Power only while the bike is off?

[SaharaJp99]

I am trying to mount a Cardo BTA II permanently to my bike to get my radar detector bluetoothed to my Sena headset. The Cardo cannot be used while charging, so I was wanting to wire it in as the opposite of a "switched" circuit. When the bike is running I do not want it to be powered, but when I shut the bike off I want it to charge the unit. I'm pretty good at wiring relays and stuff, but can't figure this one out. Any electrical guru's have any suggestions? I know I could just put a manual switch on it, but curious if I could make this work without having to do that.

BTW if anyone wants to bluetooth their radar detector to their Sena without forking over the money for the SR10 a guy on ebay has these for sale for $35 shipped right now. If you don't need a two way radio this is a cheap way to get this done.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/300698849691?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Thanks,

Josh

 

[RossKean]

I am trying to mount a Cardo BTA II permanently to my bike to get my radar detector bluetoothed to my Sena headset. The Cardo cannot be used while charging, so I was wanting to wire it in as the opposite of a "switched" circuit. When the bike is running I do not want it to be powered, but when I shut the bike off I want it to charge the unit. I'm pretty good at wiring relays and stuff, but can't figure this one out. Any electrical guru's have any suggestions? I know I could just put a manual switch on it, but curious if I could make this work without having to do that.

BTW if anyone wants to bluetooth their radar detector to their Sena without forking over the money for the SR10 a guy on ebay has these for sale for $35 shipped right now. If you don't need a two way radio this is a cheap way to get this done.

https://www.ebay.com/...984.m1497.l2649

Thanks,

Josh

Most relays are "normally open" unless powered. You can get them "normally closed" as well (open when powered). Be careful with that or you may find yourself without enough juice to start if the drain goes on for too long.

 

[SaharaJp99]

I am trying to mount a Cardo BTA II permanently to my bike to get my radar detector bluetoothed to my Sena headset. The Cardo cannot be used while charging, so I was wanting to wire it in as the opposite of a "switched" circuit. When the bike is running I do not want it to be powered, but when I shut the bike off I want it to charge the unit. I'm pretty good at wiring relays and stuff, but can't figure this one out. Any electrical guru's have any suggestions? I know I could just put a manual switch on it, but curious if I could make this work without having to do that.

BTW if anyone wants to bluetooth their radar detector to their Sena without forking over the money for the SR10 a guy on ebay has these for sale for $35 shipped right now. If you don't need a two way radio this is a cheap way to get this done.

https://www.ebay.com/...984.m1497.l2649

Thanks,

Josh

Most relays are "normally open" unless powered. You can get them "normally closed" as well (open when powered). Be careful with that or you may find yourself without enough juice to start if the drain goes on for too long.

Well jeez, that is simple. After looking at the spare relay I have in my tool box it looks like it is a crossover relay(5pin) with terminal 87a being the pin that does exactly what I want! As far as draining my battery, I'm not too worried about it. The unit takes 3 hours to fully charge from empty, then hopefully it stops using juice. But anyways, I ride my bike everyday and I don't think there is a chance it would drain the battery overnight. Plus, I am going to wire the relay into one of the circuits on my fuzeblock, so if the bike is going to be sitting for awhile it'll be as easy as pulling the fuse on the source circuit and it will disable it.

Thanks for the info Ross!!!

 

[karstenp]

Look for a standard automotive relay with both a Normally open (NO 87) and Normally closed contact (NC 87a). Make sure you weatherproof the relay with silicone on the joints if required (you can buy sealed relays for more $). Connect the coil contacts (85/86) to a circuit that is powered when the bike is running (headlamp ciruit etc). Connect your load to the NC contacts (30/87a) and complete the circuit. Your load will draw current whenever the relay coil is denergized (ie bike is turned off). You need to be careful because your load will continue to draw current until your bike battery is dead. You could consider wiring a timer ciruit into the load circuit to permit charging for a fixed period of time. You may be able to make a ciruit yourself if you are handy.... alternatively, I have seen some pretty nice 12V timer circuits on E-Bay as well. A good old fashion switch would work in lieu of a timer as well but you will need to remember to turn it off.

 

[Harald]

BTW if anyone wants to bluetooth their radar detector to their Sena without forking over the money for the SR10 a guy on ebay has these for sale for $35 shipped right now. If you don't need a two way radio this is a cheap way to get this done.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/300698849691?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Thanks,

Josh

Sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure if it will work effectively for my use. I usually have music coming in from my Zumo 660 or if the wife is riding, then we have an open intercom channel. If I read the Sena priority correctly, the BT dongle connection to the radar detector would be a lower priority input and therefore you wouldn't hear it beeping? So if that's the case, then this BT dongle would only work if you have no other audio coming into the Sena.

Sounds like you may have already ordered the dongle, so please report back how it works.

 

[SaharaJp99]

Well, I got them, and it's not going to work. The Cardo BTA II pairs with the Sena just fine doing the multi point pairing thing, and does interupt the XM radio coming from the Zumo 665.

There are several downfalls though.

For one, it takes about 4 beeps for the Cardo to realize to connect. That is an unacceptable delay, and if you pick up just a single beep it won't connect at all, which is also unnacceptable, as by the time the thing will connect you will be the one getting blasted and ticketed.

The other issue is that once it does connect, for one, there is a lot of feedback, which it isn't that loud, and probably wouldn't be heard at speed, but very noticable in the earbuds in the garage. The second issue once it does connect is that it takes about a minute to disconnect, which in itself, not that bad, although kind of annoying, but if the Zumo makes any sort of noise other than music while the Cardo is connected, such as a GPS instruction, weather alert, etc, it will temporarily interupt the Cardo, then go back to the Cardo, then either the Zumo or the Sena will drop the connection between eachother and only the Cardo is connected. Once the Cardo finally disconnects, the Zumo 50% of the time will re-connect, but only in mono, not in stereo. The other 50% of the time it does not re-connect at all.

BUMMER! I was hoping this would work. I don't think this Cardo is really compatible with any use, not just the radar detector, with the Sena. It just takes too long to connect and disconnect. Even if you used it with a non-bluetooth GPS for voice instruction, you would miss half of the instructions by the time it connected and you heard anything. Looks like these are going back on ebay!

Looks like the SR10 really is the only way to go, especially if it does as they claim and overlays the beeps over the music you are listening to, instead of interupting it. I wish they would come out with a version with only one input without the radio features for cheaper, and that wasn't so big.

 

[TomInPA]

I hope the Bluetooth stuff gets sorted out. I tried it, and finally went to the Autocom which delivers, radar, GPS/XM/Phone, Kenwood GMRS bike to bike and a secondary music (MP3) to the headset in prioritized audio. IMHO the hard-wire is a lot less inconvenient than the loss of function I had with a BT headset. Sure would be nice if all this was cheaper.

 

[Geezer]

I know this has been covered before, but a less expensive alternative to Autocam is the AmpliRider. It takes three audio inputs and has a single audio output. It does not prioritize, but you can set the volume of your RD higher than the other inputs so you always hear it when it beeps.

I have an RD, Garmin, and FRS/GMRS plugged into my AmpliRider and it all works fine. I had to build a custom cable for the FRS/GMRS to separate the output from the microphone so I could plug the output into the AmpliRider and run the microphone directly to my helmet. So, I have two cables to my helmet and I have to remember to unplug them both before I walk away from the bike. Not as convenient as an Autocom, but I'm a cheap skate, and it works. If you don't want 2-way communication then you don't need the second cable to the helmet.

 

[Harald]

Well, I got them, and it's not going to work.

Thanks for being the Guinea Pig on this option and reporting your results. Too bad this inexpensive option won't work.

I've been wanting to mount my V1 on the bike and would prefer having audio because the different tones and rates provide needed info. So for those of us committed to Sena Bluetooth, it looks like the sr10 is the best option for audio. I'm also still considering getting the Visual only option .

 

[SaharaJp99]

Well, I got them, and it's not going to work.

Thanks for being the Guinea Pig on this option and reporting your results. Too bad this inexpensive option won't work.

I've been wanting to mount my V1 on the bike and would prefer having audio because the different tones and rates provide needed info. So for those of us committed to Sena Bluetooth, it looks like the sr10 is the best option for audio. I'm also still considering getting the Visual only option .

I'm going to wait until the SM10 comes out and see how it actually works. It might be just what I am looking for, or it might not. That's the beauty about Sena. They don't release how the darn thing will actually work until they release it to the public and the public tells them how it works(or doesn't in the case of the SR10 with v3.1 on the SMH10). If I was going to go visual I think I would try the vizalert, although expensive I think for what you get, and there aren't a lot of people running it that I can find to get feedback on how well it works.

 

[semongtaulie]

Got an SR10 incoming tonight. It will take me a few days to get set up (too busy with work....bummer) but I'll post info on if it works. I'm planning on iPhone to SMH10 (via A2DP), then Zumo 660 to SR10 and V1 to SR10, then SR10 to SMH10 (via HFP). I use the phone for music as it sounds better than Zumo. I'll have the Zumo coming thru in mono which kind of sucks because directly to the SMH10 it was stereo but that will just have to do.

I couldn't do iphone and Zumo 660 to SMH10 (even with the firmware update 4.0 multi-point pairing) because they both use the A2DP profile and there is no way to turn that off on the 660. According to what I've been reading I should be able to "blend" the radar, music, and GPS into the SMH10. I will loose caller ID feature coming in through the Zumo but I don't care about that anyway.

I'll report back and let you know how it works.

 

[RiderX]

Finally had it with Chatterbox and Cardo products (some things I like and don't like) and have SMH10 coming.

So I'm understanding you, the reason you don't pair your iPhone to the Zumo, Then Zumo to SMH10 (via A2DP) is to get music off the phone. Is that right? If it was phone calls only, you would be fine to go iPhone to Zumo and Zumo to SMH10? Then SR10 to SMH10 via HFP?

I have XM on 665 so wanting to make that A2DP and also retain caller ID and other Zumo phone features.

Am I missing anything?