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Cigarette lighter style 12v adapter to connect to battery? Cigarette lighter style 12v adapter to connect to battery?
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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia




 
 
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Old 14 May 2006
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I just did this operation. Mt suggestion:
  • 12V cig adapter. I reccomend the marine type which is far more useful on a bike than a car type as it offers better environmental protection. Still, locate it out of the harshest environments (water, fuel, oil, heat, etc).
  • Locate it away from things that cause magnetic interferance, like your stator.
  • Run a red 2,5 mm² gauge wire directly off your battery. If you run it directly off the battery, then you can power stuff without having your ignition turned on (also a great idea for charging your battery, which I will get back to later). This is usually gauged for 18 Amps, which is more than enough (216 Watts). Your fuse box probably comes with a 1,5 mm² wire (15 Amp rated, or 180 Watts), so this should also suffice. Make sure that your wire is not of the one solid type, but of the type with many thin ones bundled together.
  • The juice flows out of the battery and into your socket through the (+) wire, and from your socket and iback into the battery through the black (-) wire (usually via the frame/ground).
  • Use a rubber inline fuse holder with a cap. These will ward off water, etc. Locate it close to the battery, on the red + wire, and out of the harshest environment (heat, water, petrol, etc).
  • Use a flat automotive fuse, not the spring type which will vibrate to pieces. I used a 7.5 amp, but a 5 amp will suffice, and is probably a better idea. (5 Amps x 12 Volts = 60 Watts).
  • I reccomend an inline switch close to the socket, on the red plus wire, before the socket. This way you can switch off any plugged in devices, which will keep running even when your bike is turned off if you wired straightly off the battery. I reccomend one with a built in LED light so you can easily tell if your gadgets are on or off. The ones with a light are however a bit more tricky to wire and will need some trial and error. Get a continuity tester (basicly a pen like object with a light bulb and an aligator switch and test it off the socket, as well as the switch - which will become obvious when you do). You could also use an automotive relay, connected to your ignition switch, which will turn the thing on or off, or just hook it up to any place on the bike with a continuous power feed, like your brake light. This way you don't risk leaving your bike with gadgets still turned on, draining your battery.
  • I wired my black negative (ground) directly to the battery...
  • If you wire directly off the battery, then you can put a male cigarette lighter on your battery charger/tender. Whenever you need to charge your battery, or put it on a tender, simply plug in the cigarette adapter. I also opted for this route as it was the simplest install, not requiering me to familiarise myself with the existing wiring harness. But if you are in the habit of forgetting to switch stuff off, then going the other way, ignition switched, is the way to go.
  • The switch also comes in handy when you fire up the bike as it is generally reccomended that you unplug sensitive gadgets from your cig adapter when you do this. It is said that an unclean power surge can occur when firing up the bike, screwing things up a bit. Wether this is true or not, I have noe idea.
  • Try to run your wiring where your other wires go (tried and tested). Take care to prevent chafing of wires, routing wires where they will be squeesed or bendt a lot, where they will move arround a lot, etc. Attach firmly with clips or ty-wraps.
  • Where wires run over sharp edges, such as holes in the frame, etc., make sure the edges or wires are protected by rubber. If not, vibrations will cause chafing and eventually wear through the insulator, causing a short, which usually allways happens in a place where it is difficult to detect visually.
  • When using electrical tape, stretch the hell out of it. This stuff is really good and is rated for hundreds of Volts, so no worries of using this as an insulator. You can offcourse use the heat shrink tubing which is superb, but in my opinion, too superb, making it difficult to render or modify anything you have done.
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