Camchain and tensioner seen up close in a cutaway bike engine

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Power Socket On A Motorbike

Blog Date - 15 May 2011

Remember when the cigarette lighter on a car was for lighting your ciggies?  I do.  Nowadays in these always online days the cigarette lighter is for powering sat-navs, laptops, charging mobile phones and running in-car entertainment like DVD Players and MP3 Players. 

I've always thought having a power socket...aka a ciggie ligher socket...on the bike.  For charging my mobile, maybe a light, I've seen them used to power an air-bed pump too.  A chap called Mark that I met camping in Wales this year used his for almost all his power.  My concern is is flattening the battery.

Charging a mobile should be fine.  I'd only be doing such things when the bike's been ridden all day so there should be plenty of charge in the battery.  Modern LED lights also use a tiny amount of power compared to the traditional filament bulbs, so that should be no worry.  I would be loathe to use the bike battery to power anything like a portable DVD Player or a laptop for any length of time though.  That said, I can't imagine I'll be doing that anytime soon.

So I've fitted one to the Fazer 600.  I purchased an "extension" for a cigarette lighter, you plug one end into the socket and the other end has a socket on it.  I cut off the plug end and soldered on 2 bits of copper pipe then drilled 6mm holes.  That provides the terminals to connect to the battery.  The socket now lives under the seat.  It gives me access to power if I need it.  I also soldered the left-over socket onto the end of my solar powered trickle charger.  Now I can easily plug the solar charger onto the battery usong the lighter sockets.

Sorted. 

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