Phone Charger Issue

bazzee said:
Would something like this work?
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Click to expand...
That's more or less what I have, but it's only waterproof when the cap is closed.
I taped up the second socket so as to avoid ingress of water when using the GPS under the rain.

Paul
 
I've been following this thread out of curiosity.
I don't have a GPS thing I tend to write my directions as a road route plan, without the sophistication of Dakar etc. competitors,
but have on occasions needed GPS to get me to a specific location once close to target.
So my phone comes into play.
I don't like GPS as it limits my ability to see what the surrounding area is likely to be and when/if looking for a place to rough camp, gives no useful information as all the none road bits just show as a colour, whatever the terrain, so I've no idea if the area off to my side is suitable for throwing down a bivvy bag or not.

During COVID shut downs the only sensible manner for me to get from home to work was ride.
So my notes consisted of the following written via my computer and printed out of A4 paper and folded to go with my maps in the
map pocket on my tank bag.
For the approximately 2000 km journey the notes consisted of.

Four lines at point 12 font typing from Barcelona to French boarder.
Another 8 lines again at 12 Font type size to get from Southern French border to Northern French border with Germany.
Two and a half to two and three quarters of A4 pages notes, again at font size 12, to get from Southern German border to Bremerhaven.
What a ball ache.
When asking a German local how they navigate around their homeland, they stated without hesitation 'with GPS'.

Things that may help the battery issue.
Shutdown all programmes not in direct use.
Shutdown all update facilities of 'Apps'.
F*#<ing Apps are not going to save the planet or save you money but their constant need to 'refresh' will drain your battery.

Other things that may help.

I have a charge socket on my bike and run a lead up to my tank bag with a socket at the end for whatever I need to plug in.
I have a 2.2amp USB socket for emergencies there are higher amperage ones. See link below.
Only the charge socket is permanently attached to the bike so little opportunity for theft or water ingress when not in use.
Socket has cap to seal out water and is tucked away from easy sight and water, whether rain or wash down.
On other bikes I have an Optimate charge lead.

Optimate also do these.
https://optimate1.com/prod/usb/
Pick your preferred option.

The socket on my day to day mile muncher is a DIN ISO4165 (eg BMW socket type) Schaub connection, so the combination of plugs, sockets, extension lead etc give me plenty of options take up bugger all room and are not left on the bike so can't be nicked and or filled with water and most importantly of all, they run of the main battery of the bike with a nice big alternator and near 30 amp hour battery keeping everything sweet.

Hope this helps.
 
You can of course plan your route at home on a pc using any one of a number of programs and then feed it into your smartphone or GPS thingy.

Paul
 
Some good info for me to cogitate on. In my case, my best guess is the phone is using more juice while GPSs than it's being fed to it by my cigarette charging plug from the bike with probably also having an old internal phone battery that doesn't like what's happening. So I am going to buy one of those phone power packs and have it in the tank bag and connect it to the phone on the handlebars and see if that extends its running time from 4hrs to 8 or more.
 
Back in 1981 when the Sony walkman was the latest thing to have I brought one. Thought I'd try it while riding down Hwy 101 for the 100 miles to San Francisco and as California didn't have helmet laws I put a beanie over the head phones, cranked up the Rolling stones and off I went.
That was the one and only time I ever rode with music.
A: Riding without a helmet is so uncomfortable besides the safety aspect and
B: You can't hear the bike.
For me music is something to have while working in the shed of relaxing in front of a very good Audio system where you can benefit form the quality of the recordings. Music while riding, nah not for me.
 
I am probably the only one who does this in the group I ride with. We do a lot of long day rides out of Sydney and quite a few ends up having a long drone session coming or going on Expressways. For example last weekend, Day 1 had me doing 50ks of expressway to the meeting spot then maybe another 40ks to get to the good stuff and after that my guess was 400 plus ks of great bike roads. Day 2 always has planned a long return to Sydney but there are unavoidable at least 3hrs of expressways, and looping around the mountains and heading into Sydney by The Great Western Hwy over The Blue Mountains, usually bumper to bumper BUT as usual, word goes out that sore arses demand just continuing all the way up the Doom Hwy. So that was approx 6hrs of THAT HORROR and listening to music makes it a bit more pleasant.
 
Vince said:
Some good info for me to cogitate on. In my case, my best guess is the phone is using more juice while GPSs than it's being fed to it by my cigarette charging plug from the bike with probably also having an old internal phone battery that doesn't like what's happening. So I am going to buy one of those phone power packs and have it in the tank bag and connect it to the phone on the handlebars and see if that extends its running time from 4hrs to 8 or more.
Click to expand...

👍🏽
Get one with 20000mAh or greater capacity. Less than $100
Will last more than a day with GPS on
 
Vince said:
I listen to music a lot when I ride, especially on expressways.
Click to expand...
I tried listening to music back when MP3 players were all the rage, connected via BT to helmet speakers. Gave up about 20 minutes into the ride, far too much distraction for me. Doesn't bother me while driving though, guess it's the proximity of the helmet speakers that's so annoying.

Garmin Zumo, hard-wired for reliability, sturdy bracketry, big screen (not that I can see much on it :rolleyes: ) and clear audio BT output do it for me. USB sockets also on all bikes to keep the phone full.

Sure, I've navigated criss-cross through Europe using maps and always found where I wanted to go. But GPS removes loads of guesswork and save tons of time. Stopping at every second intersection to check the route can really bugger up a tight schedule. Add adverse road/weather conditions, a late arrival is almost guaranteed. Did I mention that soggy maps really piss me off?

GPS doesn't have many disadvantages. Going to be a real clusterfuck though if somebody like Mad Vlad or 'lil Kim manages to shut it down.

piet
 
The first time I tried listening to music on a seriously tight bike road, The Old Rd I got to a straight bit and had zero memory of what was playing. I just zoned it out while concentrating on the road. It surprised me at the time. BTW it's not playing really loud, just above perception. Other than the battery the other issue is seeing the map on the screen in bright sun. It needs some kind of shade hood. I have a pretty old HTC Android that's not ever water-resistant like most new phones are these days, I hear the later Samsungs have screens you can see better in bright sun. Mine is at Max Brightness so that would kill battery life as well.
 
Motorcycling is one of the rare moments I can be alone. Just the engine and wind noise.
I do not want music, or GPS or heaven forbid an intercom thingy to converse with Corinne. We can shout at each other when we stop, don't need that in the helmet as well.

Paul
 
Paul Marx said:
Motorcycling is one of the rare moments I can be alone. Just the engine and wind noise.
I do not want music, or GPS or heaven forbid an intercom thingy to converse with Corinne. We can shout at each other when we stop, don't need that in the helmet as well.

Paul
Click to expand...
You actually don't have to shout with a decent intercom/helmet pairing.

I find it quite comfortable being able to converse while rolling, without needing to resort to sign language or dangerous manouvres to shout at one another, etc. Bike to bike intercom can help inform followers about an upcoming turn-off (it somehow always works out that I am the leader of our groups), when one of a group goes missing or when somebody needs to stop for a pee. A great safety boon imho.

I've tried this several times with different people, but their inability to use either voice-activation or a PTT button has turned it into a failure every time. It's not that difficult to learn, anybody used to radio communications should have no difficulties at all.

Yes, general chatter should be avoided/suppressed. Enough time for that on the next lunch stop.

piet
 
sfcpiet said:
You actually don't have to shout with a decent intercom/helmet pairing.

I find it quite comfortable being able to converse while rolling, without needing to resort to sign language or dangerous manouvres to shout at one another, etc. Bike to bike intercom can help inform followers about an upcoming turn-off (it somehow always works out that I am the leader of our groups), when one of a group goes missing or when somebody needs to stop for a pee. A great safety boon imho.

I've tried this several times with different people, but their inability to use either voice-activation or a PTT button has turned it into a failure every time. It's not that difficult to learn, anybody used to radio communications should have no difficulties at all.

Yes, general chatter should be avoided/suppressed. Enough time for that on the next lunch stop.

piet
Click to expand...
We often have to shout with my wife, intercom or not.

Paul
 
rowdypat said:
👍🏽
Get one with 20000mAh or greater capacity. Less than $100
Will last more than a day with GPS on
Click to expand...
I ordered one today for $87 including postage, I have a waterproof bag so it can live in the tank bag and connect to the phone on the handlebars. It will be interesting to see if it works all day, it should be good.
 
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