Electrical Question ....Will this work ???

J

johnybrando

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2016
Location
NSW South Coast , Australia
Bikes
1050 Speed Triple, Z-1, Big Singles
Hi guy's first time on this Tech forum , so please bear with me as I'm a Boofhead when it comes electric's ...I muddle through in pathetic fashion, so i tend to ask what appears to be very dumb questions . I'm off in Nov for 4 weeks to ride Northern Vietnam on my own ...I'm gunna hire or buy an XL125 & going to use a handlebar mounted, pretty much base model Garmin GPS unit to hopefully aid in getting me from A to B. Now, I thought rather than having to charge a GPS or a Battery pack every day or that I'll hard wire this unit to the Battery ...this way I should always be OK & never get caught out by a flat battery & be able to run it for the full day without every day having to worry about recharging . I have found on FleaBay a combined Waterproof Motorcycle Handlebar mounted "12 volt" Cigarette lighter & USB power take of unit . So I thought Mmmmmm the GPS runs on 5 Volts so although the cigarette lighter might not work with a 6 volt supply ( maybe it would ???what do you think ? ) .......but MUCH more importantly, will the GPS work & be OK to run as normal ???:kboom I figured it would as there must be some sort of in built Voltage regulator / adapter as it has to be stepped down from 12volts to 5 volts to work anyway ! but I'm only guessing really .....so can any one please give some sort definative answer on this . It just seems a great way to go if it's possible. The unit comes already wired with 2 Twin core cable =1.5 meters long and which incorporates an inline 2 amp fuse ...the GPS draws 1 amp apparantly. What do you think :confused:??????? I appreciate you help .
 
As far as I know the battery/power system of a KLX is 12V, so the cigarette lighter/USB combo will work.

Most Garmins come with a cable for use in the car, cigarette lighter type male connector that converts the 12V to the suitable voltage for the Garmin, so this should not be an issue apart from not being very waterproof.

If you do not have that car cable you may consider using the USB socket to charge your Garmin, that should work too.
You can also buy a cigarette lighter adapter that offer 1 or 2 USB sockets, so in fact you could charge some other goodies on the go too.

You could try it first on a 12V battery at home before travelling off in November?

If you have a 6V battery system on a bike, it will be a pretty old bike?
The USB system probably will work but the cigarette light not, again try it out with a 6V battery.
 
You mean one of these?

4hzc7Ec.jpg


Wire it straight to the battery.
I ran a GPS through the 12V & charged my phone via the USB without problems every day
 
brake034 said:
As far as I know the battery/power system of a KLX is 12V, so the cigarette lighter/USB combo will work.

Most Garmins come with a cable for use in the car, cigarette lighter type male connector that converts the 12V to the suitable voltage for the Garmin, so this should not be an issue apart from not being very waterproof.

If you do not have that car cable you may consider using the USB socket to charge your Garmin, that should work too.
You can also buy a cigarette lighter adapter that offer 1 or 2 USB sockets, so in fact you could charge some other goodies on the go too.

You could try it first on a 12V battery at home before travelling off in November?

If you have a 6V battery system on a bike, it will be a pretty old bike?
The USB system probably will work but the cigarette light not, again try it out with a 6V battery.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply....I really appreciate that but I think you missed some/alot of what I wrote ! It is actually a XL 125 Honda ........ NOT a KLX Kawasaki ???? It has a 6 volt system......... NOT a 12 volt system . Please would you re-read my post & you'll see where I'm coming from. Thanks again . Johny Brando.
 
Pounce said:
You mean one of these?

4hzc7Ec.jpg


Wire it straight to the battery.
I ran a GPS through the 12V & charged my phone via the USB without problems every day
Click to expand...

HI, THAT'S EXACTLY IT ...THE SAME ONE !!!!! BUT LIKE I SAID I'M GUNNA BE USING THIS ON A 6 VOLT HONDA XL-125 .....NOT A 12 VOLT SYSTEM . THIS WHY I POSTED THE THREAD...... TO ASK IF IT WILL BE OK ON A 6 VOLT SYSTEM ? CHEERS.
 
No need to shout dude, I'm right here. :o
Your charging cord for the GPS will have the voltage reducer bit in it, so I'd say you're OK.
 
If you dont want to be hassled with wiring a kit to your hire bike, get a clip on ram mount for the Nuvi it has its own battery that should be good for several hours, but to be safe get a portable power brick (phone sized) and you should be able to run your Nuvi through that all day long and then some.....
 
johnybrando said:
I really appreciate that but I think you missed some/alot of what I wrote ! It is actually a XL 125 Honda ........ NOT a KLX Kawasaki ???? It has a 6 volt system......... NOT a 12 volt system.
Click to expand...
Indeed I have no idea how I could have read KLX :yawning but I did, so sorry.
Still you can try it out at home with a 6V battery like this one: http://www.traffic-shop.be/en/block-battery-4r25-6v-star.html
They are cheap and allow pretty easy testing of your set up at the comfort of home.
 
bsacbob said:
If you dont want to be hassled with wiring a kit to your hire bike, get a clip on ram mount for the Nuvi it has its own battery that should be good for several hours, but to be safe get a portable power brick (phone sized) and you should be able to run your Nuvi through that all day long and then some.....
Click to expand...


Update: Forget that idea, just tried it with my old Nuvi and it puts it into USB computer mode, but at least its charging the unit.

2016-05-04 16.14.27.jpg
 
USB cables are usually data only & you can't use them for charging while in GPS mode (unless you can find one specified for that)
Garmin don't even sell them, they only sell the 12V option
 
Regulators usually needs a bigger difference than 1 volt between input and output voltage to operate properly. Some 12v USB chargers may work on 6v others will not.

If you have access to an electronics store you can do what this guy did:
http://www.ply33.com/Repair/cellphone
 
It works only if you build your own cable .

If you take a close look then you see that the standart size USB Port on Computers is 4 Pins while the Mini USB Port on Garmin GPS or Cameras is 5 Pin .

With the 5te Pin some Companys like Garmin do a selection as what the Cable work . 5te Pin to Ground or to plus 5 V .
Some even put a resistor in the Mini USB Plug and the resistance from pin 5 to ground select the function of the Cable .

Problem is , the Mini USB Plug is factory made sealed and i never see any to buy lose and solder it to a cable by yourself .

The only way i know to get a cable from standart 4 Pin USB Plug to Mini USB for charging a Garmin from a USB Motorbike Charger
while in routing mode is to cut the Mini USB Plug from a Garmin Charger and solder the Wires with the wires on a Standart USB Plug .

A good Motorbike USB Charger should deliver the 5 V , 6 or 12 V system should not matter, and with the selfmade cable the GPS stay
in routing mode while charging .
 
Re 'computer mode'.
My old 710 would go into PC mode unless I was using the genuine 'Garmin' charger but I Googled it and there is a 'plug in - wait - unplug -turn off' kind of sequence that restores navigation. Can't remember the details but the info is 'out there', I tried it and it worked. My later 13-whatever just takes a while to realise nothing is talking to it then goes back into nav mode.24112013037.jpg24112013038.jpg
 
Thanks Gnasher I appreciate that & I'll look into it a bit deeper. BTW I used to luv The Beano I grew with that ! Then moved onto Viz ..............." so funny !" Cheers.
 
Thanks for the reply.....I'm learning all the time.... as I thought I might be able to just plug the GPS directly into the USB power port of this Cigarette lighter & USB mounted unit that you have, and it would then run the GPS & I didn,t then need have to get it charged every day. I thought the Cigarette lighter side might not work as a supply side, this due to the bike being a 6 volt system I think ! I didn't realise though that the GPS would not work properly off the USB side i.e. will not work in GPS mode ( maybe it would still charge the GPS unit though .) Even the GPS only need 5 volts to work it seems I really need bike with a 12 volt operating system. Thanks for your kind help though ....much appreciated.
 
Thanks for that Pounce.......seems to be a nightmare every which way ! It's the 6 volt issue seems to be the stumbling block aye ! I'm try to make it light & simple so carrying battery packs is do-able but I'd prefer to not go down that road...... as I still have to recharge them somehow .
 
Thanks Gnasher....I appreciate your help & I have had a look at all 4 links. You say "Have Fun" haha !!!!! .............r u serious mate ? this is a nightmare. I think I'll go back to trying to split an Atom with a Knife & Fork ...it's easier than trying use a Garmin haha. Cheers Bud.
 
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