Mine works, are'nt you jealous?

 

I think he's saying they are both 12V, but the contacts are a little different.

 

Q to the OP, does your cig adapter for the ipod have a little light on it that tells you whether it's getting power? All you said was it wasn't charging your ipod, but you did not seem to indicate whether or not it was getting power. Most modern cig adapters have a light on them that tell you whether they're getting power or not.

If yours does, and does not indicate that it's getting power when plugged into the bike, but does indicate it's getting power when plugged into the car, then as a couple others suggested, it may be that one of the two points on the adapter is not making/maintaining sufficient contact to provide power.

For example, someone messed up one of the power ports in one of my vehicles by using the lighter too much, and leaving residue behind before reinserting the lighter, which caused the power port to have some dead spots. Or I've had certain adapters that had different length or spring tension on the plunger of the adapter, or different tensions/width on the 'wings' on the side of the adapter that make contact w/ the side wall of the power port.

In any of these situations, you may have to use different motions of twisting and forceful entry to get it to make contact, or in some cases you have to use that plastic slip on adapter over the the cig adapter, to get it to make and maintain constant contact w/ the power port. Or try a different adapter.

So, to recap, if there is no indicator light you'r flying blind.

If there is an indicator light and it's on, but no power to device, then could be a bad cord or port on the device, except you say it works in the car, so that's probably not the case.

If there is an indicator light and it's NOT on, then could be a fuse, but again you say it works in the car, so that's probably not it.

So again, if it works in the car, and not in the bike, and it's not the device port, and it's not the cord, and it's not the fuse, then the only likely logical thing would be it's not making sufficient contact w/ the power port, meaning something could be wrong w/ the power port (have you tried other devices in the power port?), or there's something about the design of the adapter that is causing it not to make contact, which may require adjustments to the adapter to make it fit more snugly (stretching the sides of the adapter like you do to make batteries fit more snugly, stretching springs to be firmer, using longer plunger from another adapter, etc), using an additional slip on adaptor on it, sanding down connection points if residue of any kind, or just trying a different adapter.

The only other thing I could think of is what someone else suggested about the power port putting out an odd amount of juice that the adapter doesn't like or recognize, in which case maybe something needs to be done to properly regulate that, or maybe a different adapter would work also.

 

Thanks much, Karz. The charger does have a light and it, and it is not "on" when plugged into the bike's cig lighter (but is "on" in the car). This is the second charger I have tried, so I think the problem is the cig lighter outlet is either dirty or for some other reason is not connecting with the chargers. I'm going to try cleaning it - a simple fix would be nice.

Nice looking bike, by the way - same paint as my RG.

 

I just went down to the local WalMart and purchased a power outlet. I think it was less than $5.00. It looks exactly like the Powerlet products. Has a black plastic cover that keeps the rain and wind out.

 

Harley riders aren't supposed to even own a cell phone, iPod, etc, and they're all supposed to smoke something. Geeeeees

 

For all it's worth the OWNERS MANUAL states do not use the cig lighter to power accessories. That is probably why your charger does not work because it is not designed to do this.

 

It's not designed to power high amp products, but ipod don't pull many amps. High amperage products will blow the fuse.

 

I have the same problem between cars, I agree with hot95hog, some lighter sockets are deeper than others and the tit will not make contact, the shafts on some adaptors have a neck not allowing them to make contact.

 

Thanks, I love the bike.

Yeah, I would try another adapter for another device you have, maybe you have a radar detector in the car, or some other cig light adapter for something, see if another one works, and then compare the adapter to the one for the ipod and see what is different between the two. Maybe you can figure out why that one isn't working.

If you bought another charger for the ipod from certain stores, like wal-mart for example, if it didn't work it would be an easy refund process, just thinking out loud.

All I know is on my RKC, it doesn't come w/ any sort of power port, but I added a speaker system to it and I can run my gps or my phone/mp3 from my dash, and I added this unit to the bike:

http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/g...bmLocale=en_US



A lot of people put em in the side plate, or run em back to the saddlebag or something. For my application, I wrapped electrical tape around it (so it doesn't short out) and tucked it into the little metal cavity under the seat, and run my usb charger out of it and up to the gps/phone, since they both use mini usb for power. Some people do this same thing, but use an extra long cig cord and run it back to their saddle bag, or wherever they need the power.

But if you can't get the one you have to work, and you don't like this idea, then others have mentioned other various power ports you can buy, like the nice chrome ones if you want it up by the bars somewhere...

Let us know how it turns out, in case I hear of this problem again, I'd like to know if you got it worked out...

As to the critics about not owning cell phones and ipods, aside from the obvious point that we are well into a digital millenium, I find many benifits directly related to riding and my gadgets, effectively communicating w/ hot chicks and entertaining them while on the ride, in turn often entertains me and the rest of the group simultaneously, win-win I say...