BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Ok, guys, a question for you electrical gurus out there, I am a halfway decent wrench but semi-literate when it comes to electrons. I just bought an XM Roady 2 (thanks to HiOSilver's post) and would like to hard wire it to the bike. I just ordered the 12v to 6v hard wired power supply

from MyRadioStore.com along with the Roady Holder mount (bolts to the clutch or brake reservoir cover).


Questions I have are 1) Where can I tap into to get power ?
Like which wire or circuit? I plan on mounting the little black box under the seat or in that space behind the tank. 2) I assume I don't need any additional hardware (relays, etc). 3) I plan on soon hard wiring my Valentine 1 as well. Will I simply be able to tap into the same place as the Roady or will I get into load issues. Will I need to buy one of those power modules with all the connections and fuses? 4) Is it easy to tell + from - ?

Thanks for any advice.

You have an AutoCom, right? I took my Roady power off the same wire from the battery that I got my AutoCom power from. Is that an option for you?

Thanks Bob, I don't have an Autocom; I don't have any audio or comm system at all.

Tony

It is real simple. Get one of these
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdet ... er=071-580

You can get it at big auto parts stores. Plug it into your heated grip circuit, which is switched power. Now you have a source of power. It could not be easier. You will not even have to take off the gas tank to do this, although you might want to remove it to hide that little power transformer you have.

Good luck. Feel free to contact me if you have questions. I live in NJ, too.

Bob - or anyone who knows the answer,

Using the heated grip circuit sounds like an excellent idea. Where is the heated grip circuit to hook into? I imagine one picks it up after its relay, but where is the relay.

Frank

The thing that I am recommending plugs in the fuse box.

You would unplug the fuse for the heated grips (forget which one that is - RTFM) and plug this device into it. There are two fuse slots on this device. One is for the heated grip circuit, so just re-use the fuse you pulled out. The other fuse slot is for the new circuit you want to create. A 3 amp fuse would probably be fine for a Roady. I believe they draw about 1 amp. The red wire that comes out of the gadget is the switched power source for the Roady.

So you do not have to splice any wires on the bike.

Does this make sense? It is hard to explain but these things are great for this type of application.

Bob - sounds like a plan. I had never heard of these Littlefuse things. I just stopped off at Autozone and grabbed the last one. Seems quite easy. The wire that comes out of the Add-a-Circuit is + so I just run the other to a ground right ?

BTW the heated grips are on Fuse # 7.

If I add the Valentine later can I just add another Add-a-Circuit to a different
fuse location ?

Thanks again

Bob - sounds like a plan. I had never heard of these Littlefuse things. I just stopped off at Autozone and grabbed the last one. Seems quite easy. The wire that comes out of the Add-a-Circuit is + so I just run the other to a ground right ?

Yes. If you are using that 12V to 6V transformer thing, the + wire on that will go to the + wire on the Littlefuse. The - wire will go to ground.

BTW the heated grips are on Fuse # 7.

Yes, that sounds right. You will need to trim a little of the foam padding on the lid of the fuse box in order to fit the Littelfuse in.

If I add the Valentine later can I just add another Add-a-Circuit to a different fuse location ?

As long as you can fit another one into the fuse box, it should be OK. Or, you can just attach the V1 to the same red wire from that same Add-a-circuit device.

Ideally, you want to solder the connection between the add-a-fuse and the power thing for the XM radio. Then you should use heat shrink tubing or electrical tape to cover the solder joint. (I learned the hard way that you put the heat shrink tubing on before you solder the wires. duh.)

You can get heat shrink tubing at Radio Shack.

If you are really anal, like I am sometimes, you should go to a marine supply store and get waterproof heat shrink tubing. It is better quality than the Radio Shack stuff.

Good luck.

I'm new to the 1150R world....just picked up a black 03 two weeks ago. Loving every minute of it! This is my first post.

Yesterday, I actually just installed the exact same XM setup you've purchased. I too am not an electrical wizard, but was able to piece together most of what I needed through searching the archices.

I used the Add-A-Circuit, but was unable to get it to work using the heated grips fuse. Tried orienting it in both directions, and with the fuse in both positions on the Add-A circuit, but had no luck. I ended up tapping into the back of the accessory socket wires on the back of the starter cover for both power and ground, to ensure that the power adapter that MyRadioStore supplied was indeed good. Once I knew it was working, disconnected the positive wire, but I kept the ground attached there, as I thought that maybe I wasn't finding a good ground position under the seat. I still couldn't get the Add-A-Circuit to work with position 7. My heated grips work, so I'm not sure what the problem was. I finally tried it instead using the Running Lights fuse (position 2, if I recall correctly), and everything worked great. Was able to get the Fuse box closed without having to trim any foam. Set up the auto-on feature on the Roady2, and it comes on automatically when connected.

Make sure that you push the power adapter far enough under the tank so the seat doesn't hit it when you replace it - I put it too close and had to remount it.

I also added the Radio Shack inline volume control to the end of the headphone extension, I ran along the left side of the tank and exits between the seat/tank. It definitley makes it easier to adjust the volume. The only problem I have is that it keeps slipping between the tank and the seat when I disconnect, so I need to figure out a better way to keep the end handy.

Good luck

Andy

Bob - thanks to your tip re: the Add-a-Circuit it took me no time at all to get the Roady hooked up in a very professional looking manner. I plugged it into #7 fuse slot using a supplied 3A fuse (the Roady is rated at 1 amp). I soldered the connection and covered it with shrink wrap tubing. Ran the wire under the tank ( I did not remove it) and voila'. I tucked the 6v power supply next to the fuse box and wrapped it in a Zip loc sandwich bag.

For a ground I wrapped some bare wire under a large unpainted nut under the seat and tightened it down.

Piece of cake.

Thanks again.

Guest (and Tony, I forgot to tell you this)

The add-a-circuit should point to the left (clutch) side of the bike and the wire comes out the back. Not sure why your did not work but glad everything worked out in the end.

Great info guys. I am looking to add the Zumo 550 that has XM and blue tooth for the radar, and I have an extra Escort 8500 X50 laying around (replaced with the V1 for my car) so i wanted to hardwire them both in. I am by no means an electrical wizard, but I like the looks of the piece that simply replaces the fuse for the heated hand grips.

Is there a special kit that needs to be purchased to hardwire the Garmin Zumo? I am familiar with the radar detector hard wire cords but not for GPS... Looked at ebay and it seemed as though they come with just a black and red wire on the end to be hardwired as opposed to a metal piece to slip into the "Add-a Circuit" device... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

TonyT607 wrote:If I add the Valentine later can I just add another Add-a-Circuit to a different
fuse location ?

Thanks again

those add-a-circuits only are minimally useful in that they take up space on the fuse block, You run out of space to add things.

More than one, or maybe two and probably better to add an accessory fuse panel for all your farkles. Like the Centech

John

Can I connect directly into an existing fuse and have the radar share it?

Dr. Strangelove wrote:

TonyT607 wrote:If I add the Valentine later can I just add another Add-a-Circuit to a different
fuse location ?

Thanks again

those add-a-circuits only are minimally useful in that they take up space on the fuse block, You run out of space to add things.

More than one, or maybe two and probably better to add an accessory fuse panel for all your farkles. Like the Centech

John

Yes, that is very true. In hindsight, four years later, it would have been better if I had used a fuse block for all the gadgets and lights I added to my bike.