GPS v's Bike battery

[Ca_smith78]

Qucik question

I have a Street Pilot 3 connected directly to my 1100GS battery. I am a bit worried about having the GPS on without the bike running

How long would it be before the bike battery dies with the GPS on, and does it matter if I start the bike with the GPS drawing power from the bike's battery?

Or am I worrying bout' noting

Any help appreciated

Smithy

 

[komatias]

errr around 5 day? (if my calcs are correct)

 

[PanEuropean]

Smithy:

The electrical draw of the GPS is negligible, so far as day to day use of the motorcycle is concerned. In other words, as long as you don't leave the GPSR turned on overnight, it's not going to make any noticeable draw at all on the battery.

You also don't need to worry about starting the moto while the GPSR is connected and turned on. I used a SP III that was hooked up to switched motorcycle power for two years, it never had any problems.

However, having said all that, you might want to consider hooking up your SP III power lead to a source of power that is switched on and off with the motorcycle ignition. If you do things that way, you eliminate any worries you may have about battery drain, and you also eliminate the 1000 to 1 shot that the GPSR power lead might short out on you sometime due to water, getting rubbed against the handlebar, etc. In principle, I don't like the idea of any accessory power lead that is hooked directly to the hot battery bus. When I turn that key off, I like to know that everything gets turned off.

Michael