Question for the wiring-savvy

[rasta]

What I'm looking to do is setup an 808 camera on the top of my Ninjette's instrument panel, shooting me. I want that angle so when I post up a video looking for critiques, I can show what my body positioning looks like too.

So I'm pretty clueless when it comes to wiring (thank god for Step by Step DIYs). That said, I'd like to splice the 808's USB cable into the instrument panel's wiring cluster.

I cut open the USB cable, and there's a green, black, red, and white wire inside. My initial thought is to just splice each of those into a wire of the same color in the instrumental cluster. Is it that simple?

Thanks

[Motofool]

I don't know how it is, but is not that simple; please, wait for help.

[Alex]

You need to convert the voltage from the 12V bike system to the 5V that USB devices need. It's not as simple as just wiring up the same colors and hoping for the best. Best bet is find a 12V to USB converter/charger, and running the USB end to the camera. Ping @rojoracing53 who has done something very similar for the cams that he mounts on his bike.

[rasta]

Dammit, things are never as easy as we'd like them to be

[csmith12]

Let's cut 90% of the difficulty right off the bat, install a 12v socket outlet (cigarette lighter style).

[rasta]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Let's cut 90% of the difficulty right off the bat, install a 12v socket outlet (cigarette lighter style).

I have a 12v socket w/ usb car charger, but already had both USB ports occupied. Took me until now to realize I could just put a splitter in one of those ports. *facepalm*

[csmith12]

[alex.s]

first you need to convert the bike to a 6V electrical system. you can swap to a norton points system if you want to be fancy. otherwise, just clip on of the three stator wires. you probably should replace the battery too. 4 double-A batteries should equal 6 volts... so now that you're on a 6v system, just look around the front for some wires that look important. they probably have power, just hook up to those. the frame is grounded so just strip your ground wire really long and wrap it on the frame. maybe put duct tape on it so it doesn't fall off

[Insan3guy]

I needed to charge my gps from my bike, it has a usb cable too.
I went to autozone and got a 12v cigarette lighter splitter, like this one here , but make sure that it has positive and negative wires labeled (neg will be black, pos could be black with a white stripe). There are much better options, but this was cheapest at the time. I took the positive lead and tapped into the (IIRC) license plate light wire, with an inline fuse similar to this one. Take the negative and ground it to the frame somewhere convenient.
For stuff bigger than a gps or phone, you will want to make a separate accessory circuit connected to the battery with a switch somewhere in there. (so you don't drain the battery accidentally)
you DO NOT want to start splicing same-colored wires from entirely different sources into each other. Computer and automotive wires will most definitely not be labeled similarly on purpose. You're really making it harder than it needs to be.

...and I just realized that the thread has already been resolved.

[InvisiBill]

Originally Posted by rasta

I have a 12v socket w/ usb car charger, but already had both USB ports occupied. Took me until now to realize I could just put a splitter in one of those ports. *facepalm*

Keep in mind that each USB port (and the charger as a whole) has a limited amount of current it can supply. It sounds like you've got your setup working, but just remember that you can't keep splitting those infinitely.


They can be a bit difficult to find, but you can get 12V direct-wire USB power ports. It looks like just a USB port with black and red wires coming out of it, but it actually has all the voltage regulation stuff built in (so don't try just wiring a 5V USB port directly to your 12V battery). If you have stuff that charges via USB that you'd like to use on your bike, these are a great addition. It's a lot simpler and cleaner than installing a lighter socket just to use a USB power adapter in it (though the lighter socket gives you other options and is probably easier to find).

One of the Canadian EX500 guys bought up all the ones that a local store had on clearance and sold them to members, so I can't really help you track one down. http://postimg.org/image/bl637c9h5/ is a pic of what his looked like.

[rasta]

Originally Posted by InvisiBill

Keep in mind that each USB port (and the charger as a whole) has a limited amount of current it can supply. It sounds like you've got your setup working, but just remember that you can't keep splitting those infinitely.

That's very true. But it should be okay if I only split one of them, right? I only need 3 USB ports...

[InvisiBill]

Originally Posted by rasta

That's very true. But it should be okay if I only split one of them, right? I only need 3 USB ports...

Check the charger's specs and see what it puts out, and compare that to what your devices are trying to pull. A standard USB port is 500mA, with 1A being the de facto "faster charging" rate. Tablets and bigger devices can pull over 2A.

My biggest concern is that if the splitter is simply wired up as a Y on each wire, each device could see the charger as being able to provide 1A, so each device would then try to draw 1A from the charger, for a total of 2A being drawn through the charger rated for only 1A.

It's more cumbersome and expensive, but it would be safer to split the lighter socket into two, and use two separate USB chargers. You're then sharing the heavy 12V power wiring of the socket for a pair of chargers rather than sharing the converted 5V USB power to multiple devices (which can draw different rates based on how the USB port is wired up). Or if you just need one more port, try to find one of the direct-wire USB power ports I mentioned as an addition to your 2-port lighter plug charger.

It looks like the USB power ports have become more available lately. http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...001_1456144_-1 is one with a 2.1A port and a 1.0A port. http://www.jpcycles.com/product/105-302 is made for bikes, but it only has a single 1.2A port. eBay has some combo units with a lighter plug and a USB port, which could be a nice all-in-one solution for people.