wiring.help

[dd]

hi.

i have a zumo 550.
i will be flying to denver and renting a harley which has a cigarette lighter type accessory socket.
i want to take my zumo and the motorcycle cradle, and attach it to the rental bike.

i spliced the stock zumo motorcycle power cord into an aftermarket cigarette lighter type plug (i cut off the fuse part of the wire, since the cigarette lighter plug has the same fuse built in).

when i tested this in my automobile, a green light on the plug lit up, however, the zumo didn't register as getting power (the battery bars stayed on).

does anyone have an idea of why this did not work and how to fix it?
is it possible that simple reversing the leads could fix it?

thanks.
-daniel.

[deilenberger]

Noticed your sig - one of my favorite quotes: "it seemed like a good idea at the time "

Hopefully not in this case. DC circuits are polarity sensitive. Some lighter adaptors do have a voltage reducing circuit in them - and I'm hoping the Zumo didn't.. (since over-voltage could take out some electronics in the Zumo.)

Certainly possible if you weren't careful that the polarity got reversed. A well designed device has a few diodes on the input stage to prevent damage if this happens, and I suspect the Zumo is well designed.

Fuses are normally in the positive lead - so if you have the plug you cut off around, look at the wiring. If it's two conductor stranded, typically one of the strands will have little ridges on the outside insulation allowing you to track it from point to point. If it's coaxial (one wire inside a shield) - the shield is always ground (negative.)

Center connector on any lighter plug is positive..

You want positive to positive and negative (ground) to negative (ground.)

HTH,

[whitelightning]

"Sometimes" auto cigar lighter plugs are center positive. I bought the Eastern Beaver setup, fuseblock, SAE adapter and cigar/SAE adapter. Connected it all by color code, and blew 2 fuses before the light came on over my head to check polarity. Sure enoughn the center conductor on the cigar adapter was negative. Reversed it and all was well.

[dd]

don and white lightning,
thank you both for your help.
indeed, it was as simple as switching the leads.
the zumo does draw vehicle power with the positive lead from the zumo cable on the center post of the cigarette plug.
thanks again.
-daniel.

[hammick]

hi.

i have a zumo 550.
i will be flying to denver and renting a harley which has a cigarette lighter type accessory socket.
i want to take my zumo and the motorcycle cradle, and attach it to the rental bike.

i spliced the stock zumo motorcycle power cord into an aftermarket cigarette lighter type plug (i cut off the fuse part of the wire, since the cigarette lighter plug has the same fuse built in).

when i tested this in my automobile, a green light on the plug lit up, however, the zumo didn't register as getting power (the battery bars stayed on).

does anyone have an idea of why this did not work and how to fix it?
is it possible that simple reversing the leads could fix it?

thanks.
-daniel.

My Quest didn't have this and reversing the polarity smoked it.

[ShinySideUp]

Hey guys... one word: multimeter.

Many a time this has prevented me from releasing the magic smoke that lives inside the wires.