Wire USB Power Adapter to ignition rather than battery

Discussion in '6th Generation 2002-2013' started by MrKielbasa, Jun 7, 2017.

  1. MrKielbasa

    MrKielbasa New Member

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    Has anyone wired a USB power adapter to the ignition? I bought one recently that connects to the battery but I'd prefer wiring to ignition. Maybe take power from rear brake light cluster ?

    TIA
    Martin
     
  2. vegaquark

    vegaquark New Member

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    I've wired heated grips and a chain oiler to the fuse box in front of the battery. Choose one system (i choosed the cooler fan) and attach your gadget to it. Fan fuse was 10 amp and the fan only drew 4,5 amp max so now i draw 7,5 max when all systems are activated (not usually because fan wont run on winter when i use heated grips and vice-versa)
     
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  3. MrKielbasa

    MrKielbasa New Member

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    Thanks for that - I will take a look at the wiring diagram later and see if I can locate the fan wiring !
     
  4. skimad4x4

    skimad4x4 "Official" VFRWorld Greeter

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    A USB socket is typically designed to deliver 2-2.5 amps of 5vDC power. So as the bikes electrics operate at a nominal 12 volts any USB accessory socket will contains some sort of transformer to reduce the voltage. Even when nothing is connected to an outlet the transformer circuitry will place a drain on the motorbike battery if it is wired direct to the battery, and whilst the drain may be small it can be bad news if the bike is left unused for several weeks.

    Unfortunately many of the cheaper Chinese USB accessory outlets are now supplied with hoop connectors already fitted - suggesting its sensible to hook the outlet direct to the battery terminals and then forget about it. The really crap versions don't even have an inline fuse - so if they get flooded by heavy rain the resulting short can be very bad for your RR, Stator and Battery.

    Hence its a good idea to plan ahead and only supply accessories via an ignition circuit controlled relay rather than splice them as an extra load to an existing circuit. The ideal solution is to take a feed from a lightly loaded "ignition on" circuit. On European VFRs the rear light goes live whenever the ignition is on - so it can be used as the trigger for a relay to supply the accessories with power taken from the battery positive via a suitable gauge fused wire. If however you plan to install a lot of accessories then it is sensible to consider installing a mini fuse box.

    SkiMad
     
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  5. MrKielbasa

    MrKielbasa New Member

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    Thanks for the reply/info !
     
  6. Outboard John

    Outboard John New Member

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    I installed a three circuit relay from Eastern Beaver. It's relatively small and fits in a void area behind or underneath the battery box (can't remember for sure), I wired a trigger from the tail light. I think you can run a max of 15 or 20 amps per circuit, but a total of 40 amps for the whole unit. You can run several low power items off one circuit so it will power pretty much everything you would need. Price was around $55
     
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  7. MrKielbasa

    MrKielbasa New Member

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    Thanks. I ended up wiring in a 12V 30A automotive relay myself using the tail light power as the relay trigger and a feed directly from the battery and its working fine. All good, just need to tidy away the cables now.

    Thanks for all the suggestions.
     
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