Car Sat Nav on a bike

Anyone looking to use their car Sat Nav in the bike might be interested. The important thing to remember is that the car nav only needs 5v, not 12v




Having been given a ‘TOMTOM XXL IQ ROUTES’ by a friend, I thought it might be possible to mount it on the bike.  Yes, I know it’s not waterproof, but I don’t ride in the rain much, and it saves me spending over £600 (!!!)  on the BMW system.  I also think it’s quite well protected from the rain by the screen anyway.
 
Having investigated the vast number of mounting options available, I opted for the BMW mount, which uses pre-existing screws above the speedo, to mount the bar.


I then found a cradle to hold the TOMTOM, made by a company called RAM.  It provides a very secure mounting for the TOMTOM to ‘click’ into.

A good friend of mine, then made up the aluminium plate to secure the cradle to the BMW mount at the correct height.  He tapped the necessary holes, countersunk and shortened the screws, and delivered it back, painted and ready to fit – how great to have ‘friends that can’!


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The mini USB exit point on the TOMTOM is from the bottom.  Wanting to keep the cabling as neat as possible, I found a 90 degree USB joint, to allow the cable to exit from the rear of the unit instead.



As it’s designed for the car, it runs on just 5 volts.  Having taken advice from the forum, I eventually opted for one of these (12v to 5v) conversion leads, with a mini USB on one end, and bare wires on the other.  I have soldered these bare wires to the BMW plug, heat shrunk the connection, and plugged it in to the socket available under the dash.  This makes sure that the TOMTOM is only powered when the ignition is switched on.




I think the end result is great.  No, it’s not stamped by BMW, but I like it and it works well (for a fraction of the cost!).

Can any of you moderator chaps tidy up my post? I had lots of trouble with the pics and formatting!

sullivj wrote:Can any of you moderator chaps tidy up my post? I had lots of trouble with the pics and formatting!

Can't seem to get around one of the images properly anyway back to college work that has to be in this evening... that I've hardly started.. oops

Ive used a car garmin nuvi in a tak bag & plugged into a cigarette lighter socket.
For me the killer was the fact there was no way to link the sound to my sena headset so I now use the same setup but using my phone with the Waze app.

ashcroc wrote:Ive used a car garmin nuvi in a tak bag & plugged into a cigarette lighter socket.

i do the same, its a solid solution if you want cheap satnav on the bike but mines a bit bulky to carry round so I'm keen to hear about your thoughts regarding the functionality of the waze app? have you found a good mount for your phone or do you only use the earpiece?

I either just throw my phone/tablet in the map pocket of the tank bag or more often leave it in my pocket (running off phone battery) going by the voice directions.  Some of the voices state road names which makes the latter easier.

Waze is a free ap so you won't lose anything by trying it out.

hi all i purchased a really but nw binatone satnav 20 quid of flea bay it has a bulit in 2.5 earphone socket  ,
i plug a battery stick the ones you use to charge your phone on the go an d it lasts 5 hours i got a 2.5 earpiece for 3 quid