Powering up. Getting juice to the tank bag on the FZ1.

After deciding to put the V-Strom up for sale with all of its bits and bobs intact, I needed a new power source for the FZ's tank bag. I'm planning on a long trip this weekend with my KTM owning buddy. Having on bike charging for all of the stuff I'm bringing is nice. I was going to go the route I did with the V-Strom and get something off the shelf at Cycle Gear. I was going to try a direct USB plug instead of the cigarette lighter style on the V-Strom. That is until I read the reviews of the Trackside USB charger and after finding out that Cycle Gear/Trackside changed the style of connector. Now instead of connecting straight to the battery, I need to get a pigtail that attaches to the battery then I can attach the power outlet to the pigtail. All of this was going to get pricier than I wanted so a DIY solution was born.

Aside from the phone charger, I have a small air compressor under my bike seat that runs off a cigarette lighter style plug in. This is a handy piece of kit that I won't go without on my long trips. I need to pick up a plug kit as well to complete the emergency road side tire repair system. This is going to become my DIY charging attachment. I got it from Harbor Freight for the grand price of $5.60. It is meant to be an extension cord that you temporarily attach directly to the battery. I will convert it to permanent use as detailed below.

Other items that will make this work are from left to right: an inline fuse holder and some eye terminals. I also need a rubber cap to cover up the Harbor Freight socket when not in use. These two together cost $7.00 from an auto parts store. I got the ATM sized inline fuse holder as that is the same size fuses the bike uses.

I pried the alligator clamps off of the cord and stripped back the wire. I cut the positive side shorter to allow for the length of the fuse holder wire. I wove the strands of the wires together and soldered them up. I finished it with some shrink wrap to make it look professional and to keep the water out. Next up I crimped on the eye terminals. I also finished them off with some shrink wrap.

I wired the extension cord into the battery starting with the positive terminal. I made sure to write down the mileage on my trip meters as the battery was completely disconnected while I did which cleared my trip odometers. I'm using the trip meters to figure my mileage and tire chain maintenance. The cord has a 100 inch length fully extended. This should reach all the way to the handle bars if I need it to. Here it is coiled up under the seat.

Here it is fed under the front of the seat to the tank bag and in action with a USB adapter plugged in to charge my phone (I couldn't take a picture of my phone with my phone so you'll have to believe me that it was charging. It did show 12.8 Volts with my multimeter). I might want to get some type of phone mount for GPS use for my upcoming trip. I'm thinking of going for a RAM Mount set up. They are really nice and I can use it with one of my GoPros as well with the correct adapter.

This was a nice little project and it got me exactly what I wanted instead of settling for something lesser. Give it a try if you need some discrete 12V for your sport touring pleasure. 

Blue