Autocom Installation Questions

[Spidey9534]

Well after much lusting and completely exhausting all forms of hand and arm signals with the wife I've plunked down for a spankin' new Pro Rider from Autocom. My SO and I are very excited about being able to communicate more effectively when we ride together which is really the only kind of riding I do anymore except for commuting to/from work.

 

I was hoping that some of the brave souls that have gone before me would be kind enough to share their knowledge as I contemplate the myriad of mounting, powering, cabling and accessory options available. I've searched the archives and learned quite a bit, but there are still some questions/concerns I have that I couldn't find answers for.

 

Here's what I have and what I plan on attaching either now or in the future.

 

It's all going on a 2000 R1100RT with no other electrical farkles except a Garmin 2610 GPS (dang, no audio out on this puppy except through the accessory cord with integrated speaker).

1)The Pro Rider only kit. I know I'll have to invest in a pillion kit that's part of my quandary (see below).

2)iPod Nano. Looks like the stereo lead will work for this, but no power option with it.

3)Motorola Razor phone for receiving calls only. The phone lead that come with the unit will not work. Is there and adaptor that folks know about or another lead option?

Future stuff.

4)FRS radio for chatting with others.

5)Radar detector.

 

Installation questions and considerations. I try to ascribe to the RTFM philosophy as much as possible, so I have been reviewing the installation instructions that were included with the kit which has created some confusion in my mind.

 

1)MANY post on here and the installation instructions warn about connecting the negative lead directly to the negative battery terminal (and no where else). Also the instructions strongly suggest to solder all connections to avoid possible problems (which I agree with). However, the instruction go on to advise to use a 'crimp' connector on the negative lead to the battery? Wouldn't I be better off soldering the wire directly into the negative battery cable very close to the battery terminal? What have others done?

2)I plan on mounting the unit under the seat and using some of the velcro to attach it to a cross member or?

3)I plan on powering the unit off the tail light leads by splicing and soldering in since it will mean a switched and fused connection. I've seen that others have gone into the fuse box or? Pros/cons to this option?

4)Routing of leads suggestions. Left side of seat, right, middle at tank and why? Pillion lead mounting suggestions?

 

I pretty ambivalent about how to mount, route cables/leads and secure my accessories and would really appreciate others opinions, experiences, pros/cons, lessons learned, etc. I read about others putting them in tank bags, RAM Mounts, in the glove box. I'll need them to be mobile since I use the phone off the bike of course and we use our iPods when walking or during other activities.

 

1)iPod Nano. I thought about just putting the iPod under the seat near the Autocom in a pouch or(?) since the SO and I typically put it on shuffle, but that also means it's hard.

2)Head phones. I have the ones for mounting in the helmet, but we also have some Westone UM2 in ear, noise cancelling head phones that we have been using up to this point. Have other successfully integrated other head phones into the Autocom system? I've read that higher (audio) quality head phones (extremely revealing) may actually be a problem as you can pick up back ground noise in the unit. Have others had this problem? Does connecting other head phones cause any problems with operation of the unit (VOX, Cross Fade etc.?)

3)Motorola Razor phone. As I stated earlier I need another cable or adaptor for this to connect as the one included in the kit has a completely different plug style. This one is similar to the GPS of a digital camera plug. Has anyone used this type of phone with the Autocom and know how to connect it correctly?

4)Security considerations. Hide the accessories when mounted, lock them on or take them with me in a tank bag or?

 

Thank you in advance to anyone who responds to this post. If you have any digital photos to share of your installations that would be greatly appreciated too.

 

While I have only been a member of this site and owner of a BMW motorcycle for a short time, I have already benefited tremendously from all the knowledge and experience gathered here by you generous folks. My hat's off to all of you that contribute here.

 

Cheers and safe riding!

[EffBee]

1. iPod. Use the standard 3.5mil-to-3.5mil cable that came with the kit. This will work as long as the iPod is battery powered. If you are going to charge it while it is in use, then you’ll need an isolated lead to connect it to the Autocom. Connect the iPod to the Pro Rider's Aux 3 port.

 

2. Razor Phone. This requires a very special interface cable because of the special plug on the Razor. The cable’s part # is U-120. Connect your phone to Aux port #1.

 

3. FRS Radio. Either Kenwood or Motorola. Motorola makes a good radio. Kenwood makes a better one. If you can still find a Kenwood UBZ-LH14, buy it. Great radio for the price, but Kenwood's getting out of the sub-$100 radio business. We still have a few left at our dealership, but look elsehwere first. Contact me if you can't find one anywhere else. To interface with either radio will require a special cable. Since you’re going to ride with a passenger, you’re going to want the privacy provided by the Autocom PTT cable and switch. FRS gets connected from its interface cable to the Autocom cable with the grey rubber cap.

 

4. Radar detector. Unless you already have one, you can’t do better than a Valentine V-1. $450 with the special audio adapter for headphones (needed to interface with the Autocom). You’ll need an isolated interface cable to connect the V-1 to the Autocom. The V-1 goes into Aux Port 2.

 

5. Connecting. Black lead to the battery. No soldering required. Just a nice crimp-on ring eyelet and connect it to the battery’s negative post bolt. Positive lead to any switched wire that is not a part of the engine’s electronic management. Once you’re sure you’ve got a clean connection that’s not picking up any unwanted noise, solder that connection unless it's in the fuse box. Don't solder in the fuse box.

 

6. Mounting. Under the seat works if you normally have the RT's seat in the middle position or higher. If you ride with it in the lower position, there probably isn’t enough room under there. If you must route wires under the tank, do so on the left side. It’s not clean of electronics, just cleanER than the right side. Pillion lead either out between both seats or out the left side of her seat.

 

7. I don’t know about the ear speakers you’re talking about. However, if they have a 3.5mil, 3-contact stereo plug on the end, they should be able to interface with the Autocom using a #1188 helmet extension lead.

 

8. Security? Your accessories are valuable and desirable. Protect them. Disconnect and secure them when they’re not within sight. Or, you could put everything in the tankbag. Here’s how I did it. Plenty of photos.

 

Hope this helps.

[Spidey9534]

Fernando,

 

Thank you for the detailed reply with the P/N's and all.

 

That tank bag project you put together looks really nice and clean.

 

I'm 6'0 and ride with the seat in the upper position so placing the unit under it should work out fine.

[deaks]

Hi Spidey,

 

I also have a R1100RT (97) and decided to take the power from the unused radio connections just in front of the glove box. I had to remove the left side faring anyway because I was installing a PTT switch. This now allows me to power the autocom, PMR and phone when the ignition switch is in the R postion without having the ignition on (nice if I want to stop and still talk on the radio or phone). I originally took the ground from here, but whilst the autocom and PMR worked fine, it caused some noise when using the phone powered from the bike, so I now have it directly to the battery (just crimped).

 

HTH,

Scott

[Spidey9534]

Hi deaks,

 

Cool idea on the radio power connection, mine is unused as well. Where did you end up mounting the main Autocom unit?

[Jeff in VA]

It's all going on a 2000 R1100RT with no other electrical farkles except a Garmin 2610 GPS (dang, no audio out on this puppy except through the accessory cord with integrated speaker).

 

Garmin makes an accessory power cord for the 2610. It has the connector for the back of the unit along with an audio output jack.

 

http://shop.garmin.com/accessory_highres...r/audio%20cable

[Spidey9534]

It's all going on a 2000 R1100RT with no other electrical farkles except a Garmin 2610 GPS (dang, no audio out on this puppy except through the accessory cord with integrated speaker).

 

Garmin makes an accessory power cord for the 2610. It has the connector for the back of the unit along with an audio output jack.

 

http://shop.garmin.com/accessory_highres...r/audio%20cable

 

Hey Bikey,

 

Thanks for the heads up on the Garmin cable. I actually have one of these that I'm using to hardwire the 2610 to the back side of the power portlet on the dash. I 'thought' that the audio output splitter was only for newer Garmin units than the 2610 and that Garmin was only making a common form for the cable to avoid a bunch of different types. I did try and plug in a regular set of mini head phones in the cable only to discover that the diamter of the female connector is smaller than a standard 3.5mm plug? Te Autocom kit has a cable that has a smaller plug at one end and a 3.5mm at the other that I think was labelled for a cell phone that should work fine for this application.

[deaks]

I know it's over a month since this was posted, but I finally got around to re-mounting my PTT switch somewhere that it did not interfere with my indicators/horn. I have short stubby fingers/thumb and mounting the switch on-top of the grip still caused me reach problems. This was what I eventually settled on:

 

 

 

I know it looks like it would be difficult to push the button, but it's very easy and not at all awkward (well, for me at least). I got the idea from a detailed install I found on the net some weeks back - however I cannot find it again to give credit....

 

I'll probably cut off the plastic on top to tidy it up once I am sure it'll stay there....

 

Cheers,

Scott

[deaks]

Ah ha! Found it again! Thanks Sean....

 

http://www.seanfranklin.com/R1100RT/installations/autocom.htm

Not sure I'm going to trim off the top now - If I ever decided to get a non BMW bike I'd have to buy a new switch. Wouldn't be so bad if the Autotcom stuff needed replacing every now and again

 

Scott