Saturday, Jan 25 2014 [6,573 miles]
I’m getting old. My DeLORME PN-60 GPS works great and does everything I want. But… there’s always a but… the screen is too small for my aging eyes. I’ve added prescription sun glasses to my riding gear. It doesn’t help enough. Trying to read road names on the tiny screen is impossible when moving. I’d need to take my eyes off the road. So the PN-60 is being replaced with a Garman Montana 600. Yesterday I wired the unit, today I’ll put the plastic back on the bike and take a test ride.
Insulate unneeded wires
Cover the loops
I got the rugged mount for the GPS which provides power as well as audio and data leads. I don’t need either. Instead of cutting the power leads I looped each lead back on itself and covered it with shrink wrap. That will keep the leads from touching each other. More shrink wrap covered the loops I created to keep them from snagging on anything.
Audio jack not needed
Keep water out
I’m not a fan of GPS audio. I covered the audio jack with shrink wrap to keep water and moisture out. The first layer was long so I could fold it over to protect the end. The plug and folded over layer of shrink wrap was covered with a second layer.
Power lead routing
Hot and ground connected
Power and audio leads
Audio jack out of the way
The Montana is mounted on my handlebar using the same RAM ball that held my PN-60. The GPS cables followed the bike cables from the clutch to the left side of the frame. From there I routed them across the front of the bike in a wire split loom (except for the audio lead) to where my GPS power connections are made on the right side of the bike. I cut off the soldered ends of the GPS wiring and stripped some of the insulation to get to the stranded wiring for a good connection using posi-locks.
My split loom wasn’t thick enough to hide all the wiring so I left the audio cable outside. I also cable tied the audio jack out of the way. If I ever change my mind it will be easy to modify the layout to get access to the jack.
Operating position
This is what it looks like from the riding position. Now for a test ride. I did check that the GPS powers up when the bike is started and powers off in 30 seconds after killing the ignition.