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Change time delay off on the GPS plug

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Bruce Jones:
OK, so I've established the following:

The Garmin Zumo 220 runs off 5V. The power cord from the 12V supply has a small step-down transformer built into it in the form of a small rectangular box. Of course this is going to continue to draw current even if the GPS isn't plugged in, because that's what transformers do! This means that if the GPS gets power from the can-bus plug, and even if the GPS is unplugged, the current drawn from the inline transformer will keep the power on from the bike after the ignition is switched off. As Inspector Gadget mentioned, if the GPS battery is not fully charged, the power will remain on for the maximum time that the bike is set for, i.e. 15 minutes. If the battery is fully charged, the transformer current is small enough for the can-bus system to switch power off after 60 seconds. In case my battery is not fully charged when I switch off, I put a small inline switch in the GPS power line before the transformer. Switching that switch off means that there is zero current drawn, and the can-bus power switches off after a few seconds.

Regarding the spotlights, I used the power line in the diagnostic plug for the switched power line, and the main power comes straight from the battery. This way the spots come on when I switch the ignition on, and switch off immediately after switching the ignition off.

Problems solved! Happiness!

Inspector Gadget:
Most modern-day GPS are indeed running off 5 volt, cuts down on power-usage, easier circuit-designs and cheaper batteries.
And of course the ability to hook it up to a PC. (via USB).
So, for all intention & purposes, indeed check the GS for "hidden" electronics, including the plug, containing electronics to convert down 12 volt to 5 volt.

Putting a switch in-line is a grand solution and of course quite cost-effective.

Using the power-connection of the diagnostic-plug, pin 6 does indeed goes straight to the battery.
You will need to put a fuse in-line though, but I'm sure that is part of your light-setup anyway.

Glad to read you reached your goal and find a good solution. (dumb up)

Skim:
I am a bit late into this, but my 2 cents worth...

Fitted a Garmin Zumo 390 to a 2010 RT last week. It was a temporary fit, connecting the fused power wires directly to the battery until I could figure a better way. Was also concerned with the current draw of the step down transformer so checked it. What I found was that as soon as I removed the GPS from the mount, there was absolutely no current draw. Not sure how they do it, but for now I will stick with this as I will be removing my GPS from the mount when I leave the bike unattended.

If there is a better way please comment.

Inspector Gadget:
Modern-day GPS are more and more considerate to what bike-electronics exists nowadays.
(CAN-bus is not that common in the motorcycle world, as far as I know)

So, the active GPS-holder does try to avoid phantom-currents.

One way of doing that, is that Garmin GPS units create a "short-circuit" (read: jumper) onto the GPS-holder that activates the electronics (and power supply).
If that is also the case with the Garmin Zumo 390, I do not know.

What is killing for any motorcycle is the phantom-currents, it can substantially drain the battery within a few weeks.

As for the can-bus;
You can (& should) use the GPS connector on the 1200-series provided by Herrn BMW Motorrad for powering any GPS.
(and you could, with caution, use it to power it also a few light-weight sources, such as a led position-light)
Alternatively you could also use the accessoires-connector.
And if push comes to shove, you could also use the pilot/city-light to power a GPS.
Using the dim-light connection is not recommend as that could potentially upset the defective-light detection.

WayneC:

--- Quote from: Skim on June 07, 2016, 11:28:30 AM ---Was also concerned with the current draw of the step down transformer so checked it. What I found was that as soon as I removed the GPS from the mount, there was absolutely no current draw. Not sure how they do it
--- End quote ---
The answer is very simple, the 5v power adaptors used for the GPS and USB outlets use a DC to DC converter, not a step down transformer. The modern way of doing it is with switch mode techniques which enable very small devices with efficiency of 99% rather than a step down transformer which is very large and 50% efficiency. The devices are also configured so when there is no load they have very low current draw.

The BMS/Dash/ABS controllers all run internally at 5v and some may also run at 3.3v, they use similar power supply techniques with sleep modes controlled by having switched and unswitched power inputs

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