Cig socket power problem.

**The Pastor** · 15th January 2008, 12:38

Originally Posted by Ixion

RDs in my very limited excperience seem rather fussy abouit voltage. And mine has a "low voltage" squark.

Have you tried with the motor running ?

i was just thinking that, ixion, wouldnt that be a laugh.

**The Pastor** · 15th January 2008, 12:40

Originally Posted by skidMark

u wired it into the headlight circuit....

darwin nominee.

well skid for brains, it makes sence, as i now have a switch for my electronic devices, that i can use while riding with gloves on.

next will be to wire a door opener to my horn

**skidMark** · 15th January 2008, 12:44

Originally Posted by renegade master

well skid for brains, it makes sence, as i now have a switch for my electronic devices, that i can use while riding with gloves on.

next will be to wire a door opener to my horn

so u overload the circuitry?

wire in a seperate switch man.

oh and thats intelligent so u wake the neighbours everytime ya come home? they will love that.

anyways....you have a fucked connection/ dirty connector/ water in the plug you didn't happen to wash the bike lately did you? maybe water got in and corroded the contacts or something....

**FROSTY:Me** · 15th January 2008, 13:00

Have you checked for interference.Im wondering if the circuits in the detector are like a radio and some suupression is needed.

**Disco Dan** · 15th January 2008, 13:06

Got a waterproof toggle switch from DSE, hard wired it straight to the battery.

Cig lighter socket under the seat. Switch on the dash.

**skidMark** · 15th January 2008, 13:11

Originally Posted by FROSTY

Have you checked for interference.Im wondering if the circuits in the detector are like a radio and some suupression is needed.

Good point tony, but there wouldnt be much to interfere with it on an older bike like his cbr would there? since it's not running at the time?

maybe with newer bikes though with all thier fancy stuff?

**The Pastor** · 15th January 2008, 13:20

Originally Posted by FROSTY

Have you checked for interference.Im wondering if the circuits in the detector are like a radio and some suupression is needed.

it has worked off this set up before.

**Squiggles** · 15th January 2008, 16:27

Originally Posted by renegade master

it has worked off this set up before.

yer but was it a fluke then?

**The Pastor** · 15th January 2008, 17:27

nup worked 2 or 3 times (only plug in the dector on weekends)

**davereid** · 15th January 2008, 18:28

Don't worry about overloading you bike with a radar detector !

It's "Fix your bikes electrics 101" !

There are only a few things to look at :

1. Does it have the right voltage ?
Answer - Yep, its a 12 v detector, on a 12v bike. We have already established that the battery and charging system is in good nick. (Ixions made a very good point about low voltage.)

2. Can the circuit supply the necessary current ?
Answer - Yep, plugging in the cigar lighter (which I incorrectly anticipated would not go) has tested that the circuit can supply 10 amps as required by the cigar lighter. The 1/2 amp or so your RD needs is easy !

3. Is there a dodgy connection ?
Answer - Not known. Even with a dodgy connection a cigar ligher would still get hot - it is pretty insensitive to momentary loss of voltage.

So.. the integrity of all connections is now the next place to look.

**Ixion** · 15th January 2008, 18:44

Those plugs on the cigarette lighter things are often really crappy especially on the earth connection. Try a temp direct wire, just hold a piece of wire onto each of the plug terminals and connect to the battery.

**Max Preload** · 15th January 2008, 19:05

Originally Posted by davereid

If the cig lighter gets hot, it doesn't sound like poor connections to the lighter adaptor, as a Cig lighter draws way more current than your safety equipment.

A cigarette lighter can still get fairly hot even if there's a relatively poor earth and it doesn't care if the earth is interupted slightly on occasions whereas a RD will switch off.

Originally Posted by renegade master

i think i have a good earth, its going to the frame, the socket has no fuse.

You'll want to fix that.

**The Pastor** · 15th January 2008, 20:31

Originally Posted by awful-truth

A cigarette lighter can still get fairly hot even if there's a relatively poor earth and it doesn't care if the earth is interupted slightly on occasions whereas a RD will switch off.

You'll want to fix that.

the plug has a fuse built in.

I now have it working, the cig adapater is absolute shit, super tiny wires inside that were all broken.

Still only works while the bike is running tho.