XT coming next week

[jfheath]

I didn't know about the volume / top right corner method of accessing the System pages.
I use the long press of the circular speedo method.
Same thing - but your method is much easier to describe !! Thanks for passing that on.

There are a few other things that change once the Zumos have been driven for a short distance. And come back again after s system reset.

[twowheelstom]

i have an idea about that continual 0.00012 amp (150uA) parasitic draw on the mount that's connected to bike battery hookup, I am thinking of soldering bullet plugs onto the ends of the (red/black) mount cable and plugging the bullets into an always-hot accessory lead that's inside the headlight bucket, (the accessory leads in the headlight bucket come like that from the factory, there's another set under the seat), so come winter storage time all I need do is go inside the headlight bucket and pull those the bullet plugs out of those accessory leads, that way the bike battery (which I leave on the bike during storage) won't have that parasitic drain for the XT mount. what do ya think? good or bad idea any other options? or just use a battery tender to keep the bike battery charged up over winter storage. I can go either way

[jfheath]

I have my own accessory harness which is connected with 30A cable to feed power to various devices.
All of it is turned on with 2 x 40A relay - one is triggered when ignition is turned on. One is triggered when just accessories are turned on.
Remove the ignition key and it all switches off. All suitably fused of course.

It doesn't have to be that complicated, but it saves wiring in lots of separate things and creating a fire hazard.

[twowheelstom]

I decided to use a SAE quick disconnect on the XT mount wires end, to a SAE quick disconnect to battery. I will store the disconnect section inside the bike's left-side tool pouch box, it has a keyed door, easy access to disconnect XT mount from DC power without removing the seat or removing the headlight to accessory leads inside there. then I can do the disconnect and connect a battery tender for a charge up.

[twowheelstom]

wait a minute, my 12v bike battery is rated 12Ah
so with a 150uA XT mount amp drain (= 0.15 mA drain), that's a 12v bike battery life of 9.132 years

https://www.digikey.ca/en/resources/con ... ttery-life

that 150uA parasitic XT mount drain on a 12Ah bike battery doesn't seem much (9 years to drain), maybe I can just wire the XT cable directly to the bike battery and charge up the bike battery once a year. how's that? soldering on the SAE quick-disconnect plug option on the end of the XT cable doesn't seem worth it now. I'll just go directly to always-hot accessory lead in the headlight bucket and never touch it again. just charge up the bike battery once a year. does this seem right? 9 years to drain my bike battery?

[danham]

wait a minute, my 12v bike battery is rated 12Ah
so with a 150uA XT mount amp drain (= 0.15 mA drain), that's a 12v bike battery life of 9.132 years

https://www.digikey.ca/en/resources/con ... ttery-life

that 150uA parasitic XT mount drain on a 12Ah bike battery doesn't seem much (9 years to drain), maybe I can just wire the XT cable directly to the bike battery and charge up the bike battery once a year. how's that? soldering on the SAE quick-disconnect plug option on the end of the XT cable doesn't seem worth it now. I'll just go directly to always-hot accessory lead in the headlight bucket and never touch it again. just charge up the bike battery once a year. does this seem right? 9 years to drain my bike battery?

As I said previously, the XT mount is the least of your worries. Various other devices on your bike draw much more current than the XT mount and your nine-year calculation ignores them. Ask riders how long their bike battery lasts before they have to buy a new one and many will say something like three years. I bet they are not using a battery tender and that the key-off draw from computers, clocks and odometer memory have drained the battery many times, shortening its service life. Often the bike charging system cannot make up the difference unless you ride for hours. Commuters are vulnerable to this.

My Kawasaki has what I consider a pretty small battery (8.6 aH) and lots of electronic stuff, so I plug in whenever the bike is parked in my garage for longer than a day or so. My bike is a 2018 and its original battery is still very healthy.

So yes, it's fine to wire the XT direct to the battery (my personal preference), but you will want to use a battery tender for best results regardless of how you hook up.

PS: some Googling reveals owners reporting stock parasitic draw ranging from about 4 mA on a Triumph to 20 mA on a Honda VFR! That's 4.0 and 20.0 compared to 0.15 for the XT mount.

-dan

[FrankB]

So yes, it's fine to wire the XT direct to the battery (my personal preference), but you will want to use a battery tender for best results regardless of how you hook up.

I prefer it wired to the 'ignition circuit'. Not so much, because I'm worried that the battery gets drained, But when you switch on the bike, the XT switches on, and you can be sure that it's powered by bike if it does.

PS: some Googling reveals owners reporting stock parasitic draw ranging from about 4 mA on a Triumph to 20 mA on a Honda VFR! That's 4.0 and 20.0 compared to 0.15 for the XT mount.

That surprises me. (I'm not saying its not true!) I have a VFR1200F and my first battery, factory mounted, lasted for 9 years. In the winter I do connect it to an Optimate 'trickle charger' though.

[twowheelstom]

I prefer it wired to the 'ignition circuit'. Not so much, because I'm worried that the battery gets drained, But when you switch on the bike, the XT switches on, and you can be sure that it's powered by bike if it does.

when power is cut to the XT, let's say you stop to get fuel and turn off the bike, will a route have to be started up again? how can you stop for fuel and turn off the bike yet still have the XT keep current route info in memory?

[FrankB]

When power is cut off, the XT asks you if you want to shut it off also. Some people find that annoying. If you just ignore it, it shuts down after 15-20 secs.
When you power on, the route is still active. That's not a problem. What is more a problem usually: To get to the fuel you may have to leave the route. How do you get back to the route? I usually stop the active route and restart using 'Closest Entry Point'. But that matter has nothing to do with permanent power, of switched power.

[twowheelstom]

I did a test. I powered up the XT on my desk as if it was on keyed bike power by plugging the XT into my USB portable power bank that was on my lsp. That simulated XT mount cable wired to keyed-on bike battery.

I started a route on the XT, and then pretended I stopped for fuel and keyed off the bike so I pulled out the USB cord out of the power bank. That simulated turning bike key off. Doing that the XT screen gave a continue on XT battery power press cancel shut down in 15 seconds which I did. Now XT route info is running on XT internal battery power.

Then pretended i was done fueling and ready to go again. I plugged the USB cable back in again to the power bank. The results I found by doing that the active route screen gave no indication XT was back on bike battery power again other than a short beep.

The only indication that the XT was back on bike battery power again was to look for a small yellow lightning bolt thru the battery charge icon on the main Where To? - View Map screen. That test was to simulate wiring up mount cable to a keyed on-off lead somewhere on the bike.

With XT wired directly to battery, none of that above is valid, the small yellow lightning bolt thru battery icon will always be showing.

Wiring up mount cables to an (on-off) keyed power source appears to be more work to do on the Zumo when stopping to fueling up.