Garmin zumo 550 power source

[diver1357]

Just got my Zumo in the mail yesterday! Prior to buying the Zumo, I thought I read on this site that you could hook the motorcycle mount to the vehicle power cable and then plug it into the power source behind the faring. I can not find any place on the motorcycle mount to hook the vehicle power cable into. If this is note possible, what is the best way to hook the motorcycle power cable to power?

[BuddyRich]

There should be a cable in there with a small fuse in the line, came in the box. One end screws into the Motorcycle mount using very small screws. The other end ( with the fuse) can be connected to the Cig lighter wiring inside the fairing.

[diver1357]

Do you have to take the faring off to hook the motorcycle cable to the cig lighter wiring?

[Jerry W]

Yes. Also, the cigarette lighter is hot only when the switch is on. That is the reason most of us use that wire.

[Gamecock]

I have the 450 and just ran the wire under the gas tank and hard wired it to the battery. I use my GPS in the car too, so I never leave the bracket attached to the bike, just the wire. Never had a problem with it.

 

Ben

[bongobobny]

Same here! Took off the tank and wired directly to the battery. I use the ram mount for the bike and the suction mount for the car...

[Freebird]

I do the same thing. I use the suction mount in my work car and the ram mount on the bike. I use the lighter adapter for the van and used the wiring for the hard wiring that came with it for the bike. All I have to do is remove the 550 from the cradle to move it back and forth. Works great.

[cb1313]

Be careful when tightening the mount onto the handlebar. I broke mine this week and depending on where you find a replacement it will cost between $15-80 for a replacement bar mount.

 

Cb

[diver1357]

I was able to buy a car power plug at Radio Shack today which allowed me to connect my power cable to the cig lighter without taking the fairing off. Zumo worked great! This is probably a short term fix until I find time to take the fairing off and hard wire the power cable.

[atlm]

I was able to buy a car power plug at Radio Shack today which allowed me to connect my power cable to the cig lighter without taking the fairing off. Zumo worked great! This is probably a short term fix until I find time to take the fairing off and hard wire the power cable.

 

That was also my short term solution when I first installed my GPS. I had an unused cigarette ligher adapter (for a flashlight) that I clipped at the wires and used to plug the GPS into the bike. When I split the fairings for another job, I wired the GPS to the back of the cigarette lighter plug inside the fairing.

 

I'd recommend, if and when you do wire it inside the fairing, to use male/female plugs on your connections. That way it can easily be removed for maintenance, or if you ever change GPS units for some reason. Use female on the +12v lead on the bike (surrounded by insulation so it doesn't accidentally short), and male on the ground lead on the bike. That method also keeps you from accidentally plugging it in backwards after maintenance.

 

[Maritimer]

Mine is hard wired to the battery also. I had problems with my Magellan when it was connected to the cig lighter. It was giving me a ground loop problem. No such problems hard wired to the battery.