Zumo User Forums

Can anyone confirm that the black portion of the power cable (between the cradle and the voltage converter) just has two wires, positive and negative?

I was wondering this myself

Looking at the wire it only has two in so why would it have more out of the converter? Plus there is only two pins to feed to so on that basis I am going for just two wires

Are you shortening it? Due to the mass of wiring

Yes, that's it. Here's a pic from Advrider Forums:
https://advrider.com/f/threads/garmin-z ... t-42777837

Thanks for that. I had noticed the points you mentioned but just wanted confirmation.

What I want to do is wire up three bikes but only use one cradle. I'll cut, and maybe shorten, the section of cable between the cradle and voltage converter and put some kind of connectors on.

Do you have a source of reasonably priced power cables?

HarveyM wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 2:31 pm Yes, that's it. Here's a pic from Advrider Forums:
https://advrider.com/f/threads/garmin-z ... A1310.jpeg

Oh, excellent. Thank you very much for that.

That's exactly what that part of the Advrider thread discusses. In short, the question which was it simpler using a mount & power cable between several bikes and either:

1. Add a 12v connector like a cigarette lighter, powerlet or SAE end or

2. Cut off the garmin voltage convertor box and use a USB connector with a USB (5V) socket on the bike.

So the power cable is a coaxial cable then!

So I am not an electrical-minded person, but not unintelligent, so I attempted to modify the Zumo XT power cable only to fail and ended up purchasing a replacement. However, since I am still in possession of the currently ruined cable, I thought maybe someone here in this forum could possibly help me to what I had originally set out for.

I want to hard wire the power cord with the supplied ring connectors to the motorcycle battery and run the cable underneath the outer fairings up to the mounting bracket which attaches to a 1" ball joint mouthed on my fork stem. I won't use the Garmin each time I ride, nor is it the only device that I commonly mount to the ball joint. For that reason, I don't want to leave the Garmin power cable hardwired and permanently connected all the time - I want to be able to connect and disconnect it when I need it.

My thought was this: In the picture I hope to attach, you will see the standard Garmin power cord as advertised on Amazon and posted by another user. I have illustrated the image to show how I had HOPED to snip the power cable close to the cradle, and insert the 2-wired (red +, black -) SAE cables easily available online, and this would allow me to leave the bulk of the Garmin power cable connected to the bike and under the fairing, but to also quickly disconnect the end of the cable as desired so that I can use the ball joint for other accessories (phone, camera).

HOWEVER....

When I cut the cable and split out the wires inside, I was expecting to see two wires (again, red +, black -) but instead found a bunch of fine wires surrounding another central plastic shielding, which in turn had a bunch more of the same type of loose silver colored wires. I have no idea what the outer wires are (+, -, ground?), nor what the inner wires are (+, -, ground?) , whether its possible to connect these to the SAE pigtails, and if so, how.
Can anyone give me a hand here?

I split my XT power lead to instal a dashboard switch, so that I could switch the XT on and off independently of the ignition. Definitely just the two leads.

I have done exactly what you are trying to achieve and installed a waterproof connector. The co-ax is the negative and the wire inside the white sheath is positive if I remember correctly, you can test the continuity with a multi-meter to determine positive and negative. I used Posi Lock connectors offset to minimise the profile.