GPS hard-wire ON/OFF switch (finally figured it out)

[Raphy]

Hey guys... I got my hands on a used garmin motorcycle kit. The plan is to hard wire the Quest, but create an ON/OFF switch to cut the battery power.

Here's what I have...

Motorcycle Kit:



Garmin Cradle and my switch (illuminating):



Now the hard part....

I know i need to cut the garmin cord before the Y-split. (Notice the the audio portion has been cut off by the previous owner... no worries, i never use audio anyways..). Now, i need to connect the ON/OFF switch. the problem is, i have no idea how...

Here's what the switch looks like and what is says on it:



it's 12V, so i'm set... 16A... no problem... BUT

...what do i connect and where???

I thought i needed the + from the battery to the switch and + out to the GPS... but there are 3 connectors it seems... one i assuem is the the switch (it has a light)...

can someone help me out pls ? i'm just confused what to connect and where....

I suck at all this electronic stuff, but i'm wanting to try this with a little help.

THANKS !!!

[Mac]

The + is definitly the input. You have two outputs, one is for the illumination of the switch and the other goes to the device. The problem is I'm not sure which of the two is which. the A could stand for amperage, meaning its the one which carries power. The other symbol stands for ground, which is the standard for hooking the - side of a circuit, but it could also mean ground for the light.
To find out which is which you'll need a battery, a 9v would work best. Connect the + side of the battery to the + side of the switch, then hook the - side of the battery to either of the remaining posts on the switch. One of the posts should get the switch to light up. Thats the one you'll want to hook to a ground. The other one is the one you want to hook up to the garmin.
If the light lights with both poles flip the switch to the other position(on or off) and try again. It should only light with one pole then.



Now, the red with on the harness is + which goes to the + terminal of your battery. The black is ground which goes to the - side.

[Raphy]

Thanks a lot for the help. I did the 9V battery test... seems that the switch turns on when + to + in the switch and the negative from the battery to the one that's not the "A"...i guess that's ground...

so is this correct? (below)

i'm just not sure what to do about the negative going fron the switch to the gps.... Can i have two wires coming out of it... rather one negative going into the switch and one negative leaving the switch from the same terminal.. ??

[Mac]

Thanks a lot for the help. I did the 9V battery test... seems that the switch turns on when + to + in the switch and the negative from the battery to the one that's not the "A"...i guess that's ground...

so is this correct? (below)

i'm just not sure what to do about the negative going fron the switch to the gps.... Can i have two wires coming out of it... rather one negative going into the switch and one negative leaving the switch from the same terminal.. ??

Good work! looks good!
Yes, you can have the ground from the battery and the ground from the GPS going to the same terminal on the switch. It would essentially become a ground bus, which is fine and won't hurt anything.
Just so you know, it is preferrable to solder the wires to the terminals and then use heat shrink to cover the soldiered terminals. It is more difficult than crimping connectors, but is dam near bullet and corrosion proof.

[Raphy]

Mac - thanks a lot for all your help. Looks like i'll get busy tonight and put this all together... I just gotta hit the hardware store to come up with a bracket for the switch.

THanks again !  

[Raphy]

OK, here's another idea...

Maybe i'm over analizing this...

Let's assume that the Garmin Cradle has the regulator inside it and it's not in the wires or the plug... If I am right in my assumption, than I can simply unplug the wires from the cradle if i don't want the regulator drawing any battery juice... RIGHT ?  

...someone shoot me pls.    

[Mac]

The garmin unit itself should have the regulator in it. Wires are just wires and don't do much except conduct power. The cradle, unless its big and thick and it doesn't look as if it is, usually just holds the gps and allows a place to plug it in.
Thats the way my 2610 works.
Besides if you disconnect the gps, the regulator, reguardless of its location, wouldn't draw battery power due to there being an incomplete circuit. The + and the - have no way to make contact, thus current cannot flow.

[mist]

This way will work too...

I think that you should consider splicing the gps (+) into the run circuit of the ignition switch on the bike and ditching your switch. Why, because then the power to the gps will be switched by a relay. The advantage of this is that the relay coil is the first line of defense if the battery or any other part of the electrical system shorts. You really can't count on that fuse to blow fast enough to protect the gps unit under a short circuit current condition.  

[Walker]

OK, Couple of comments for you:

1) that illuminated rocker switch is NOT water proof, nor does it even look water resistant.  Therefore I wouldn't use it.

2) As far as figuring out which pole of the switch goes where:  the 16A and 12V means that the switch can safely handle 16 Amps, and 12Volts.  Ground symbol indeed means that that pole should be connected to ground.  To figure out which pole goes to the load, and which pole uses a constant +12V, I think its actually obvious, but in any case, all you need is a multi-meter.  Switch it to read Ohms, and then see which contacts give you zero Ohms of resistance when the switch is in the ON position.  I'm betting that it is the "+" and "A" poles.  The ground pole is simply to provide a ground path for the internal light bulb when it is on.

3) Why bother to use a switch at all?  (Especially one that isn't water proof!  I don't use anything other than marine rated waterproof switches on my bike, plus I really dislike illuminated switches, they are always too bright at night).  The wire harness will draw ZERO amps when unplugged from the unit, and when the unit is turned off it will also draw ZERO amps.  The only thing that I would consider is having the plug's pins corrode when not plugged into the GPS.  Maybe you can find a small cap to go over the end of the plug, or else use a piece of electrical tape or something.  The wire kit for my SP 2720 came with a cap to cover the plug.

4) I pesonally wouldn't want to wire it into a 'ignition key on' circuit.  I prefer to leave my gps on all the time when I travel... My GPS V warm up time is toooo sloooow at gas stops and other stops.  My new 2720 doesn't have internal power, but it does have a faster warm up and acquire time.  Anyway, constant power is just fine.  That way you don't run down the internal battery.  Also, that inline fuse that Garmin provides (1 amp for my V) is just fine for protecting the unit, no sweat.  However the fuse can be prone to vibrations, so you'll want to rig that so it isn't too difficult to get at and replace.

I'm actually contemplating nearly the same thing right now.  I have a new 2720 and Garmin motorcycle mount to replace my GPS V.  My bike has a waterproof cigarette lighter plug, and I've always used that to power my GPS V (except in the rain, then I'd run it off its AA batteries, because the cigarette plug is only waterproof when the cover is closed).  I liked this method because when I pulled my gps off the bike, the only thing left on the bike was the base RAM ball, no dangling wires.  Now, the cigarette power cord for the 2720 includes a speaker used for giving voice directions, and it is not waterproof, so I'm going to have to wire in the kit.  

[Raphy]

THanks for all the suggestions and replies everyone...

I came up with the simplest solution i think...

THe way my cradle and plug were designed was that when the plug was plugged in the cradle, there was a bracket (from the RAM mount) preventing it from being unplugged. So what i did was got longer nuts and a few bolts and made a bracket "extension", so now i can get my fingers in there to unplug the plug from the cradle. It's hard to explain, but it seems to work. I have the wiring connected right to the battery with no switches or anything... it does have a fuse that came with the kit.

So all in all, i think this is it for my hard-wiring issue... I will test the setup out this coming weekend on my 2-say ride through Pennsylvania  

Again, thanks to everyone for the input !

[Walker]

This way will work too...

I think that you should consider splicing the gps (+) into the run circuit of the ignition switch on the bike and ditching your switch. Why, because then the power to the gps will be switched by a relay. The advantage of this is that the relay coil is the first line of defense if the battery or any other part of the electrical system shorts. You really can't count on that fuse to blow fast enough to protect the gps unit under a short circuit current condition.  

??? Ummm... I'm not an electrical engineer, but I do know enough to know that a relay applied in this way won't protect anything... the relay coil as a line of defense?  Why wouldn't the shorted condition affecting the battery or rest of the electrical system also impact the gps connected to this system through the relay contacts before the coil loses its field and the spring opens the contacts on a fail open relay?  I'd be far more trusting of the 1 amp fuse that is in that wiring harness....

[Ant]

3) Why bother to use a switch at all?  (Especially one that isn't water proof!  I don't use anything other than marine rated waterproof switches on my bike, plus I really dislike illuminated switches, they are always too bright at night).  The wire harness will draw ZERO amps when unplugged from the unit, and when the unit is turned off it will also draw ZERO amps.  The only thing that I would consider is having the plug's pins corrode when not plugged into the GPS.  Maybe you can find a small cap to go over the end of the plug, or else use a piece of electrical tape or something.  The wire kit for my SP 2720 came with a cap to cover the plug.

This isn't necessarily true however it appears to be the case here. A lot of Garmin mounts come with the regulators in the mount, not the unit. Mine does for sure and it WILL drain the battery without a unit even connected.
From looking at



this it just doesn't look big enough to house a regulator anywhere so I have to agree with Walker that the switch is unnecessary. Obviously if there is something missing from the picture that would be fitted to the mount that may contain the regulator then this won't apply  

[Ant]

OK, here's another idea...

Maybe i'm over analizing this...

Let's assume that the Garmin Cradle has the regulator inside it and it's not in the wires or the plug... If I am right in my assumption, than I can simply unplug the wires from the cradle if i don't want the regulator drawing any battery juice... RIGHT ?  

...someone shoot me pls.    

Sorry I missed this with my first post... This is right, and I seriously doubt that the regulator is somehow magically hidden in those wires, there is just nothing big enough to hide a regulator! This means that if the unit isn't on the cradle it won't draw a single femtoamp of current (unless you short the cradle terminals but then thats your own damn fault  )

[l2bike]

Just a different take.

I have the Garmin Quest II (esentially the same as a Garmin Quest with more memory) and the motorcycle mount. I have the mount connected to an auxilliary fuse box which IS switched on via a relay to the ignition circuit.

1. I have had the setup for almost two years and no weather/water related problems. The Garmin unit's waterproofness is excellent. The mount periodically gets some dielectric grease.

2. The Quest self-contains a rechargable battery. a) If i stop and turn off the bike I have several seconds (20?) where I can press and button and get it to go into battery mode. b). if the bike is off the on/off switch will turn the unit on (battery mode) and there is a short startup time.

This is not e flame, but I do not see the value of an external switch. First, if you leave it on the unit will behave the same (either go into automatic shut down with warning or stay on and drain your battery). Second you have the added mounting and point of failure of the switch.

Raj
2004 Ducati ST3