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Howdy. I guess this isn't technically an appearance mod but I didn't know where else to put this.
I repurposed my old iPhone 3G as a GPS for the bike and I thought that I'd share how I did it. It's probably not the best way, but this is what I did.
I started with RAM mounts that I got from gpscity.com. They had everything and shipping was reasonable. There are lots of other places to buy these.
I purchased these:
A handlebar mount
The iPhone cradle
Ball mount for the cradle
And finally a small connector for between the cradle and the handlebar mount
The handle bar mount went on easy and the screw clamp on the connector is study so it doesn't move at all when tightened.
Leaving the phone on all the time really sucks down the juice so I had to figure out how to power it. I didn't want a cable flopping around when I wasn't using the phone, so I opted for a female usb "a" connector that I could plug an iPod cable into. Found that on ebay by searching for usb extension and picking a suitable one. (Look for one that is completely surrounded in plastic.) Cutoff the male end to make it easier to test fit but leave some of the wire still on it so you can figure out what color wire goes where. The pattern for my connector was black-green-white-red.
To convert from 12v to 5v I ebayed a 12v usb power adaptor. iPhones are finicky about power so make sure that it supports iPhones. I found a short one for a few bucks that fit the bill.
I also ebay'd a short usb ipod cable. The first one I bought was too short (listed as 15cm) but I eventually found one about a foot long.
There is not a lot of room under the tank and I wanted the usb outlet in a specific spot so measure now and figure out just how long you need it. Mine turned out to be 2 feet.
Soldering iron time. Take apart the converter and dremel off the female usb connector making sure to leave some pins to solder to. Then solder the wire to the pins. Solder a power and ground on the other end. I guess if you can find the exact size usb extension you wouldn't need to do this step, but this made for a smaller power converter.
A quick test with a battery powered the phone, so I put the plastic housing back together as best as I could and black taped it up to make it water resistant and to provide some stress relief for the soldered connectors.
The accessory tap on my fuse box is powered all of the time and I didn't want a battery drain so I ended up connecting the power to the power out of my coil relay mod. This way it only gets power when the the ignition is on and the run button is on. In retrospect, I should have found another source that had power when just the key was on. Oh well.
There is one last issue. I wear gloves and the touchscreen doesn't work through leather. I resolved this by finding some conductive thread on the net (I forget where but they sold 10' for a few bucks) and sewing it into the fingertips of my index finger and thumb of my left glove. I left the threads long inside the glove to get a good connection. You need to do both fingers to be able to resize the screen with the pinching motion. Before you do this, mount the phone on the bike and note where your glove contacts the screen. For the index finger it was at the tip, but when resizing, my thumb contacted a bit to the side. You can see in the pic blow I had to go back and redo the thumb.
That's it. I've been using it awhile now and everything seems good.
Here are some pics of the final install.
Rob
The post and you can see the female usb connector in the background.
A better pic of the power tap. (I have a plug for it when not in use but removed it so it can be seen better.) It's hard to tell, but it's a bit below flush with the tach.
The phone cradle and ball:
Installed front view:
Installed side view:
And a pic of the modified gloves:
I repurposed my old iPhone 3G as a GPS for the bike and I thought that I'd share how I did it. It's probably not the best way, but this is what I did.
I started with RAM mounts that I got from gpscity.com. They had everything and shipping was reasonable. There are lots of other places to buy these.
I purchased these:
A handlebar mount
The iPhone cradle
Ball mount for the cradle
And finally a small connector for between the cradle and the handlebar mount
The handle bar mount went on easy and the screw clamp on the connector is study so it doesn't move at all when tightened.
Leaving the phone on all the time really sucks down the juice so I had to figure out how to power it. I didn't want a cable flopping around when I wasn't using the phone, so I opted for a female usb "a" connector that I could plug an iPod cable into. Found that on ebay by searching for usb extension and picking a suitable one. (Look for one that is completely surrounded in plastic.) Cutoff the male end to make it easier to test fit but leave some of the wire still on it so you can figure out what color wire goes where. The pattern for my connector was black-green-white-red.
To convert from 12v to 5v I ebayed a 12v usb power adaptor. iPhones are finicky about power so make sure that it supports iPhones. I found a short one for a few bucks that fit the bill.
I also ebay'd a short usb ipod cable. The first one I bought was too short (listed as 15cm) but I eventually found one about a foot long.
There is not a lot of room under the tank and I wanted the usb outlet in a specific spot so measure now and figure out just how long you need it. Mine turned out to be 2 feet.
Soldering iron time. Take apart the converter and dremel off the female usb connector making sure to leave some pins to solder to. Then solder the wire to the pins. Solder a power and ground on the other end. I guess if you can find the exact size usb extension you wouldn't need to do this step, but this made for a smaller power converter.
A quick test with a battery powered the phone, so I put the plastic housing back together as best as I could and black taped it up to make it water resistant and to provide some stress relief for the soldered connectors.
The accessory tap on my fuse box is powered all of the time and I didn't want a battery drain so I ended up connecting the power to the power out of my coil relay mod. This way it only gets power when the the ignition is on and the run button is on. In retrospect, I should have found another source that had power when just the key was on. Oh well.
There is one last issue. I wear gloves and the touchscreen doesn't work through leather. I resolved this by finding some conductive thread on the net (I forget where but they sold 10' for a few bucks) and sewing it into the fingertips of my index finger and thumb of my left glove. I left the threads long inside the glove to get a good connection. You need to do both fingers to be able to resize the screen with the pinching motion. Before you do this, mount the phone on the bike and note where your glove contacts the screen. For the index finger it was at the tip, but when resizing, my thumb contacted a bit to the side. You can see in the pic blow I had to go back and redo the thumb.
That's it. I've been using it awhile now and everything seems good.
Here are some pics of the final install.
Rob
The post and you can see the female usb connector in the background.
A better pic of the power tap. (I have a plug for it when not in use but removed it so it can be seen better.) It's hard to tell, but it's a bit below flush with the tach.
The phone cradle and ball:
Installed front view:
Installed side view:
And a pic of the modified gloves:
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