battery tender as power source for GPS

[dean33]

i purchased a battery tender and i thought i read a post that somebody used it as a power source as well. how can that be done. I have a garmin.360 now. But with my economic stimulis check.im hopping to get a Zumo. is there an aftermarket pug that will work with the pigtail. Dean

 

[fjrob1300]

Hey Dean what I did was put a plug on a aux.power outlet like a lighter outlet. That way I plug in my sattilite radio to it. Just make sure you have your positive and negative in the right place. Use a multimeter.

 

[drew231506]

I have the battery tender power my tankbag, in the tankbag i have a couple powered cig lighter connections and power the gps from that.

 

[squeezer]

i purchased a battery tender and i thought i read a post that somebody used it as a power source as well. how can that be done. I have a garmin.360 now. But with my economic stimulis check.im hopping to get a Zumo. is there an aftermarket pug that will work with the pigtail. Dean

Yeah. You just have to get the compatible SAE plug and solder it to the wires from the motorcycle mount power cord. And you have to attach something there -- the ends of that power cord are just bare wires when you get it from Garmin.

I bought them here. Look under the trailer connectors link. You want the 2-Contact Flat Molded Connector.

For how I set up the battery connector in the dash, see this thread.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

What I'm about to mention may not be an 'issue' in this (these) case/s? .... But, many electronic devices are 'uncomfortable' with DC voltage produced from rectified AC. They may be intended for 'straight line' DC (like you get from a battery)?

Also, I may not be understanding the question? But it sounds to me like you want to run a GPS (and other accessories) off a battery charger? I wouldn't advise it. Battery charger output is not the same as battery voltage.

I may not be the final answer, here?..... Others more knowledgeable will probably be along shortly. :huh:

 

[squeezer]

What I'm about to mention may not be an 'issue' in this (these) case/s? .... But, many electronic devices are 'uncomfortable' with DC voltage produced from rectified AC. They may be intended for 'straight line' DC (like you get from a battery)?Also, I may not be understanding the question? But it sounds to me like you want to run a GPS (and other accessories) off a battery charger? I wouldn't advise it. Battery charger output is not the same as battery voltage.

I may not be the final answer, here?..... Others more knowledgeable will probably be along shortly. :huh:

If that's the case, then I misunderstood the question. I thought he was asking if the GPS can be hooked up to the battery tender pigtail attached to the bike -- or, at least, that's the question I answered.

If your interpretation is right, that he wants to hook it up directly to the battery tender to, I don't know, charge it off the bike? The answer would be no, don't do it. Uh-uh. Bad juju.

 

[HaulinAshe]

I was just going to be a smart-ass and say he would need a really loooong extension cord.

 

[Nice Rumble]

I use the Battery Tender pigtail to power my GPS on my off road bike and snowmobile. I bought Powerlet adaptor cables, SAE to SAE and cut it in half. Just wire it up to your GPS. Works fine and gives you a quick disconnect if needed. Just make sure you have an inline fuse.

https://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_inf...roducts_id=4861

 

[feejer222]

Don't know if I've got the right end of the stick about what you're asking, but I wired a connection right onto the battery terminals with it's own fuse. I bought 2 sets of snap connectors, put one female end on the new battery wires, then one of the male ends onto the sat nav and one onto the battery tender. When the bike is parked up for any length of time I clip on the tender, when out on the road I connect the sat nav to the same connector. It works great. Make sure you check what size fuse to fit by checking the amperage of your sat nav.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

....many electronic devices are 'uncomfortable' with DC voltage produced from rectified AC. Also, I may not be understanding the question? But it sounds to me like you want to run a GPS (and other accessories) off a battery charger? I wouldn't advise it. Battery charger output is not the same as battery voltage.

If that's the case, then I misunderstood the question. I thought he was asking if the GPS can be hooked up to the battery tender pigtail attached to the bike -- or, at least, that's the question I answered.

If your interpretation is right, that he wants to hook it up directly to the battery tender to, I don't know, charge it off the bike? The answer would be no, don't do it. Uh-uh. Bad juju.

Looks like -- I just didn't get it....? :blink: :huh: Others seem to have interpreted the question correctly.

'dean33': "i purchased a battery tender and i thought i read a post that somebody used it as a power source as well."

I guess I'm way too literal?

 

[ionbeam]

Let’s get explicit here.

Take your battery charger and connect it directly to your electronic gizmo’s DC wires with no battery involved = Very Bad.

Take your Battery Tender and connect it directly to your electronic gizmo’s DC wires with no battery involved = Very Bad, potential to be worse than a battery charger.

Connect the battery charger/tender to a battery, any good battery, THEN connect the electronic gizmo to the battery = Good.

Most brute force battery chargers output ½ wave AC with some current limiting. The battery acts like a giant capacitor and filters the charger’s output, resulting in DC with perhaps a lot of ripple (AC) riding on top of the DC.

Battery Tenders sense the condition of your battery – but wait, there is no battery, only the electronic gizmo. If the Battery Tender decides your gizmo needs to be de-sulfated, your gizmo may very well release all its magic smoke in response. A battery tender senses battery voltage – but wait, there is no battery, so the Tender no longer knows how to regulate current until it sees a small voltage drop, the way a battery would normally respond to charging.

When you hook a charger directly to any electronic device without a battery being involved means that the electronic device’s internal noise filtering components have to eat all the AC from the charger. Your gizmo's input filter will have to do this while attempting to clean up the charger’s output voltage enough for internal consumption. This will beat the snot out of the electronic's input filter.

But wait, you say you have done this very thing and everything works fine... A man climbed up the stairs to the roof of a 6 story building. Then he jumped off the roof. As he passed the second floor, the person sitting next to the open window distinctly heard the jumper say, “So far, so good!”

 

[squeezer]

Let’s get explicit here.
Take your battery charger and connect it directly to your electronic gizmo’s DC wires with no battery involved = Very Bad.

Take your Battery Tender and connect it directly to your electronic gizmo’s DC wires with no battery involved = Very Bad, potential to be worse than a battery charger.

Connect the battery charger/tender to a battery, any good battery, THEN connect the electronic gizmo to the battery = Good.

Most brute force battery chargers output ½ wave AC with some current limiting. The battery acts like a giant capacitor and filters the charger’s output, resulting in DC with perhaps a lot of ripple (AC) riding on top of the DC.

Battery Tenders sense the condition of your battery – but wait, there is no battery, only the electronic gizmo. If the Battery Tender decides your gizmo needs to be de-sulfated, your gizmo may very well release all its magic smoke in response. A battery tender senses battery voltage – but wait, there is no battery, so the Tender no longer knows how to regulate current until it sees a small voltage drop, the way a battery would normally respond to charging.

When you hook a charger directly to any electronic device without a battery being involved means that the electronic device’s internal noise filtering components have to eat all the AC from the charger. Your gizmo's input filter will have to do this while attempting to clean up the charger’s output voltage enough for internal consumption. This will beat the snot out of the electronic's input filter.

But wait, you say you have done this very thing and everything works fine... A man climbed up the stairs to the roof of a 6 story building. Then he jumped off the roof. As he passed the second floor, the person sitting next to the open window distinctly heard the jumper say, “So far, so good!”

That's what I said. Bad juju.

I like my explanation better.

 

[ionbeam]

You were first, you are correct, you were concise and I agree with you. There still seemed to be some confusion. At the risk of being a bit verbose (a lot verbose?) I was letting people know why your juju is bad. You just gotta love informed decisions.

 

[dean33]

i purchased a battery tender and i thought i read a post that somebody used it as a power source as well. how can that be done. I have a garmin.360 now. But with my economic stimulis check.im hopping to get a Zumo. is there an aftermarket pug that will work with the pigtail. Dean

my question was, when i install the pigtail of the tender( the one that gets wired to the battery) on the battery.when it is not being used to charge the battery. can it be used to power an accesory. Not charge the GPS with the tender. Just wondering if garmin or someone else had an after maket power cord.

how can i find out witch side of the GPS wire is + and witch is -.

 

[C&C]

Two things to do. Check the output current of the tender. If it is greater than the draw from your accessory, your golden. As far as the polarity, you can check that with a VOM. If it has a bayonet plug the inside is generally the positve and the outside ring is generally the negative but check it.

 

[Capt. Bob]

Dean,

If I read this correctly, you can hook up the GPS to the connection.

You would be disconnecting the GPS while you charged the battery, correct?

I don't have a link for you but I have no doubt that you can find a matching connector to splice on to the GPS that will fit the tender connection.

The Zumo comes with ring terminals and an inline fuse. You can remove the rings and splice the new connector at that point. The fused side (red) will be the positive to the Zumo.

Edit: You could purchase an extension from Battery Tender (any Dealer should carry) and clip off the plug end. A little more expensive route but you'll be sure of a correct match.

 

[dean33]

I use the Battery Tender pigtail to power my GPS on my off road bike and snowmobile. I bought Powerlet adaptor cables, SAE to SAE and cut it in half. Just wire it up to your GPS. Works fine and gives you a quick disconnect if needed. Just make sure you have an inline fuse.
https://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_inf...roducts_id=4861

Thankyou 'Nice Rumble'. That is exactly what i was hopeing for. Dean