GPS on TTR

[bolla]

Hi my GPS Garmin 2610 needs to be powered by using a cigarette lighter socket.
My TTR 600 does not have a battery but is it still possible to wire in a cigarette lighter socket by using a live wire from the headlight.
The TTR generator does not produce much power and if possible I would only be running the GPS with no lights switched on.
Is there a chance I could damage the GPS.

[Laromonster]

if i am not totally mistaken the TTR puts out alternating current, you may need to install a rectifier to run a GPS

[backofbeyond]

"you may need to install a rectifier to run a GPS"

Can't speak for the TTR but I did just that on an XR600 Honda a few years ago. The XR is a similar setup with ac output and I used a rectifier from Maplins to get 12v dc. From memory it cost under £5.00

My gps is an old garmin gps11. I bought a car cigarette lighter cable from ebay, worked out which wires did what and wired it via a switch and fuse to the rectifier.

The spec for the gps said it would run on anything between 8v and 16v so I thought it would cope with the bike output which peaked at 14v from the regulator.
The idea was that it would run on bike power most of the time and then swap over to the internal batteries when the voltage dropped at low revs.

In practice what happened was that the vibration quickly oxidised the battery connections so when the revs dropped it cut out. How low depended on whether the lights were on or not but generally it wouldn't work below about 2000rpm. Fine on a long run but not for stop / go town work.

A second problem was at the other end of the rev range where the wiring plug vibrated out of the back of the gps. I fixed this by putting a rubber band (cut from an old inner tube) around it.
A better mount (mine was diy) might overcome this bit and possibly the battery problem.

[aukeboss]

there's a thread down here somewhere. I asked wetherf somebody managed to install a battery instead of the standard condensor on the TTR. Somebody did and it works fine. Just a small 12 V gel battery will do, connect it to the same connections as the condensor, remove condensor of course. Depending on the capacity of the battery you should be careful with your lights.
I did not do it yet but when you remove the condensor there should be room for a small battery.
This also removes the need for batteries in the GPS.

Auke

[backofbeyond]

My mark 2 version had a small 12v battery (2aH) mounted on the rear carrier to try and overcome the problems outlined above. The battery does solve all the cutout problems and the same gps and cable are currently working ok on my CCM600.

The problem with the battery on the XR was regulating the charging current. I just took the output from the rectifier straight to the battery through a switch - switch it on to charge, off when charged.

This was the system I used on my last africa trip and it worked fine until I forgot to switch it off one day. By the time I remembered the battery had lost most of its electrolyte and I had acid stains down the rack. A more sophisticated circuit would probably have worked ok