» Cigarette Power Adapter for Rider 2? Options

[bluesei2]

I am new to the forum having just purchased a Rider 2 for use on my Harley. It is great to have a community of TomTom users to converse with. The Rider package included a cable connection to directly connect to the motorcycle battery, however I have a Harley Road Glide with a cigarette lighter and I would prefer to power it that way. It doesn't appear that TomTom makes a coiled cable cigarette lighter adapter.

Does anyone know of an alternative and/or has anyone rigged one up and used it successfully?

thanks,

Blue

[Andy_P]

Hi and welcome!

Don't worry about it, but I've moved your topic to a more likely place (rather than the maps section). Take your time to look around and find all the sections for software, hardware, POIs, maps etc. and don't be afraid to ask anything and make mistakes. We're here to help.

Anyway, back to the question...

Although I'm not experienced with the Rider models, every other TomTom works off 5 Volts, and the cigarette lighter "lead" actually has a voltage regulator built into the cigarette lighter plug to reduce the car battery 12 volts down to 5.

I believe I'm right in thinking that the for the Rider it is the mounting shoe that contains the voltage regulator, so the battery cable supplied is just a simple cable.
But to use that connection and mount, you MUST use the cable in some way (even if it is coiled up and hidden, and connected to another extension cable).

From the drawings in the manual, I see the cable has a pair of bare ends, intended to connect directly to the battery wiring system, so there's no reason why you couldn't add a normal cigarette lighter plug to that end of the cable (you can buy them from Maplins or Halfords for a pound or so. They normally need the connections to be soldered though.

Alternatively, if you can still access the charging socket used by the HOME charger while the Rider is in it's mount, you could check the voltage supplied by the charger (it will be written on the label) and get a car/cigarette lighter power supply that reduces the voltage correctly and has the right plug to mate with the charging socket.

Sorry to be a bit vague. I know what you need to achieve, but I'm hampered by not actually having a Rider to look at!

[troggy]

Hi and welcome the forum.

I assume you are talking about this type of connector.

If you use the TomTom bike cradle then you have to use the supplied cable and I appreciate you may feel its easier to use the existing lighter socket, but for good reason TomTom recommend the cradle always be powered from a switched +12v supply, and I would really recommend you go along with this "wired in" arrangement. I struggle to see how having a plug and socket would be better than the wired in arrangment. When you get on/off the bike its just another thing you have to remember to do. I sometimes have trouble remembering to put my earplugs in and fasten my helmet.

I am not a fan of the standard plug-socket model as above, especially for such an accessory, as it has a basic flaw in that it requires the body to stay in place to maintain the spring contact at the end. In a car its not so bad but on a bike you may get so much vibration that the plug gets pushed out by the spring force and it intermittently loses contact. You may not notice this, the battery discharges over the trip and you suddenly start seeing the low battery symbol appearing in the display. If in the preference Battery Saving you tick the option "switch off when the external power is lost", then repeated momentary loss of contact causes the Rider to start and abort this function over and over.

If you are a bit shy of electrical matters I suggest you either
-talk to your HD dealer and ask them to advise you on where to connect in to achieve a switched +ve power supply for the cradle power cable.
-post on one of the HD web forums. Someone must have got switched power from somewhere for an accessory and will advise how to do it.

By the way, you've not added a location in your profile so where in the world are you?

Andy et al
fyi
The access door on the bottom of the Rider1 and Rider2 (used for SD card, external charging, usb connection and reset switch) is waterproofed with a nice rubber seal and is blocked from opening when in place on the cradle. Anyway, in poor weather it would not really be sensible to ride with the access door open. I have been in some pretty bad rainstorms and the Rider gets soaked and has never shown signs of water ingress.

Cheers all.

[bluesei2]

Thanks Andy for redirecting my post to the appropriate place in the forum. Yes, I am talking about the adapter you referenced. I actually did power my TomTom 510 successfully from the cigarette lighter on my Harley but wasn't too sure about the Rider 2. I did "build" a coiled cable by attaching the rider (water-proof) connector to another coiled cable cigarette lighter adapter. However, I was only able to measure 4 volts from it. Perhaps the step-down will not work with the Rider 2.

Troggy, thanks for your response. Profile-wise, I'll need to update mine but I am in the USA about 50 miles outside of Washington, DC.

I suspect your recommendation for a direct connection is probably correct - I put a question directly to TomTom about it a couple of days ago and am awaiting their response. I just wanted to see if anyone in the forum had any success with this (cigarette lighter connection) set-up.

Unfortunately, you cannot access the connections under the "door" when it is in the supplied cradle, otherwise the cigarette lighter adapter for my 510 aforementioned would work although as you suggest it wouldn't be waterproof.

I think your idea to consult the HD forum is a good one,

[Tom_in_AZ]

You might be able to insert the TomTom 510 into a Givi S850 bag if you can hang it in the center of your handle bars.

The only other way to do it is to use the supplied cable with your Rider2 and just attach it to a 12 plug that can easily be found at Radio Shack. Check this link for an idea. My only advice is to make sue that you add a hot glue, or silicone into the plug to keep the 12v plug water tight. They may also have plugs that are molded to solve the water problem as well.

Honestly though, I also agree it is best to have it hard wired in and not worry about any future shorts.
Tom