Total Noob-Wiring cig lighter?

So, where can I tap in to wire up a cig lighter plug? Straight to battery, or is there an accesory wire behind the headlight somewhere?

Haven't looked into this yet, been meaning to. Someone will answere shortly i'm sure.

Here's what I did. First, get yourself one of these...

http://batterytender.com/product_info.php?products_id=39

Wire the ring terminals to the battery and add the proper size fuse to the fuse holder for your power needs. Tuck the fuse holder in under your seat and run the quick disconnect plug up under the fuel tank to the left side shroud area where the AIS is mounted. Leave the quick disconnect plug hanging in this area and secure it with a tie strap. This will make it fairly accessible from under the left shroud without having to remove any body work, and also keep it out of the weather when not in use.

Now take the other end of the quick disconnect and splice your cig lighter plug onto it. Keep this little pigtail with the cig lighter in your tailbag or wherever. When you need it, just plug it into the quick disconnect under the shroud for instant power access on the trail.

Another added bonus of using the Battery Tender quick disconnect is you now have the plug already installed to the battery, so when you want to hook up your Battery Tender, you just plug it into the quick disconnect you already have under the shroud, and no need to remove plastic and seat to access the battery terminals.

Nice idea. I was looking for a versatile way to hook up my battery tender and have a hookup for my Magellan GPS and Slime Air Compressor.


Herkypilot

Excellent idea. I just now need to find a source for the connector as it's only $7.50 and they have a $25.00 min purchase. Already have a charger/tender.

Travex wrote:

Excellent idea. I just now need to find a source for the connector as it's only $7.50 and they have a $25.00 min purchase. Already have a charger/tender.

Try NAPA or any auto parts store, they all stock and handle Battery Tenders...

On my way out the door now... thanks.

I never bothered with the cig plug. I just used a two-wire plug and wired it direct into the taillight wire. I can run my vest, my mini compressor, and an aux 12V port if i need to plug in the inverter for some 110 powered things I might have. Cost me all of $3. Oh and I got a battery tender too. Good thing to have around for the toys.

Just a word of caution, I thought I would wire one up and tuck it in behind the headlight. Since I have the DRC blinkers on the bike, I would use the running light wire for a hot, BUT, when I did that I put an OHM meter to it and found resistance (or bleeding) between the hot and ground, so I just ran a wire directly to the battery.

I hooked mine directly up to the battery also. Works fine. Just make sure your negative battery post is hooked up to the pin that is exposed on the wire else you could be arcing the first time it touches metal.

Herkypilot wrote:

I hooked mine directly up to the battery also. Works fine. Just make sure your negative battery post is hooked up to the pin that is exposed on the wire else you could be arcing the first time it touches metal.

Good point. Always use the shielded female part of the plug for any HOT wires.

...and be SURE to put a fuse in the line....

SheWolf wrote:

I never bothered with the cig plug. I just used a two-wire plug and wired it direct into the taillight wire.

Exactly what I was trying to do today.
Did you find the Yamaha connector or just cut the wire and connected a dfferent 2 wire plug?

I ran from the battery, also. I put an inline fuse, ran 2 wires under the seat & tank up to the shroud, then spliced the 2 prong trailer connector into that. I use crimp style connectors, with a crimping tool. This may also be controversial, but crimp connections have been shown to be superior to soldering in studies.. don't know why, but i have changed over to crimps after a lot of soldering. Soldering isn't hard, but crimping is definitely easier & faster. No problems for me in crimping for the last few years i've been doing it, on motorcycles or electrics.

I then can connect accessories to the trailer connection. I have adapters with a cig lighter, a 6.5w solar charger, & even a laptop connector that hooks up to the trailer connection. ..like others have said, just make sure your polarities are right. I can charge my cellphone, camera, helmet cam, aa batteries, & gps from this connector. If you use a battery tender or charger, you can also connect it here. My wire isn't big enough to jump it from, but if you put in a 14 ga. or bigger wire, you could theoretically use the same wire to jump from. I have a set of wires i made for jumper cables with alligator clips (soldered!) on each end.

I've been thinking of wiring up my gps to a switched wire, so it's not on all the time. But i usually take it off the bike when through riding so i can upload the tracks. I think the unswitched connector is handier.. you can leave an accessory charging in the tank bag while at lunch or something.

I leave enough slack on the trailer connector so it reaches to the tank bag.. for waterproof connections. If i'm not using it, it just tucks behind the headlight shroud.

scotty

oldirt wrote:

Just a word of caution, I thought I would wire one up and tuck it in behind the headlight. Since I have the DRC blinkers on the bike, I would use the running light wire for a hot, BUT, when I did that I put an OHM meter to it and found resistance (or bleeding) between the hot and ground, so I just ran a wire directly to the battery.

Good advice - it's never, ever a good idea to tie into an existing current to draw power, unless you're just tapping in to trigger a relay (relays only use a fraction of an amp to switch on).

Most bikes' electrical systems are designed to save weight and $$$ by using wires that are juuust barely suitable for their intended loads - drawing more than that, especially w/ the kind of stuff we'd plug into a cig lighter, is a recipe for a blown fuse.

For my cig lighter, I picked up a weather-tight 12V outlet from an auto store for about $7 that had a spring-loaded door over it to keep it dry. I wanted to direct wire it to the battery for charging the cell phone overnight when camping (small draw).

I ran a wire from the battery's + terminal (installed a 5-amp inline fuse a few inches from the battery) to the + wire on the 12V outlet, which was zip-tied to the handlebar for a "permanent" location. For the negative wire, I installed a ring terminal on the end of the negative wire, and installed it under the front brake line brace on the left side of the frame, above the lower triple tree.

BPG wrote:

For the negative wire, I installed a ring terminal on the end of the negative wire, and installed it under the front brake line brace on the left side of the frame, above the lower triple tree.

Excuse my ignorance BPG, why that instead of running it back to the negative of the battery? is it better?

Shorter wire run, and it leaves the (-) battery terminal less cluttered. The negative terminal is grounded to the bike frame to complete its circuit - this does the same thing with the aforementioned benefits.

Almost all vehicles are negative ground - no need to run the negative wire of any accessory the whole way back to the battery if you can get a solid contact w/ the vehicle frame somewhere. Plus shorter wire runs lessen the chance of long-term problems...

BPG wrote:

Almost all vehicles are negative ground - no need to run the negative wire of any accessory the whole way back to the battery if you can get a solid contact w/ the vehicle frame somewhere. Plus shorter wire runs lessen the chance of long-term problems...

This would normally be true but be careful went dealing with anything to do with sound such as intercom or music. You are better off running the neg to the post on the battery to avoid engine noise. This post may be more relevant to street bikes, but who knows...

HP

Herkypilot wrote:

This would normally be true but be careful went dealing with anything to do with sound such as intercom or music. You are better off running the neg to the post on the battery to avoid engine noise. This post may be more relevant to street bikes, but who knows...

HP

True enough! For accessories besides CB/intercom/radio, you're fine grounding to the frame.

I went with one of these for my GPS wiring needs. Small and compact and a clean install. Yes, it is a Battery Connection to a MINI USB End cable!

I put a SAE connector near the steering head to be able to use a Battery Tender...

Get one at http://www.powerletproducts.com/product/mini-usb-battery-harness/258

As I haven't done anything yet to mine, I want to mount on the bar area a SAE plug from the battery and then have a SAE to GPS 60CSx power & a SAE to Cigerette socket (for a Slime pump, phone charger, etc.) adapters. For now this will be versatile for me to charge battery during winter, run my 60CSx off battery and charge my iPhone if needed, air up a tire if needed.

Here's the site I'm looking at for some nifty accessories, they seem to have good pricing too..

www.whitehorsepress.com

SpaGuru.. so how did you run your SAE plug AND this miniUSB .. do both have battery terminals you connected to or..?? Did you tap into another circuit ?

SpaGuru wrote:

I went with one of these for my GPS wiring needs. Small and compact and a clean install. Yes, it is a Battery Connection to a MINI USB End cable!

I put a SAE connector near the steering head to be able to use a Battery Tender...

Get one at http://www.powerletproducts.com/product/mini-usb-battery-harness/258

". . . it's never, ever a good idea to tie into an existing current to draw power, unless you're just tapping in to trigger a relay. . . " I'd have to disagree with that in the case of simply wiring a GPS unit into the system. There are plenty of fused power locations on the WR with excess power available, including the 7.5A "backup fuse" circuit that seems to be barely doing anything, power-wise. I wouldn't recommend adding a cigarette lighter to this sort of circuit, but a typical GPS unit draws 75-200mA and that is nothing relative to the available power. Nobody, especially Japanese designers cuts wiring gauges that closely.

The problem is finding a good place to snag the power and ground. My eyes are turning to useless blobs and the lighting in my garage isn't helping much, either. But it looks like there ought to be someplace on the guage harness/connector to pick off ground and +12V.