Hard wiring a car-type Garmin Nuvi 1390 to my R100GS-Paris Dakar

Paul Rochdale

Paul Rochdale

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Now that the bike is insured, MoT'd and taxed, and I am off for a few days in Belgium on Friday I got to thinking about wiring the Garmin Nuvi 1390 (which is normally just for the car) onto the bike. No problems with mounting it as the necessary RAM Mount bits arrived this week. It'll be mounted on the handlebars and between the handlebar clamps.

But I was wondering how to provide it with electricity. It has, of course, got the BMW-type socket on the bike but I don't want to get an BMW plug/cigarette lighter adaptor and use the 3ft long curly cable I use in the car.

Speaking with Chris Tunbridge this afternoon, I could drill the 'dashboard' on the bike and fit a threaded BMW-type socket then hard wire this to the battery. But how do I get a length of cable, say 18" long with a BMW-type plug on one end and a tiny Garmin socket on the other?

What about those car-type binnacles with a BMW-type socket, a cigarette-type socket and various other sockets to charge mobile phones? Chris has one of these but it needs to be stored in his tank bag to avoid getting wet. But I will only use my yank bag on long journeys. Are their waterproof ones?

So what options are there?

As for Belgium I shall mount the GPS to the RAM Mounts and use the built-in battery of the GPS to power it as I think there is something like six hours life in it. I can probably find my way around there but a GPS would be handy for riding through Ghent.
 
I think I've worked out a tidy solution.

1. Simply use the existing car-type power cable and cut off the cigarette lighter-type plug and attach a BMW-type right angled plug and use the existing BMW socket on the bike.

2. Or drill and attach a BMW-type socket with a waterproof flap onto the binnacle (dashboard) and wire this to the battery. Then using another car-type power cable cut this to about 2ft or 2ft6in in length, add a BMW-type plug to one end.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/prod63951.html
 
OK, solved, the existing powerlead is long enough to reach the battery terminals/power socket. I'll just snip the cigarette lighter plug off and either attach a couple of terminals or get a right angled BMW(DIN) plug to go on the end. GPS installed with RAM Mounts, just waiting for the waterproof cover to protect it (or plastic bag if it fails to arrive in time).
 
Inside the plug that goes into a car lighter socket is a piece of electronics that drops the 12 volt car supply to 5 volts for the Nuvi. If I understand your wiring correctly you're going to fry the Nuvi.
 
You did understand my wiring and Chris Tunbridge also told me the same. Bloody good job I didn't chop the plug off and wire it directly to the battery (OMG!) I got from Chris a female socket and the GPS worked a treat during my few days in France/Belgium.Netherlands. However, and especially as I wear ear plugs, I must find a way of being able to hear the instructions given by the GPS (and yes, there is a thread on here somewhere about that).
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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