Has anyone experienced a dead battery from

Hello, I am currently installing my Zumo 550 using a RAM mount (Need it now, cant wait for the Tourmaster). I am planning on hard wiring it to the battery for now. Be happy to post pics if anyone would like to view. LMK

Has anyone had any issues with dead batteries as a result of the hard wire......Assuming you turn off or remove the GPS from it's cradle........while leaving the FJR sit??

I ask this becasue several BMW owners experience this problem with hard wires that are not switched...

Thanks guys!! Already been a great help with links and forwards!!!

My GPS and Radar Detector are hardwired (unswitched & fused) and I've never had a problem....unless I leave them turned on for an extended amount of time (5-8 hours). Then the bike can be a bit slow when cranking.

Nope never.

B.....Battery

M.....Mighty

W.....Weak

No problems here.

Thanks for the input!!!! Routing the GPS wire now... Workin out well but the Ram mount places the GPS too close to me. I think I'll be orderin up that steering stem mount for sure.

shredder said:

Thanks for the input!!!! Routing the GPS wire now... Workin out well but the Ram mount places the GPS too close to me. I think I'll be orderin up that steering stem mount for sure.

Click to expand...

That's the best for viewing for me.

JW

Leave it on and the battery will eventually drain - I have mine wired through a switched relay that powers my BlueSeas fuse block.

Since the navigators I've had on this bike have all had batteries, cutting power gives the the opportunity to select if I want to let the unit run (on internal power) if I choose without worrying about being able to start the bike later if I forget to turn the device off.

Much safer that way.

I left my radar detector on overnight one time and had to push start the bike. Now I have it wired through a switched circuit. No reason to have the detector on when the bike is not running. The Escort must draw more current than I had expected.

OTOH, I had my GPS wired through a switched circuit and left the key on while I was playing with the GPS. Since the parking lights are on when the key is on it drained tha battery in short order leading to another push start adventure. Now the GPS is wired through a non-switched circuit. I expect that it would kill the battery if left on for several days, but I doubt a single night would do it.

There's an older thread about people running down the battery if the GPS is on battery (not switched) power. How long it takes can depend on the GPS.

As for location of the mount, mine is a Nuvi mounted on the left inner fairing at the very top. I had it over the clutch master cylinder and kept hitting it with my hand. The forward inner fairing location is out of the way, more in the line of sight, and easy to button-push.

The idle current from a GPS (Garmin 2610) wired directly to the battery is negilible based on my experience. I have always wired mine directly, for 130k on a GL1800, for more than 100k on ST1100s, and for the 8k plus I have on the feejer. Of course, I have had some batteries die, but they just died, not run down because of the GPS. I can't speak for the the BMW specific application, because it uses an "interface" device, that could very well consume some power. I have no knowledge of how the device works or whether it even consumes power. It may be just a mechanical mounting scheme with some pusbuttons...don't know.

Ed

My 2610 will make the bike unstartable if I leave it on while at work, had to jump it the one time that happened. I left it on overnight at home once, also, yet it started fine the next day. The 2610 auto-dims its display at night, so I'm sure that was a factor.

I did not wire it through a switched relay intentionally, as in my experience with computer equipment, powering off the device at its switch is not necessarily the same effect as removing the power source into the device, but probably worse, having the device switched on then supplying power is not the same has having power present and turing the device's switch on.

The Zumo 550 will charge its internal battery from your battery. Many have complained of flat bike batteries with a direct battery wired configuration. YMMV, but I personally wouldn't risk it.

Obviously, if you remove the Zumo every night or when not riding for extended periods of time, or by keeping the Zumo 550's battery fully charged all the time, and by having a BHBB (big honkin' bike battery) you may get away with it.

I ran mine through a switched source. I plan to install another switch that will 'hot wire' the zumo so that when I attempt another long distance ride I can simply leave the zumo powered up all the time.

I may be misunderstanding, but I regularly charge my gps, cell phone and ipod overnight and do not even experience a slow start, but they are not left on-just charging.

Never a problem in almost a year.