How to hardwire a GPS into a Harley-Davidson Electra glide

Norm's Harley Davidson Electra Glide with front fairing removed.

Norm’s Harley Davidson Electra Glide with front fairing removed.

For several years now I’ve used a GPS set up in my different Harley-Davidson Electra glides with a cigarette charger type of cable that I had the jerry-rigged into the GPS. You can read an article that I wrote about my GPS setup back in 2007 by clicking here now.

It not only looked like crap, but when I wanted to take the GPS off the motorcycle and use it in my car, I would have to unwrap the charging cable, and then rewrap it when I wanted to use it on the motorcycle again. You can see a picture of how the old setup looked on my 02 Electra Glide by clicking here now.

It was not the most optimum solution for having a GPS on a motorcycle.

Another issue was when I went to take the GPS off of the motorcycle at let’s say a motorcycle rally, or even a restaurant, the cable wrapped around the ram mount did not look very good at all.

I’ve been wanting to hardwire my GPS power cable to the Harley-Davidson for a long time. I finally decided to do it.

Below I have produced a full video on the exact procedure for hardwiring your GPS power cable into the Harley-Davidson Electra glide.

I demonstrate how to remove your fairing from the Electra glide, where to get power for the GPS on your motorcycle, the type of hard wire motorcycle to USB power adapter cable adapter that I used, how to run the cable through the fairing, how to test the set up, and how to put the fairing back onto the motorcycle.

You can see the type of cable that I purchased for the hardwiring the
GPS to the motorcycle by clicking here now. I purchased it from Amazon.com for approximately $16.

It is very important to select an adapter meant for this specific purpose. The voltage on your motorcycle is 12 V DC, whereas a standard USB mini plug uses 5 V DC with much less current than the motorcycle puts out. The cable that you choose actually has a step down transformer to convert the voltage to the appropriate level for your GPS.

I must stress if you attempt to hardwire 12 V directly to the USB connector, you will blow out your GPS, and potentially the auxiliary fuse on your motorcycle if you choose power from the source that I chose it from.

For this install, I grabbed my 12 V power on the motorcycle, from the extra two wires that exists on the headlight assembly of your Electra Glide.

All Harley-Davidson Electra Glides that are not produced for Europe have an additional two tables in the headlight assembly cable that are unused.

When you take your fairing off, you will see the two wires off of the cable going to the headlight. One of the cables is 12 V, the other is ground. They have spade lug connectors on them, which you will need to cut off, in order to connect the USB adapter.

With the video that I produce below, anybody should be able to do this install. I hope you enjoy the video, and I will see you on the road.

If you had a motorcycle accident anywhere in the state of California, call us now 24 hours a day for a free consultation at 800-816-1529, extension one.

Here is the video I produced that demonstrates in detail how to hard-wire your GPS into your Harley Davidson Electra Glide motorcycle.

By California motorcycle accident lawyer, and biker attorney, Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © July 3, 2014

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1 Comment

  1. Nick Johnson

    Taking of the fairing and locating the correct wires is the hardest part. Once you’ve done that, the installing is quite easy. As long as you have a bit of knowledge of electric wiring.
    But the end result looks great! Enjoy the riding!

    Reply

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