Skip to main content

TomTom 410 fitted - again!

One of the problems with the lazy-boy set up is the need to maintain a loop at the front that allows the 'bars to be turned left and right to full lock. (https://rocket3man.blogspot.com/2018/06/tomtom-410.html)

With a cable coming up from around my left ankle to the headstock, it needs to leeway as the unit is mounted quite high up on the left bar. On the old setup it was easy to keep a loop that worked. The new cable seems more limp and keeping a loop seems much more difficult.

So I need an alternative. Hard wring the cable into one of the connectors under the tank might solve the power problem and also ensure that power was only available when the ignition was on, but doesn't allow for a clean removal of all but the ball.

So after a hunt around my brother, Neill, found this solution. It's handlebar mounted. Available in chrome to match the bars and other stuff on Pepe. But...... How much?


As I was still gulping for air he found a more reasonable option, https://tinyurl.com/ybmbkyyh, with postage it comes out at £12. I ordered one.

There is an option that connects straight to the battery for a few pence less but I opted for this one as a stop gap. It needs to be carefully threaded through from handlebar, where I can cable tie the socket, under the tank to the power socket.  At some later date I can get it connected under the tank. Until then, I will have to remember to unplug it when the bike is left as the socket in live all the time.

I don't want to cut the TomTom OEM lead as they aren't cheap, or at least until it is all sorted and working. In the short term just coil it and cable tie it.

Update 16/6/2018

The Towzatronics cable arrived pretty quickly and I put it on today.

At first I thought a metre wouldn't be long enough but it is. I have slid it into the gap between the tank and the air filter as I had done before with the TomTom OEM cable.

The socket end pops out with sufficient length to allow full left and right steering lock. I had hoped to get it more central but the length wasn't there.

Instead it is cable tied to existing wiring from the left handlebar control.

The OEM cable only needs to be about 6 inches long but for now looped nicely and cable tied.

Let's see how it works before cutting...


Updated 18 June 2018

Had the full kit fitted today on the ride out to see where it will be when it is in use.  The setup seems a lot larger and more obtrusive than the old unit.






Update 23rd June 2018

Now I have a functioning power socket at the top end of the bike I thought that it could be used for other things like charging my phone.... or camera on the move.  Anything really that takes a USB.

So I bought an adaptor.  Hella DIN to USB.  It can put my phone in the tank bag and run the USB lead to it from the new socket.   Whizzo!



posted from Bloggeroid

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bikers Loft 3

The last day. After leading yesterday's run to Ypres, I decided to take a back seat, or a different place in the line of 8 bikes. And so after a repeat of the previous day's self cook breakfast we packed the bikes and headed off. Aiming for Nieuwpoort aan Zee as the first stop. The plan to follow a canal all the way there to where it meets the sea at a huge marina. I was bringing up the rear of the column and saw a sign like this one. "No Motor vehicles" After only one short section of the towpath/road. We tried to alert those ahead but Cal and I were the only two not heading past this sign. We chose to turn left across a lift bridge onto the other bank, where Nieuwpoort was signposted 15kms away. As we headed along we sounded our horns and waved at the "first wave" to no avail. Some miles further on their side came to an end. By then we were way ahead despite dropping the speed to 40. We carried onto t...
1 comment
Read more

New Battery?

The weekend showed how weak the battery has become.  Having had to use the dbPower unit on four separate occasions during the day in Belgium was the giveaway. We are in the second winter of this problem where the battery isn't strong enough to start the bike. In the summer it charges and holds that charge and although I keep the dbPower unit to hand I rarely have to use it.  But in winter it barely has the power to turn the engine over. It's simply "clunk". The lights come on though and that probably doesn't help. So what to do? Being a fair weather biker nowadays I won't be using the bike that often until the new year. Do I get a new battery sooner rather than later? It might end up freezing away in the garage. I have a garage in a block away from the house with no power, so a trickle charger is no use either. I have been looking at a replacement though.  A  Motobatt  with a high cranking power should be around £75. So unlikel...
2 comments
Read more