Mid range 12v accessory socket fitted.

OK, so today with a bit of time on my hands I fitted the accessory socket, so here's some pics & a bit of feedback.

STEP 1) The first step is to sort out the bracket, which comes with a metal clamp, and 2 sizes of 'chrome' ring to go round the bars. Naturally we need the larger size for the Intruder's lovely chunky bars .




Feedback: the chrome rings are plastic. One ring has 2 tiny holes and the other has 2 tiny lugs to locate them in line. After trying various positions, even just squeezing the rings into place by hand, the lugs had snapped off. Not a deal breaker but not a good start quality wise :(

STEP 2) Find a position you are happy with - TIP - only do it up finger tight, as you will need to try sliding the accessory socket onto its mount, and check it isnt fouling mirrors or whatever. FEEDBACK: bolts could be longer - a real fiddle getting the nuts on whilst pinching in the clamp & pair of rings.

Position was a bit fiddy on mine, as have a screen, and the handlebar mounts for these take up valuable space. Settled on left hand side, near just to right of brake lever:



STEP 3) Accessory simply slides onto bracket (nice firm fit). Do this whilst bracket is finger tight, fine tune angle, position etc, then tighten screws. As you can see, accessory socket has sturdy plastic cover to keep rain, dust & general shit out when not in use.





STEP 4) Choose how to wire in your unit - I'm going to pick up a feed from the spare connector in the headlamp bowl:



There is a black wire and an orange leading to the connector.... I asssumed orange was live, but confirmed this with a cheapo tester:

BARGAIN: on sale in ALDI right now for less than a fiver.... my store only had one left :(



STEP 5) Chop off the connector fitted to the wires that come with the accessory socket, mark which one is positive, and solder on 2 spades, ideally housed in a T block to insulate. I used one like
THIS. Only snag was it didnt click into locking tab on bike's connector, but still good result.

STEP 6) Before running the cables through the back of the headlamp bowl, cable tying etc, make sure everything works OK.

Apologies for crap photo, but HURRAH!



STEP 6a) I think I'm right in saying some 12v devices will work whether you get the +ve and -ve correct or not! Not sure if that's the case with this accessory socket, but just to be safe, used my trusty Aldi meter to check that the centre pin of the cigar lighter was +ve before plugging in my pricey new sattnav

STEP 7) Finally, disconnect your spade connectors, and route the cable properly in through the back of the headlamp bowl (nice big opening, with no grommet on mine!) and use a couple of cable ties to keep everything shipshape.

OVERALL FEEDBACK: Despite a couple of smmall design flaws, and the quite bulky size, this is a pretty smart loooking unit, and I like the fact it has BOTH a 'cigar lighter' style socket AND a USB - generally the USB cables for phones etc are more compact, so you have a choice. Also has nice on/off switch and LED indicator.

The manufacturer's called EKLIPES. If you try and find www.eklipes.com, it's down for maintentance. But here's where I bought it from:
LINK

Hope you found this useful. Happy biking

Excellent writeup Mal, that will help other membersfor sure. Looks great too

great photo lesson on how to fit said power adapter mal cheers think ill order one soon .

Very good install thread Mal & it looks great too.

Good write up Mal.

Nice job Mal, Excellent write up too It looks a handy unit having the USB as well as the Lighter socket.

Very handy with the usb slot, more and more stuff has a usb charge facility nowadays

Mine arrived today, very fast delivery I thought as it took a week and two days from the USA over the Christmas period, I was going to fit it but I'm not sure on the wires (they're both black) will it matter which goes to live and earth ? or am I better opening it up to confirm which is the live and earth ? Thanks.

I'll try and help you with this question Sim.

I'm no expert at all, and am learning as I go along, so I hope someone else will chime in if I'm wrong here.

But I think for some 12v things like lighting, you can reverse the polarity and it still works. But I definitely wanted to maintain the polarity with this item, so as not to knacker my phone, satnav or whatever I'm going to plug into it.

Have you bought the exact same one as me Sim? On mine, I opened it up, and although It wasn't dead clear, there was a fine red wire inside going to the USB circuitry, and so I traced that back to 1 of the 2 external wires, which I marked positive.

I test wired it in, and tested the polarity with the cheapo meter mentioned - the centre pin of the ciggy lighter should be positive if wired correctly apparently.

My memory is getting shocking lately but I'm pretty sure if you look at the unit the right way up (so the EKLIPES cover reads correctly) I'm pretty sure it's the right hand wire coming out of the back of the unit. (or the left one as you loook at the back of the unit )

But I'd hate you just to take my word for it, and get it wrong - looks like your going to need one of those cheapo testers!

ps.... be carefull taking it apart - it was quite fiddly to reassemble as the usb and the LED shifted out of position!


PS.... if you want a hand, you would be welcome to call in over the weekend and we could fit it....you know where I am. Just let me know if you want to, so I can have an excuse to avoid the Sainsburys run

A lot of stuff is not much more than a simple circuit so no issue, but with all this new fangled stuff especially the USB items you just can't be sure. I would not take a chance, I would put a circuit tester on her or if you don't have one open her up and take a peak.

bigmal wrote:

Just let me know if you want to, so I can have an excuse to avoid the Sainsburys run

Cheers for the offer Mal But sorry it looks like your on the Sainsburys run As I was bored today and bugger all else has come that I've ordered I thought I'd fit the 12v/USB outlet, I wired it in the headlight bucket as per your instructions and all went well Out of curiosity I reversed the connections and the LED didn't light up, So it must only work one way. While I was feeling in electrical mood, I thought I'd wire my other not so pretty 12v socket direct to the battery (pemenantly live) and put it in a more obscure spot. The reason for putting it in this position is, I thought I could charge whatever needs charging in the panniers out of sight.

Good idea

Good thinking Simbo, might be an idea to get a perminant black marker pen on that grey cover to make it disapear in to the side panel.

Good thinking Crash A bit darker now

Ah the sore thumb has healed, good thinking.

Clever stuff. That's interesting with the LED Sim, so we must have got it the right way round.

Mr Intruder wrote:

A lot of stuff is not much more than a simple circuit so no issue, but with all this new fangled stuff especially the USB items you just can't be sure. I would not take a chance, I would put a circuit tester on her or if you don't have one open her up and take a peak.

Take an Ohms tester and check it easily. place one lead to the end of the wire . Touch the other lead to the bottom lead inside receptical. careful not to touch the sides if it shows continuity that is the Hot if it doesn't it is the ground. To double check test the other wire. If you cross them it will burnup what you plug into it. I put A different kind on my Trike yesterday. Dave the ProudTexson

Tried this on a 50 mile trip today, and satnav kept losing power.

Seems the Garmin plug was vibrating out of the 12v socket, as I'd fitted it so it was horizontal.

A quick tweek en route... I loosened the bracket and fixed it so it was slightly angled upwards, and that seems to have solved it

Glad you sorted it Mal I'm sure these 12v charger things are slightly different sizes? some I've got are tight and others just right and some just downright loose :what1:

Yep you're probably right re the size thing. Anyway, appears to be OK...