizardry only accessible to the likes of my childhood hero Catweazle

 

[botus]

there are 3 wires to the nav plug on the GS.... I thought I'd measured things carefully and if I remember found ones an earth and the other two are strange
with the key on, engine not started the other two are dead, start the bike ones is 12v and one is 14v, key out both go to sleep after about 5 minutes.

I wired my tomtom to the earth and 12v , and it didn't work... I could measure a steady 12v no problem between things with it running but the tomotm would pretend to charge then not actually do it, and at low rev would go to sleep and sometime wake as you accelerated away again..... then it went to sleep with a flat battery 1/2km short of my destination after 7 hours riding, not bothered to swap it over yet

unless need to plot special routes any smart phone is better than either of the specialist bike ones

 

[beemerboy9]

I'm North north...well Hertfordshire to be precise.
That said, I have all the connection from the 396 including USB, Cigar lighter and clip in mount cable.
Once I get hold of that BMW part I then need to splice that to the cradle mount cable. Do I leave or remove the Garmin small in-line box that reduces the voltage from 12 to 5?

You need the voltage reducer - everything on the bike is 12V.

 

[er-minio]

Unless you like sparks.

 

[Bart1664]

You need the voltage reducer - everything on the bike is 12V.

Brilliant. Thanks for that.