Garmin 2610 installation help

[MLTDWN]

I got a Garmin 2610 a couple of months ago for my car and RT (from Amazon.com at a pretty good price). I also got the Garmin installation kit, bot the RAM mounts and was all ready to go.

 

The folks at cyclegadgets were very helpful and asked me if I was going to hard wire the unit to the bike. I said I wasn't sure and he suggested I get a Powerlet, which would allow me to connect the garmin power cable the easy way through one of the bike's power outlets. I did that, took it out yesterday, and the gps worked fine except there is about 3 feet of excess cable that I had to roll up and tape to the side of the bike (not a pretty sight).

 

The Garmin instructions say that the unit can be hard wired to the bike's electrical system using the power cable with the bare wire leads. Is hard wiring this as simple as attaching the red and black wires on the power cable to the positive and negative terminals on the bike's battery?

 

And is there any easier way to get to the battery than removing the 19 different mounting bolts on the left side?

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

CC Rider

'02 R1150RT and '74 R90/6 "Sydcar" rig

[smiller]

Hooking up power is just as simple as connecting the red wire to a positive supply and the black wire to ground. The 2610 (or most any GPS unit for that matter) doesn't draw much power and so can be connected to just about any convenient power source. Not really necessary to go all the way back to the battery, there should be several sources up front, depending on whether you want the unit's power to be controlled with the key or not (I think most choose to connect to a source that's powered all the time and just turn the GPS unit on or off with the switch on the unit.)

[BobFV1]

I wired my 2610 to the same source I was drawing my AutoCom from and then I put the AutoCom and all the excess cord into the "glove box" of my RT.

[Ted]

I'd suggest wiring the unit to the bike's switched radio connection which is fused and probably easily found.

[BFish]

i'm about to install a 2610 as well. thru advice from this site i was able to locate the unused radio harness. as of now it's my first choice for the hardwire. it's skyblue and can be easily located by looking down thru the handlebars next to the radio box. many have suggested connecting to the parking light which is easily reached without removing any body parts. also using ram mount-center of handlebars.

[J Mart]

I went with the parking light option. You just have to pull the parking light out of the headlight housing (it's held in by a rubber grommet) to get access to the wires. I can't remember the wire colors, but a multimeter will tell you which is positive. I clipped the wires and soldered/shrink-tubed the Garmin cable, leaving the Garmin fuse in to protect the 2610. One advantage (IMHO) is that I can turn the GPS on simply by going to park mode on the ignition, without having the rest of the bike's systems powered. Easy, but you do have to clip wires. Good luck.

[BFish]

the radio harness has a hot and accessory line to chose from. only reason i considered that. the parking light certainly is simpler!

[fanosix]

I am looking to power a 2610, V1 and my sirius unit.

an input/opinions. I have considered some of the opions listed above, and the idea of an aux fuse panel.

[EricJRW]

On my '04 RT there is an unused blue molex connector just above the horn on the left side. This connector has an "always hot" 12v connection which is what I used to power my GPS. I suspect it's there for a radio (fit kit) install, which the '04 no longer included.

 

A year or so a go I posted up some pictures, so peharps a search might find that original post (not sure how long posts last around here).

 

Eric

[Marty Hill]

Cut the excess cable out and solder what's left together. I just did and got rid of the 3' loop. 15 minutes well spent.

[EricJRW]

One advantage (IMHO) is that I can turn the GPS on simply by going to park mode on the ignition, without having the rest of the bike's systems powered.

Doesn't the GPS power down though as you turn the key from "on" to "park"? I like the idea of always one, even without the key in the bike, i.e. to gas up or grab a bite, that way the gps can track the total trip time... Not really that big of a deal I'll admit, but I like the idea of keeping it powered up.

[Jim VonBaden]

One advantage (IMHO) is that I can turn the GPS on simply by going to park mode on the ignition, without having the rest of the bike's systems powered.

Doesn't the GPS power down though as you turn the key from "on" to "park"? I like the idea of always one, even without the key in the bike, i.e. to gas up or grab a bite, that way the gps can track the total trip time... Not really that big of a deal I'll admit, but I like the idea of keeping it powered up.

 

Same here. I hardwired mine direct to the battery to avoid it being turned off with the key. The very small draw it has wouldn't run down my bike's battery, even over night.

 

Jim