Thoughts on installing 3rd Party chargers...
 

Hi all,

Just wondering, if I buy a 3rd party charger, be it USB or cigarette lighter socket, do I just literally wire it up to the positive/negative points on my battery, and I´m good to go? i.e. no need to do any rewiring stuff, or attach it to anyting else, etc, etc? Bearing in mind I simply wish to charge low volt stuff, like a small iPod, camera, Kindle, etc, and my bike is a small capacity enduro (XR250 with electric start only). As always, any tips would be smashing!

Many thanks,
Rtw

Yes.......but.

You can do that as long as there is an in-line fuse which most have.

One thing I would say is if you can make it "switched" it would be better. I have two on my bike, one behind the fairing by the handle bars, for satnav etc.. This position keeps it dry pretty much all of the time, while moving. When parked up it has a waterproof/splashproof cap.

The other is a double USB socket for "gadget stuff" inside the pannier. Which is very water proof all round ( so far!)

The pannier one only comes live when the ignition is on / engine running. I have a relay circuit which I put in to feed other stuff and turn off when I stop. The front one has a switch in line enabling me to disconnect power to the socket if needed.

Position is important to keep a dry as possible. If mounted upwards facing it will just fill with water and corrode and stop functioning no matter where it is. Water will find it! Careful positioning of wires is important too, avoid hot areas (obviously) and fix securely to stop rubbing, an outer cover for the wire usually comes with good sockets. Avoid the ones with just red/black wire and no cover, or tape thoroughly. I have seen some for sale with the fuse near the socket end this is not good. The fuse must be battery end to protect the length of wire. Melted wiring can end a trip to the shops! :(

There's nothing wrong with wiring it straight to the battery - if everything works the way it should do all the time. But you can't be too careful with anything electrical wired straight to the battery - you need to think through the consequences of something going wrong and take precautions.

Firstly, put a fuse in the circuit. That means if the charger shorts out something (the fuse) will give before the wiring catches fire and takes the rest of the bike with it (maybe).

Next - I put a switch in circuits like this so I can switch it off when its not being used. That means there can be no battery discharge at all when the charger circuit isn't being used for charging. It depends on what you're going to be connecting to the battery but some electronics can have a low level of current use in standby mode and without a switch they're taking that from the battery all the time.

Third - think through the effects of both (rain) water and vibration on whatever you're connecting to the battery. Get rain water into a live charging circuit and you could well end up with a short and blowing the fuse. That's where the switch comes in.

Vibration (depending on the bike) can shake electronic circuit boards to bits, and if the charger or whatever you're using isn't designed for bike use it probably won't be "shockproofed". I've made a reasonable number of DIY bits of electronic kit for bikes and I usually cover the circuit boards in hot melt glue or something to stop vibration effects. Two lighting circuit boards I bought recently and didn't check broke within 500 miles from vibration.