Connecting chell phone charger

[Druegeme]

Hi, I bought a cell phone mount with wireless charger. It's rated 15W.

Instructions say to connect it directly to battery and switch it off after ride.

But I'm thinking it would be nice to wire it so it only gets power when ignition is on. My first thought was to connect it to the headlight but maybe not a good idea to put an extra 15W on that circuit.

Any ideas? I'm quite comfortable with electrics and can soldering if needed.

Apologies if thismhas been discussed before but I couldn't find anything.

[Brad_G]

What I did was to wire a relay to the battery and trigger it with the taillight circuit. That way it’s switched power.

[Druegeme]

thanks. what kind of relay did you use?

[Brad_G]

For what you’re looking to do a simple 4 prong relay would work. Power in, power out, trigger, and ground.

I had a relay from a wiper motor on a 2001 Pontiac Bonneville I used.

[Duke]

You could use the blue wire in the headlight bucket for your switched positive 12 volt. The blue wire is the running "marker" light power, and would handle your charger just fine.

[Druegeme]

thanks Duke that sounds interesting. Not sure what the marker light is but with the headlight having the strongest fuse 15A wouldnt it be safer to connect it directly to headlight? Or is that blue wire going to the same fuse maybe?

I just measured on the bench and the charger pulls .9A when fast charging my phone. Theres got to be a way to sneak an amp from inside the headlight, maybe the blue wire is the ticket.

[Duke]

Blue wire is the ticket. I'd leave the headlight alone.

[Brad_G]

Yes, blue wire is what I'd call the running/tail light. It runs the license plate light, tail light in back, and the dim side of the front turn signals. Duke's suggestion is easier than what I was describing if that's the only thing your going to add. I went another route as I was adding some other items to my bike (and some planned additions later).

[Tcontrol]

Or just use this…. Bike not running… turn all accessories on… this is meant for post regarding total amp draw of all accessories…. Woops…

Watt rating is maximum power the device can provide before something smokes…. A cell phone battery is like any other battery… a dead battery pulls more current charging then a battery at 80%…. A cell phone charges at 5 volts… 15 watts at 5 volts … 3 amps at 5 volts “maximum” rating… no way your going to charge a cell phone at 3 amps for very long before the battery melts…

make sure you use a fuse of about 2 amps or if something happens to charger or wiring… you could be left without a headlight….

[Druegeme]

Thanks guys, I'll go hunt the blue wire down and use that.

Tcontrol I like I said I measured .9A draw on the bench so thats about 12W. Good point about the fuse, there is a 2A inline fuse in the charger 12V supply line.

[Druegeme]

And here we go. Just what I need.

[roadiemort]

With the key on.

[Druegeme]

Sweet! Wireless charger on the bike.

The mount is solid. Just rode around for some errands and had to track down new addresses. Came in very handy.

Roadiemort I thought that went without saying. The idea is to have the charger powered when the ignition is on. So that it charges when I ride, not when the bike sits idle.

[roadiemort]

I know that but it seems nothing goes without saying these days of Tide pods lol.

[mlrz24]

That looks good. Does it have an anti vibration mount? I heard on another forum that handle bar mounts can actually break the phone camera without one. I was looking into it cause I was thinking of doing this too.

[Druegeme]

no it doesnt have anti vibration but I rode around with it a lot and it doesnt seem to vibrate. There is a rubber ring in the clamp that goes around the handlebar however, perhaps that helps. But serioussly if your handlebars vibrate that bad you have other issues I would argue.

I think the issue with the camera is when you dont use a case, and the lens touches the mount directly. I think it would be dumb to put a phone on a bike without fully enclosed case.

On another note, it is really nice when you run errands and use navigation to find addresses. I used to stop on the side of the road, pull my phone out, gloves off, look up the next couple of turns and so on. Now its right there.

I got a similar mount for my other bike, also around 30 bucks 9n amazon, and they both work well. They have this mechanism with a button in the center, when you put your phone in they grab it automatically. So nice, I would recommend it.

[Shores]

My friend Garrett thought his similar one was secure too until we hit some corduroy dirt road and it went flying!