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GPS on the Nine-T Thread (Merged)

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271K views 409 replies 131 participants last post by  Tooofast  
I looked for this but am having trouble finding it... could you give some more specifics as to location and appearance? Thanks!
The satnav socket is cable-tied to the frame under the tank (left hand side as you sit on bike). Mine was on the first upright frame brace as you follow the frame going diagonally back from the headstock.....







You can buy the plug from BMW and solder it onto the satnav wiring loom like I did here:

http://www.ninetowners.com/forum/bm...w-ninet-general-discussion-forum/66002-baldydaves-winter-mods-4.html#post354321

This way you don't have to gut off the stock GPS plug.

Hope this helps.
 
All good points, but the great thing about having a SatNav on the 9T is that I don't use it when I want to go and get "lost" down some country roads, but then when its time to go home, I turn on the SatNav and tell it to get me outa here! :)

SatNav IMO certainly has it's place on a motorbike, and is excellent for touring or simply digging yourself out of a hole when you haven't a clue where you are. Cool for avoiding some speed traps too.... ;) Oh and finding the nearest petrol station when your fuel light comes on...
 
Good question @Dirtmerchant and answered perfectly by @gristle

I mounted my Zumo 590 on my 2014 bike and it was easy using the repair plug and existing gps connector under the tank.

This topic has actually been quite extensively covered so I've moved it to the appropriate thread. This should give you some more pointers should you need it. Feel free to have a read through. :)
 
The touratech cable listed in this thread will work, but like a lot of BMW stuff it's expensive. I got my plug directly from BMW but as it was so long ago I can't remember the cost.

REAL OEM Show the official BMW plug, double-check with the dealer before ordering it.

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I have purchased the required plug to wire up my Garmin device to the dedicated canbus plug just below the headstock as identified in earlier posts on this thread.

My question is can I (should I) remove the in line fuse, voltage regulator etc ...i.e. cut the wire to the left of cylindrical device (not sure what that is?) and merely wire up what is the black and red wire to the correct spades in the OEM plug that I have purchased (I understand that the third spade is left blank and not used). Please see image below of my Garmin wiring loom.

Image


Regards

Dave
The large cylindrical thing is a noise supressor and it should be left in place.

Whatever you do, DO NOT cut to the left of the supressor. This will remove the voltage converter and as a result you would probably fry the GPS. The converter takes the 12V from the bike and drops it to the 5V that the GPS unit uses.

If it were me I would leave the in-line fuse in place, even though the canbus system (I think) has electronic over-current protection built-in. Play it double-safe if you like.

I would do as @sir.tooby says and just cut off the ends ends of the connectors that were originally meant to connect directly to the battery and wire them to the plug you bought and all should be well.
 
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My dealer installed a relay next to the terminals. My GPS is wired to relay. This has the effect of powering down the GPS when the ignition is switched off so as not to drain the battery.

Image



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There is a dedicated GPS socket under the fuel tank that powers down using CANBUS. No need for a relay and the wiring is very discrete. No drain to the battery after CANBUS shuts power down about a minute after the ignition is turned off. Time consuming but easy DIY job.


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Nice and neat idea for mounting on clip-ons!

Not wanting to push this thread off topic so it would be good if you started another thread about what that little dial on the steering stem is! ;)


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Thanks for your reply!
Ah, now Im worried. But lack the skills to re-wire this and Im going on a trip at the end of this week.

How fast drainging are we talking about?
Battery is fully charged and checked with the service last week. Can I have it like this a couple of months and re-wire in fall? Or will it drain the battery in a couple of days?

Will it absolutley not drain the battery if I disconnect the mount?
I can't speak from direct experience of the TomTom dock, but I do have an additional auxiliary power socket which provides 12V "cigarette lighter" socket and a 5V, USB outlet wired permanently to my bike's battery.



I'm pretty sure the 5V outlet might be drawing a very slight current from the battery, but my bike has been left for a few days without being started with no ill-effects, indeed when I hooked up my Optimate battery charger to the battery after the few days, it went straight into the maintenance cycle meaning the battery was almost fully charged.

I guess it's u to you to decide what to do, but if I was in your position I wouldn't be unduly concerned if you undock your Tom-tom after use.
 
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Oh and a Sat Nav is so out of place on RnineT. Not seen one yet that blends in or adds to the instrument cluster.
I can't argue with you on that point, sat nav is visually out of place on the 9T. However there is a positive side - I nowadays have found I've discovered so many interesting wee roads and places that I'd never have found otherwise.

Why you ask?

Well it's because I just point my bike down a few new country roads and just follow my nose and see where the bike takes me.... Never any fear of getting totally lost. When I've satsfied my wunderlust for that particular day, I just press the home button the sat nav and it gets me back to base without complaint.

Also my sense of direction can be really sh1t at times, and my map reading skills are moderate to say the least..... ;)
 
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You know the more I think about this, the more I'm convinced that I'm going to design a custom loom for the Garmin cradle. I don't need the audio connections as they'll be handled by Bluetooth. The USB connection might be useful for charging a phone I guess, but primarily I've decided to make the Sat Nav cradle easily removable so think the USB cable will either be omitted or shortened drastically...

Either way I'm going to attempt to take apart the cradle and investigate!

If I really stuff things up I can get a new one for ÂŁ35, which would smart a bit! Heck I'm going to try anyhow! ;)
 
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@BaldyDave Quick question... Do you have any pics handy of where/how you routed the excess wire under your tank? I bought a Zumo 395 for the NineT as well as the BMW Repair Plug and would like to try to do it right the first time.
It was a few years ago that I did the work and my dodgy memory seems to recall that as well as hacking the Garmin wiring loom into pieces to solder on the BMW accessory plug and cut off the audio connectors etc, I'm also fairly sure I shortened the SatNav loom length too so I didn't have a lot of wiring to tuck away. I don't think i have any photos of this but if I do I'll post them on this thread.
 
Which GPS unit is the plug on the R9T for, TomTom or Garmin?
Good question! The GPS connector on the bike isn't model specific. You have to wire it to the plug using an adapter that you can get from BMW or various other sources. There is actually a lot of discussion in a big thread in the electronics section so I've moved your post there (or here as it's already been done!) . Please have a read through this thread and you should find all the info you need. If you've still got any other questions please feel free to ask. :)
 
***EDIT***

For me the difference is that the map generally does a better job of letting me anticipate (e.g., get in the correct lane) than just voice commands.

***EDIT***
I have to say I agree with this. I tend to use my sat nav when going somewhere where I have little/no knowledge of, so its good to be able to see what to expect ahead so you can get in the right lane or navigate a complex road junction or roundabout. My satnav also doubles as a music player and has tyre pressure monitoring capability so it makes sense to have the satnav on the bike rather than tucked away in my jacket or tank bag.

Each to their own though, whatever solution works for the individual.
 
I'd get a RAM ball mount that replaces one of the handlebar clamp bolts, and then see if you can cannibalise the GPS mount that you have to fit on the RAM ball mount. I did something similar to my bike. See below for a link:

http://www.ninetowners.com/forum/bm...m/bmw-ninet-general-discussion-forum/66002-baldydaves-9t-mods-4.html#post354321

I'm not familiar with the GPS you have purchased, but I think @Captain was more referring to the point that some GPS may run off 5V supplies and rely on an adapter to step-down the voltage. Yes there are only 2 wires on a lot of GPS leads, but it might not simply be a question of getting the polarity right... :) If the step-down voltage circuitry isn't included inside the GPS itself or is hard-wired to the supply lead, make sure you include it in the install.

I'm pretty sure someone on this very forum connected a 5V GPS to the 12V accessory socket without any adapter with unfortunate and expensive results - one barbequed GPS!
 
Thanks guys -- one final question: does anyone know which of the pins on the BMW plug is the positive? Is there an easy way to tell? Or from the wires leading to the plug on the bike?


Thanks again for all the help everyone.
David
To be honest I can't remember! However I worked it out with a Multimeter, perhaps you could do the same? I haven't read through this thread, is there no answer to this there?