Surely, it can be done. Some of the wires are for the sound signal, I think. I have mine connected to a Powerlet socket, and that was store-bought, but if it can be powered by 12V, it can be done. I did exactly this with my old Garmin GPSMap 60C, because I like the SAE connectors much more than the lighter jacks.
My thinking too! most of these devices run on 5V, the voltage provided by a USB computer connection. If you can charge your GPS over USB, it's running at 5V!
The Garmin motorcycle specific hook up directly to the battery doesn't have any converter, plus it has no battery and if you want to use it in side, it came with a wall plug for 12 volt.
That's what I was thinking...but 4 wires for the speaker? Anyway, how do you check for the ground wire?Surely, it can be done. Some of the wires are for the sound signal, I think. I have mine connected to a Powerlet socket, and that was store-bought, but if it can be powered by 12V, it can be done. I did exactly this with my old Garmin GPSMap 60C, because I like the SAE connectors much more than the lighter jacks.
I would (carefully) connect the original lighter jack into a live lighter socket and test the wire ends with a voltmeter to find the 12V+/G wires. My guess is red and black, respectively.
-Dan
Yeah, I could just plug it in the cig lighter plug in the glovebox (06 model), but I can't shut the lid and the speaker isn't waterproof. I also want to shorten the cord about 2-3 feet and just plug it in the battery tender lead right there by the steering head. That way I thought I could just put an SAE splice in the Garmin cord and use it on the bike and in the car with the speaker, but with 6 wires, that won't float.
On my 09 there is a rubber grommet at the bottom of the glove box that I removed and run the wire out of the bottom of the box to my NUVI 255W I cover the hole at the bottom from the inside with a piece of duct tape (temp set up) but works fine so far.
Now that could come in handy, the Gopro HD camera charges by USB. I see a trip to Wallyworld in my future. Thanks for the info!
The fuse is intended to protect the device, the battery, and the rest of the bike from a short... but mostly the battery and the rest of the bike. An unfused short will wreak havoc quickly... which is why your fuse should be as close to the battery as possible.
Too late, I all ready used the cig lighter cable. I wanted to get rid of the speaker because it's not waterproof. The 2720 zooms in when you approach a turn, so I'll just need to glance at the screen occasionally. I put another SAE connector on the plug end I cut off so I can use it in the car too. If I really want to hear the voice guidance, I could get a little 4 wire connector somewhere(radio shack?) and hook the remaining wires back together, but I doubt I'll miss it. Besides, I'd have to remove all the electrical tape I used to cover them up and make sure the connections are waterproof. I did replace the 15 amp fuse in the battery tender line with a 5 amp I had and tested the battery tender function; it worked, but I'm going to replace it with a 1 amp just to be safe. Oh, btw...the red wire is + and the black is ground in case anyone else wants to try this. It makes for a clean install, I have a RAM mount on the clutch lever side and my battery tender line I have coming out the hole behind the steering stem, so all I needed was a short cable to connect to it. Whenever I stop for lunch/whatever all I'll have to do is disconnect the SAE plug; loosen the RAM mount and put the whole thing in a sidecase. Easy peasy, no long cord to wrap around the handlebar, but enough slack to not bind from lock to lock, and I still have the lighter plug in the glove box to charge the cell phone or the Gopro camera! Wooo-hoo!
