Wiring the M50 for GPS unit

[Nick Mystic]

My wife bought me a Garmin Street Pilot C330 unit for Christmas. After trying it out in our car I decided it should work okay on my bike. I just ordered a RAM handlebar mount for the unit tonight. The suction cup windshield mount that came with it for use in the car actually mounted on both the inside of my motorcycle windshield or on my gas tank, but I was afraid the vibration might pop it loose, so I ordered the RAM mount system.

My question now is regarding wiring the unit for use on my M50. From a previous post I've gotten a number of ideas and believe I'll try to wire it to the extra set of wires I'm told are provided inside the headlight cavity. I still want to be able to use the unit in our car, so I don't want to cut off the cigarette lighter plug on the power cord that came with the unit. I was thinking of picking up a cigarette lighter plug at an auto parts store, assuming they sell them, and then wire that into the headlight and figure out some way to mount it up near the GPS unit.

Has anyone else tried this sort of setup? If so, any suggestions on where to get the cigarette lighter receptacle and how to waterproof it? Any ideas on how to mount the receptacle? Thanks for any input.

[Clint]

Have you looked for a powered cradle to go with your Ram mount? A cig socket is nice for other things, too, but can be cumbersome to mount and hide.

[Nick Mystic]

Hi Clint,
When I ordered my RAM mount I got all three parts: the mounting cradle, the 3" arm, and the handlebar u-bolt bracket. The web site said the mounting cradle was compatible with the power cord that came with the StreetPilot c330 unit.

I located a cigarette lighter socket at Auto Zone for $10.99 that is meant for mounting under a car's dash, so it is encased in plastic and has a mounting bracket of sorts. My wife is picking it up for me today on the way home from work, so I haven't actually seen the unit, just got the description from the store over the phone. It has the wires coming out of the back of the unit.

Before I knew about this Forum Topic on GPS units I made an initial posting under the Maurader/M50 section of the forum asking for advice on locating an electrical hookup point. I went back there earlier today to reread the threads and made a new posting explaining my installation plans. If you want to read that information it is on the second page. By that I mean my original posting has slid back to the second page of the forum due to new postings bumping it back since it was made.

[falcon]

Hello

I just fitted a cigerette lighter socket to my 07 M50. I used the connection in the headlight for power. and cable tied the socket under the speedo bracket. The socket is waterproof with a cover. I have a Nokia 6110 nav and didn't want to modify the plug either.
Socket is tucked up out of sight. Spent an hour trying to make a bracket fit under there lol

Hope that helps

[Nick Mystic]

I got my GPS unit up and running on the M50 yesterday. I bought a weather proof cigarette lighter receptacle from Auto Zone for $13.99. The unit comes pre-wired with leads about 18” long. For a power source I pulled the headlight out of the shell by removing the two Allen head bolts on either side. Inside the shell is a white plug with two connection slots, which is where I connected my wires after I had soldered connection tabs on both of them. Feeding the wires into the headlight shell is simple since there is a fairly large opening on the lower backside of the shell.

To mount the cigarette lighter receptacle I used a thin strip of stainless steel that measured about two and a half inches long and a half inch wide. I drilled holes in this strip of metal and fastened it to the plastic bracket that is incorporated into the cigarette lighter receptacle (the unit is made to mount under the dash of a car). I also drilled a hole in the portion of the stainless steal strip of metal that stuck out from the unit after it was attached to the back of the receptacle (about a half inch of this metal strip protruded from the receptacle) so that I could bolt it onto my bike.

To mount this unit onto my motorcycle I removed one of the bolts to the top clamp on my windshield and used that as my point of attachment. This windshield clamp fits around one of my steering tubes. You can see the location in the attached photos.

Since my RAM handlebar mounting clamp hasn’t yet arrived I used the suction cup mount that came with the GPS unit for attaching to the inside of a car’s windshield. Initially, I placed the suction cup on my gas tank off to one side and took a test ride. This worked okay and seemed to be very secure, but I could not view the GPS screen very easily in that location. I had to bend my head down at quite and angle and it caused my eyes to move too far away from the road.

When I noticed that the Garmin StreetPilot c330 unit displayed my speed in a digital readout on the screen I decided to mount the suction cup on the front of my speedometer. This worked quite well since the suction cup is just a tad smaller than the round front on the speedometer. In this location I could easily glance at the GPS unit without moving my eyes far from the road. I believe the RAM handlebar mount I’ve ordered will allow me to position my GPS unit in a similar position just off to the side of the speedometer.

One nice surprise was that I could hear the auditory directions from the unit at speeds below about 30 mph. wearing my full face helmet. As I slowed to make turns I would hear the little lady inside the GPS unit say, “Turn right in two tenths of a mile.” And then, “Turn right here.” Or, if I decided to altar my course and passed by the road the unit intended for me to turn on, “Recalculating new route.”

Since this unit is not waterproof (it’s made for use in a car) I plan to carry a plastic bag in pocket so that I can quickly cover the unit if it begins to rain unexpectedly. This should keep it dry long enough to seek shelter and remove the unit and put it inside a saddlebag. The cigarette lighter receptacle I installed has a waterproof cover that flips closed when it’s not being used, however, when the plug is in the receptacle it does not form a water tight seal and rain could seep in and short things out. Perhaps I can find a sheath of rubber from an old bicycle inner tube to slide over the connection to offer some short term protection in rain until I can unplug it and close the water tight cap.

[falcon]

Glad to see you got it fitted. Looking at your speedo in the pic and there appears to be a inner scale. Is it tacho?

[Nick Mystic]

Falcon,
My M50 is the '07 Limited Edition. This model has a white faced speedometer, as opposed to the black face speedometer on all the other M50 models. The inner dark center in the photo, that you wondered if it was a tach, is the speed in kph.

[falcon]

Thankyou for that. I havent seen a Limited Edition yet

[Nick Mystic]

Falcon,
Thanks for your idea of mounting the cigarette lighter socket under the speedometer. I took a look at things and today before I went out for a ride I moved my receptacle to where you mentioned. It was a bit of a tight fit to make sure the socket wouldn't hit anything when the handlebars were turned from the locking points in both directions, but I managed to get it mounted there. I like the positioning better since it is basically hidden and also is better protected from the weather. I've been trying to figure a way to "waterproof" the plug and socket.

My receptacle is weather tight when it's not being used since the cap folds down over the opening. However, when the plug is inserted the connection it could let water in if it got rained on. I think with the location under the speedometer it should help shelter it from rain until I can pull off under cover and unplug the unit and close the flap on the receptacle.

I'm still waiting on RAM to deliver my handlebar mounting system, but in the meantime the suction cup mount made for use in a car is working fine by placing it on the face plate of my speedometer. I put a strip of duct tape over the mounting bracket at the top so that the GPS unit can't pop out of it accidentally. I then use the power cord as an additional tether by tying it to my handlebar and then tying it around the base of the GPS mounting bracket.

[Rockhead]

Originally Posted by Nick Mystic

I put a strip of duct tape over the mounting bracket at the top so that the GPS unit can't pop out of it accidentally. I then use the power cord as an additional tether by tying it to my handlebar and then tying it around the base of the GPS mounting bracket.

Good idea to keep tape on hand, mine has to be taped otherwise it vibrates out. Also keep plenty of fuses and batteries.

[mike-s]

With Regard to connecting up the connector to the bike, may i suggest you also place a inline fuse on the positive lead as close as possible to the splice point onto the headlamp.

Personally i would set up a relay from the ignition system to switch on the headlamp and have the connector come off from that.