Power Point

Has anyone here ever attached a cigarette lighter powerpoint to your XJ's? I am thinking of hooking one up but was wondering where to place it.

 

you want the 12V socket or a plugin usb adapter ? my adapter sets on top of the air box, hard wired to the fuse block

 

The 12 volt socket would be prefferable. Do you have pics of yours?

 

Got mine mounted to a small fairing above the gauges. Wired into switched 12v in the headlight bucket. Phone/gps goes in a handlebar mount.

 

this was temporary 2 or 3 years ago

 

Very nice Polock

 

Put mine under the gas tank, Its bolted to the back of the horn bracket.
Powered by a auxilary fuse in the fuse box.

 

Thats actually a pretty nice location mlew

 

I just have an automotive type cigarette lighter mounted on my handlebars. Mine's actually for lighting my cigarettes, but I also use it to power my GPS when I take longer trips.
Here's how I mounted it. I used a piece of aluminum for my grip heater switch and cigarette lighter (yes, my cockpit is a bit cluttered) There's also a mount for my Sony Walkman radio and MP3 player and the cord that plugs into them that goes to the amplifier to power those speakers on the backside of the windshield.

 

It is out of the way and out of the direct weather. I have found you DON'T want to mount them pointing up, it will collect water and rust. I primarly use it for a GPS, its handy and not noticed.

 

I started on this project and was wondering what size fuse you guys are using. Is 10a okay?

 

What are you running off of it?

A phone or GPS that normally charges with a USB port is in the milliamp range. USB 2.0 is 500mA.

 

Can i hook up a usb port to the bike then?

 

like this: http://www.amazon.com/Cigarette-Lighter ... B000CC6I5W

 

Now I am wondering though if instead of a cig lighter I could just use a usb port off a computer.I use the usb port to charge my phone anyway and something that small would be much easier to mount

 

You would first have to bring the bike's voltage down to the 5V that the USB needs. That's what that adapeter or your lighter charger for the phone does.

 

I gotcha, right now I am gathering the materials needed to switch my turn signals and running lights to LEDs which should bring my voltage down plenty.... well at least in theory anyway. that should buy me enough voltage to play with.

 

Voltage is constant or nearly constant.

Running at cruising RPM you're going to be +/- 14V depending on your charging circuits current shape.

Amperage is what gets reduced by going to the LED's.

To use a straight USB port on the bike you would need a voltage regulator to get you 5V a the USB. The lighter adapters already have that regulator built in.

 

I gotcha that makes sense I guess I'll stick with my power point then. Thanks for the heads up iwin

 

I have a fused lead from my battery that I use for my solar battery charger. I also use it as my connection for my electric vest. I bought a marine 12 volt power point and wired on a plug in that hooks to the same lead. I have used it to power an air compressor I carry with me. I also bought a USB adapter that plugs into the power point but have yet to use it. Should work though.