Phone Mount Not Charging When Bike On
 

Hello everyone,

I purchased a KUMEED X-Grip Clamp/Mount (Phone Holder) with USB Charging Port and have successfully installed on my bike. However, it only charges the phone when the bike is off (i.e. key is not in ignition but the KUMEED mount is turned on). When I start the bike, it stops charging…

Has anyone experienced this problem and knows of a solution? Or had a similar problem with a different brand of mount and found a solution?

Any help really appreciated!

Thanks

:oops2: You could be a bit more helpfull to those trying to help....

Link to product KUMEED Universal Rotating Motor X-Grip Clamp Mount Bike Phone Holder with USB Charging Port Black--Shenzhen xing jie xun electronics co., LTD

Has 2 wires - red for positive, black for negative.

So it is not the mount that is your problem ... beer



it is how you have connected it to the bike ...

So what bike is it ????
and how did you connect it?

The black wire should go to the battery negative .. possibly some bit of clean metal on the bike (if it is not too old a model - old one could be positive earth).

The red wire should go to some positive supply point .. where depends on what you want it to do ;
on all the time - can lead to flat bike battery
on when the bike ignition key is on
on when the bike is running

and where those wires are and what colour they are will depend on what bike it is...

The really critical question is where have you connected the two cables up to? Most people will run the black cable either to some known earth point on the bike or to the negative terminal of the battery.

The red cable would ordinarily run to the positive terminal of the battery, if you want it on regardless of the position of the ignition key. I'm assuming from your post this is what you've done. Alternatively you can find a switched live, like the positive supply to the headlight and patch into that, so it comes on when the key is turned.

What you are seeing seems counterintuitive, I know of no reason a bike should by design have a switched not - live circuit. What bike are you using? If it's a very small bike (or a big bike with an electronic problem) then you probably don't have enough electrical power to run the accessory once the other electric powered devices are drawing power. Does it come back once the engine is started?

Do you have a digital multimeter? I consider my little travel one to be essential bike maintenance equipment. If you do, measure the voltage going into your accessory in all states (ignition off, ignition on, engine on) and let us know the results.

If you are riding a big bike that's unlikely, unless it's a BMW, in which case it might be a CAMBUS thing, which I know nothing about - except that it can make installation of electrical accessories problematic.

Whatever the issue it will make logical sense, approach it logically and provide as much information as possible when asking for help and you'll get there.

How have you connected it.

And what bike ?

Hi,

Firstly, apologies. Complete lack of information in that first post!

So, to confirm, the mount is the KUMEED Universal Rotating Motor X-Grip Clamp that Warin mentioned in his post. You might have seen it on Amazon. The mount has an on/off switch so you can chose when the power is on (and also avoid draining the battery).

It is connected to a Honda CB125 Ace. Here are the specs. As you can see, it’s a small bike (125cc). However, it is in very good working order. Moreover, in answer to Arma’s question, I personally think the bike should have enough battery power to give charge when the engine is on (especially as no other electrics were turned on)

I connected it directly to the battery. Red to positive, black to negative.

My aim was for the mount to charge only when the bike engine is running (and the mount is switched on). At the moment, the mount only charges when the bike engine is not running (it doesn’t matter whether the key is in the ignition or not). However, as soon as I turn the engine on, the mount stops charging. I find this strange as no other electronics (lights, indicators) work when the engine is off. Please note, it does not make a difference whether the key is in the ignition (it only matters whether the bike enginer is running or not).

Arma mentioned patching the positive (red) wire to a positive supply within the bike (e.g. headlights). I will research this (and it might be bike specific?) but do I make the patch at the battery (i.e. where the headlight element comes into the battery). Or at another part of the bike.

I don’t have a digital multimeter and am in Northern Ghana, so getting one is unfortunately not an option. However, I may try and find someone to measure the voltage.

I hope this extra information helps. Sorry, new to biking (particularly opening up the bike) so it’s all bit alien to me.

Thanks

As there is a switch on the mount I would not bother finding a switched live to patch into.

In the absence of a multimeter just hook up a headlight bulb, or similar, to two wires and attach to the battery terminals. If the bulb is bright with the ignition on and goes dull with the engine on you know you have a bike problem. If it remains at a constant brightness, all good. If it goes substantially brighter then the generator is possibly generating too much power and your mount is realising that and switching itself off.

Both failure states are potentially problematic for the bike, long term.

Ok. That is fairly simple.

Things to think about ...

Is the connection to the battery ok? With the phone charging in the mount, engine off ... wiggle the new wires at the battery and see if the phone losses power.

Is the bikes vibration causing the phone connection to fail? Remove the phone mount from the bike - leaving the wires connected- as check (hold the phone + mount in your hands)?

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Some info ...

The phone should 'run' off the bikes charging system ...not the bikes battery. Reason; the bikes battery has a limited amount of power and will eventually go flat.

The bikes charging system should;
recharge the bikes battery to keep it charged up
provide electrical power to the rest of the bike (headlight, stop light, etc)

The phone is a very small electrical load ... will within most bikes charging system capabilities, even a 125.