Direct powering Chatterbox X1

[jdwatson]

Greetings !

After two days away from AC power my Chatterbox X1 finally turned itself off. That got me to thinking there's gotta be a way to "bypass" the battery and run off of ship's power.

I know there's a gizmo that will let the battery charge off of ship's power, but that's not what I'm looking to do.

So I figure if anyone has done it, it's the gang at BMWMOA. Anyone every cook up a connection that eliminates the battery to the X1 ? The battery is 4.8v / 1000 mAH with one of those white two-wire phone battery connectors.

 

[akbeemer]

I'm not sure I understand your question, but I won't let that stop me from offering an answer. Chatterbox sells a cable that is designed to be wired into a bike's electrical system. The cable then plugs into the recharge port on the radio. It provides power to recharge the battery, not direct power to the radio. You can then put the radio in a tank bag or if preferred mount it on a Ram mount on your handle bars. There is a web site that shows how to attach the helmet mount to a Ram mount; sorry I have lost the address, but a Google search should turn it up. There are other cables available from Chatterbox to connect the radio to your helmet. None of the cables are real expensive. Hope this helps.

 

[Semper_Fi]

In addition to Kevin's excellent suggestion, you may want to add a fuse panel.

The fuse panel would connect to the battery and allow access to different fused ports.

The one I have use on several bike is a Centech and I have it set up with a relay so that the panel is powered only when I want it

Here is the link to the Cycle Gagdet Website on the Centech

 

[hlothery]

Since you are now thinking about hooking a wire from the bike to your helmet, have you considered a more capable intercom such as an Autocom or Baehr?

 

[akbeemer]

JD, Hugh's comment is a good one. I've been trying to find a good solution to the bike to bike radio issue for awhile. I've avoided the Autocom/Starcom route because of the cost of outfitting 4 bikes, but I'm about to bite the bullet and spend the money because nothing seems to work well.

 

[jdwatson]

I've seen the cable that will act like a "wall wart" to charge the battery. I just figured what's the sense of cooking a battery if I only need the radio when I'm actually on the bike. I was trying to avoid constantly topping up the NiMH or having to manage plugging/un-plugging when fully charged.

I keep the Chatterbox X1 in my tank bag (Big Mak), already have a sea of wires in there:

• Zumo to the Chatterbox (audio-out, mic/cellphone)
• Chatterbox to helmet (Y-cable for earphone/earspeakers)
• ... just add the DC Power cable to the mix.

The Autocom, et al. systems look very good, but right now cash is not plentiful. I'll probably put a Centech AP-1 under the seat on top of the fusebox cover. Move my Gerbing wire off the battery to the AP-1, move the Zumo from the fuse tap in the fuse box to the AP-1 and finally add the Chatterbox DC Power Filter Cable for the time being. Having a touch of OCD, I just don't messy wire configurations. This is the first motorcycle I've ever modified by myself.

I've gotten pretty good at getting the tupperware off. At my last service the technician cross-threaded one screw/bolt on the right side. I'm trying to limit the amount of times I removed the sides.

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[akbeemer]

Consider using a "Fuzeblock Fuse Block FZ-1" instead of the CenTec. I have a Centec on one bike and it works fine, but I just added a FZ-1 to another bike and it's much neater due to a built in relay.

 

[Semper_Fi]

The fuze block is a tighter set up - but it also carrys less current.

Capacity is 30A for the Fuzeblock, 60A for the Centech.

Sometimes that is important.

 

[jdwatson]

30A seems like a lot if one is not powering lighting.