elamofo
Member
I commute on my C600 nearly every day from late March into December. Basically every day it's above freezing, rain or shine. I really like the Waze navigation app for it's nearly immediate warnings of traffic, which actually saved me from being stuck in a tunnel just today. I have a ram mount x-grip (gps city link) to mount my iPhone and a brake reservoir ball mount, but I don't feel safe leaving it when I park it in the city - too easy to twist off and walk away with it (the x-grip, not the phone, that comes with me.) My other problem is that running the screen for an hour kills the battery. I tried running the cord into the glove box but it pinched the cord and doesn't look that great either.
So my solution was to semi permanently mount the x-grip and install a powered USB port in the handlebar plastic. Here's the full picture of all the parts:
For the outlet I ordered a 3BR Panel Tapp. (gps city link) There is already switched power run to the handlebars for the BMW Navigator, and they sell a part that is basically a bundle of wires and a plug. It's BMW part number 83300413585 (Max BMW link, they were great). You could probably just cut the wire, but I didn't want to do that.
Factory run power:
For anyone reading, the brown wire is the ground, the other is hot. If you use the BMW wire bundle thing, you don't use wire 2, just 1 and 3. You can easily see which one is which by looking at the inside of the connector. I quickly wired it up for a test.
Test successful, it was time to drill a hole in the plastic, easily the most nerve racking part of the install. 3BR suggests a step drill bit to drill a hole to the required 7/8 inch. I ordered one from Amazon for about $12 as I didn't have one and Home Depot only had one that was $40. I put it on the part of the plastic that faces your crotch, just above the ignition and below the BMW logo.
Drilling was actually no big deal. Then slide the outlet through the hole and twist on the back to lock it in place.
To be continued...
So my solution was to semi permanently mount the x-grip and install a powered USB port in the handlebar plastic. Here's the full picture of all the parts:
For the outlet I ordered a 3BR Panel Tapp. (gps city link) There is already switched power run to the handlebars for the BMW Navigator, and they sell a part that is basically a bundle of wires and a plug. It's BMW part number 83300413585 (Max BMW link, they were great). You could probably just cut the wire, but I didn't want to do that.
Factory run power:
For anyone reading, the brown wire is the ground, the other is hot. If you use the BMW wire bundle thing, you don't use wire 2, just 1 and 3. You can easily see which one is which by looking at the inside of the connector. I quickly wired it up for a test.
Test successful, it was time to drill a hole in the plastic, easily the most nerve racking part of the install. 3BR suggests a step drill bit to drill a hole to the required 7/8 inch. I ordered one from Amazon for about $12 as I didn't have one and Home Depot only had one that was $40. I put it on the part of the plastic that faces your crotch, just above the ignition and below the BMW logo.
Drilling was actually no big deal. Then slide the outlet through the hole and twist on the back to lock it in place.
To be continued...