Power to gps on sled

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snow_monkey

New member
Anyone tap their gps into the heated shield plug? I do not intend to leave it plugged in, just in an emergency to give it juice to charge the battery.
 
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bedgar7

New member
You will probably get many differnet answers for this. The problem is that most sleds are about 12VAC and this is typically what the heated visor plugin is taken from. Some people have in fact used this straight to the GPS with no problems. I was a bit more nervous about plugging mine into it so I made a rectifier/regulator to go to 5VDC. But I would say the easiest method is if your sled has a battery for electric start and you can just use a car charger off of that.
 
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ezra

Well-known member
on a 06 xfire the voltage from shield goes from 4.5v to 14.3v I was trying to find power for a air fuel gauge.the guys at batteries plus were telling me I could use a small 12v battery and it would act as a regulator and the ac would charge the battery some.I just ended up using the 12v battery to run the air fuel to dial in boondocker and then took out gauge so I never tried to hook in to shied plug
 
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tbear

New member
If you have a Garmin..

I have run Garmin's on my sleds for years. The most reliable way to power them is to hide the plug that is intended for the lighter under the hood and run a 12 volt wire from the easiest place to that (plus a ground wire). I find a point that is hot at all times so that the GPS does not shut off every time we stop. That Garmin charger protects the GPS from the strange fluxuations that occur.
 
snowfish

snowfish

Member
Lofsfire, I made one last week. Mine looks a little different than yours, but works great. The schematic is from

http://www.numbskull.com/snowmo/gps/schematic.asp

I added a LED indicator light & fused both ends. My price was about $20 but that included the power outlet end and harness plug.

If you have a chance, it would be great to see your schematic and pic of the rectifier. Your post is only partial.

Have to go suit up now. Meeting some friends for a ride. Later
 
lofsfire

lofsfire

Active member
snowfish said:
Lofsfire, I made one last week. Mine looks a little different than yours, but works great. The schematic is from

http://www.numbskull.com/snowmo/gps/schematic.asp

I added a LED indicator light & fused both ends. My price was about $20 but that included the power outlet end and harness plug.

If you have a chance, it would be great to see your schematic and pic of the rectifier. Your post is only partial.

Have to go suit up now. Meeting some friends for a ride. Later
Click to expand...

Will post when done I planing on changing things a little. I have an inline fuse as well. I don't think I will do it today like planed myself and the kids woke up not feeling the best today.
 
lofsfire

lofsfire

Active member
snowfish said:
No worries mate. Hope the kids are feeling better.
Click to expand...

Good news kids feel better I still feel like crap. Hopefully I'm better for this weekend so it does not slow down the riding.

Anyways I did finish the rectifier and hooked it up to the sled tonight, but want to test it this weekend to make sure there are no bugs. I did change mine around a bit my uncle is the real brains behind it. After showing him the diagram you posted he said that the would regulate the power more consistently but we still made a few changes. I will post parts and pictures next week some time. I want to use it and know there are no problems before giving the info out. Plus maybe the thread will get sticky-ed since this topic comes up so much.
 
snowfish

snowfish

Member
Just a side note............if the GPS batteries are dead, they're dead. Plugging it in will power the unit but below 32 degrees the internal charging circuit does not work. Best bet is to plug it in and leave it plugged in. If you're not hardwired or have a locking socket, the plug will need to be taped to keep it from rattling loose. I "knuckleheaded" this while testing the unit that I just built. Panic set in when my GPS kept loosing power and then turning back on magically. What the........solder bridge?.....loose internals?....backward component?............ Ahhhhh.....gots to tape the plug!

I've logging about a 120 miles of flawless operation since. Looking forward to Saturday again!

A nice, clean, sticky would be great once we have the latest, greatest, new and improved design dialed in.

Ride on!
 
lofsfire

lofsfire

Active member
snowfish said:
Just a side note............if the GPS batteries are dead, they're dead. Plugging it in will power the unit but below 32 degrees the internal charging circuit does not work. Best bet is to plug it in and leave it plugged in. If you're not hardwired or have a locking socket, the plug will need to be taped to keep it from rattling loose. I "knuckleheaded" this while testing the unit that I just built. Panic set in when my GPS kept loosing power and then turning back on magically. What the........solder bridge?.....loose internals?....backward component?............ Ahhhhh.....gots to tape the plug!

I've logging about a 120 miles of flawless operation since. Looking forward to Saturday again!

A nice, clean, sticky would be great once we have the latest, greatest, new and improved design dialed in.

Ride on!
Click to expand...

Mine is all hardwired, but i'm already think of changes to eliminate the 12v to 5v adapter. But that is a summer project
 
snowfish

snowfish

Member
Shouldn't be that though to do. If I'd been thinking, I would have taken apart the adapter, that I broke while deploying my trolling motor last summer, and checked what was really in there. I have a feeling its just a resistor to drop the voltage.

By hardwire, I meant having the mini usb plug coming directly from the rectifier, with the proper voltage, eliminating the power outlet plug. Thus, no more tape job!

Talk to your uncle. I bet we could double output the rectifier. 12vdc to power outlet & 5vdc hardwired to the mini usb cable.

But then again, let's just use what we have and ride. That sun is packing more heat every day. Cheers.
 
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