Need help wiring up a TomTom Rider Satnav to the battery!

Freeman · 23 Apr 2015 at 20:23

I recently purchased a TomTom Rider. Great bit of kit, but I have no idea how to hook it up to my Bonneville's battery.

I initially thought I'd just connect the red to the red, and black to the black but it turns out I'd probably need to undo/unravel this which seems a bit odd (I know I'd need to strip the ends...) because the wires don't reach each terminal. Which got me thinking, should it be directly connected to the battery anyway?

I've read online and it just confuses me more. Some people say connect it to the light, some say it'll blow the Satnav and other say straight to the battery. Surely if it's meant to connect straight to the battery, TomTom would have supplied me with the necessary connectors to make it a bit easier?

I have no idea about the electrics on my bike, but here's a pic. Maybe someone can help me out a bit? I don't have any experience with this sort of thing unfortunately.

Thanks.

TallPaul_S · 23 Apr 2015 at 20:45

Fit a relay.

It's really not that hard once you understand how it works.

I have heated grips and a 12v socket on my bike powered this way.

In simple terms, a relay is a switched switch. One side of the relay has power coming from a switched live - i.e. one that is only live when the bike ignition is on. Rear light is perfect for this. The other 'end' of this goes to ground/battery negative. The other side of the relay goes to the battery positive, this side actually powers your things. The other end of this goes to the thing you want to power.

So, you need a wire from a switched live, straight to the relay.
One from the relay to ground/battery negative.

Then, one from battery positive - this will need an inline fuse
the remaining wire from the relay to your tomom.

doing it this way means your tomtom is powered directly from the battery, but is protected and won't discharge your bike if left on when the engine is turned off.

(I've actually done a little more than this, with a connector block for the power and ground so that i can power multiple things, but ignore this for now

)

wazza300 · 23 Apr 2015 at 20:46

itll be 12v so it wont blow it,but ideally you wanna put a fuse in the line,or trace your ignition +/- wires and wire it into those but but a fuse in the line just incase

ElliorR · 23 Apr 2015 at 20:49

There's a couple of schools of thought regarding wiring a sat nav to a bike. One says wire it in via a switched live, as it appears TomTom want you to do as this'll mean if you left the sat nav on the bike it won't drain your battery, and the other is, the one I use, just hook the wires straight to the battery as if I did ever leave my sat nav on the bike when I walked off, I'm sure someone will prevent it draining my battery and I'll be short one sat nav. Is there a fuse in that loom?

If it were me I'd just get that stripped down a bit and some connectors attached to the wires.

Kreeeee · 23 Apr 2015 at 21:00

Mine's just stripped down and wired directly to my battery.

I never leave my TomTom on my bike anyway so battery drain is never a concern.

Freeman · 23 Apr 2015 at 21:02

TallPaul_S said:
Fit a relay.

It's really not that hard once you understand how it works.

I have heated grips and a 12v socket on my bike powered this way.

In simple terms, a relay is a switched switch. One side of the relay has power coming from a switched live - i.e. one that is only live when the bike ignition is on. Rear light is perfect for this. The other 'end' of this goes to ground/battery negative. The other side of the relay goes to the battery positive, this side actually powers your things. The other end of this goes to the thing you want to power.

So, you need a wire from a switched live, straight to the relay.
One from the relay to ground/battery negative.

Then, one from battery positive - this will need an inline fuse
the remaining wire from the relay to your tomom.

doing it this way means your tomtom is powered directly from the battery, but is protected and won't discharge your bike if left on when the engine is turned off.

(I've actually done a little more than this, with a connector block for the power and ground so that i can power multiple things, but ignore this for now )

That all sounds good, but I'd have no idea where to put what wire. What's an inline fuse? Where do I buy them? How do I connect them?

Literally peeps the most I know about wiring is how to change a fuse in a plug.

Are there any guides I can look at? Reading seems to be no use to me because I don't understand the technical terms.

Thanks for the help so far though.

ElliorR · 23 Apr 2015 at 21:10

Here are 2 different types of inline fuse holder. Do you have anything like this in the wiring loom that came with your sat nav? If not it's possible the sat nav is fused.

Freeman · 23 Apr 2015 at 21:17

Nope. It's just two wires (first picture) straight into the satnav.

Stovepipes · 23 Apr 2015 at 22:05

Wow so that thing costs a fortune and isn't set up to make it easy to install?

When I was looking at getting a second hand unit I noticed that ultimate addons do a cable and mount for the rider which looks all set up for a simple battery connection.

Still this would be an additional £40.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/UltimateAddons-Motorcycle-Battery-Straight-Connector/dp/B0054IR2EA

Kreeeee · 23 Apr 2015 at 23:14

It's already fused.

The docking station has a fuse in it rather than the TomTom Rider itself which is a good idea and much easier to replace the fuse on.

ElliorR · 23 Apr 2015 at 23:23

Strip it back, crimp some connectors on and hardwire into the battery. You're not going to leave the sat nav on your bike so no need to worry about draining the battery.

Freeman · 24 Apr 2015 at 16:24

ElliorR said:
Strip it back, crimp some connectors on and hardwire into the battery. You're not going to leave the sat nav on your bike so no need to worry about draining the battery.

Pretty sure I'll do this. I just don't have the technical know-how for anything more complicated unfortunately.

Going to attach these bad boys http://www.halfords.com/technology/...ies/autoleads-2x-gold-battery-ring-connectors and call it a day.

TallPaul_S · 24 Apr 2015 at 16:49

Yep fair enough - if it's already fused and you're not gonna be adding anything else, just wire it direct to the battery.

Freeman · 24 Apr 2015 at 19:08

Thanks for the help by the way. Appreciated.

Danm54 · 25 Apr 2015 at 08:30

When I put a Tom Tom rider on my old bike I left it on and searching for a gps signal (in a shed) for 24 hours to see how much it drained the battery.

The difference in voltage at the battery was something like 0.1v after 24 hours.

I put a usb socket under the seat as well and charged my phone overnight. Done that for 2 weeks touring.

These really dont take that much power to run/charge and your bike battery is much bigger than the battery in the sat nav/phone.

I took the power from the supply to the front brake light switch though, its switched, fused and easier to run a cable to.

4T5 · 25 Apr 2015 at 12:50

All that **** balling about isn't necessary.

Someone sensible above said the same as I'm going to.
Just get an in-line fuse for the Red wire, Hook the in-line fuse up to the + positive off the battery & tuther end to the red wire on the SatNav.
The Black wire you can just hook straight up to the - Negative on the battery.
When you go & buy the in-line fuse buy some heat shrink tubing. Before connecting the wires slip a bit of heat shrink tubing over it & shrink it with your Mums hair dryer. Do it properly & it will be perfect & will look OEM.