I've searched the forums and have not found what I'm looking for though to be honest I got lost in one 100+ page DIY section.

I have a new Tomtom Rider gps. It came with the ram mount so I'm good there.

The wiring is a two wire lead (red and black) that I need to hook up to some electrical source. Searching other threads some say don't wire direct to battery as it needs to be cut down from 12v to 5v though my owners manual doesn't say to do that.

Some say to splice into the headlight wiring so the GPS is power/unpowered with ignition switch. I like that idea but I have no idea what wires to tap and I don't like the idea of screwing around and possibly loosing me headlight to a blown fuse. If that is even a concern...i don't know.

I have an accessory toggle switch on the fairing that is not used for anything....I don't even know if there is power to it.

Some say to take my two wire lead, solder that into a cigarette lighter male end and use the cigarette lighter socket. That doesn't see waterproof to me.

I guess what I'm after is where can I wire this GPS into that is safe and simple.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

I hardwired my GPS and I did it with the cigarette lighter wires. I didn't solder, I just stripped and inch or so and twisted the wires and put on electrical tape. Used both of the cigarette lighter wires. Have ridden it all over the country with no problems, including hard rain. I wire tied up the excess wire behind the fairing. The hardest part, which really isn't hard at all, is removing and installing the outer fairing. Cover your fender so it doesn't drop and dent it. Its really a simple job and doesn't need a lot of complication at all.

 

Get one of these for your particular model and power it from inside the headlight.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Compact-Mini...item2eb7495a70

 

You can also use the plug for the heated grips if you don't have them. I soldered a male end from heated grips wiring harness and just plugged in the hardwire kit i got from ebay like suggested above.
Or you could run it to an accessories switch.

 

all of the ways that you mentioned of hooking up power to your tom-tom have one thing in common. 12v. if that is a problem, then none of those solutions will work. but in the installation manual, it should tell you the power requirements. the only one that i've ever heard that should be 5v is for charging via usb. but then again, i haven't researched all possible gps' out there either.

 

There are 2 unused wires on the wires going to the headlight on your 07. They were for the HID headlight option. That is where the factory gps got it's power from. The power works with the ignition. I still use those wires for my current gps, and works perfect.

 

A GPS is (I presume) a GPS. All gear I have had were wired straight to battery. 12V source all day long, bike or automobile. Merry Christmas!!!

 

Personally if I were you, I'd disconnect my cigarette lighter and use that as my power source (and I did with my Garmin 600 series GPS). I connected from inside my inner fairing using shrink wrap connectors so protection from the weather and elements isn't an issue. Another benefit with this method is when I turn off the ignition, the GPS powers down too. That removes the drain on the battery if I forget to power down the Garmin.


That being said, if you decide the battery option, your manual says it's ok. Quoted below from your manual.


The battery cable can optionally be used to power and charge your TomTom RIDER from your motorcycle battery. Connect the battery cable connector to the power connector on the holder. Connect the red battery cable to the switched positive 12 volt power supply on your motorcycle and the black battery cable to the ground supply on your motorcycle. Make sure that the battery cable is secured safely to your motorcycle. It must not hang from the frame or interfere with the motorcycle in any way. Make sure that it is also not in contact with any areas of the motorcycle that become hot and may melt the cable.

 

Look on the back of your unit and it should tell you the actual input power requirements.

It's like 5 volts for a Garmin... Looking online, it looks like TomToms use 5 volts as well. Check you model (on the back in small print embedded in the plastic).

The GPS's factory cig port cable usually has some deal in it that reduces the voltage to some smaller amount.
If you can connect your GPS directly to your computer with a USB cable it's probably not expecting 12 volts, because USB is 5 volts. So your unit is probably expecting 5 volts, and if you give it 12 volts it's going to go POP.

I blew my last GPS not paying attention. Be careful. Expensive mistake...

For the record, I installed a 10 dollar Ebay panel mount dual USB port in my fairing and use a standard USB cable to power all of my accessories (GPS/Phone).
Power comes from the cig lighter because I know it is fused and expecting high amperage. Used some inline terminals connected to the cig to power the USB port thing.
The USB port drops the 12 volts to 5 volts...

When I'm not using anything, I just stuff the cables back into the fairing through the clutch cable hole or where the handle bars come through the lower fairing.

 

Like it's mentioned before I've mine wired to the cig lighter wiring in the fairing for almost 7 years turn on the bike it powers up, turn off the bike it turns off, but you have to take care of gps plugin in the rain or when washing your bike.