Finally A Switched GPS Solution
by outpostbabu
For some reason it’s taken me 2 years, and bunch of long road trips, to figure this out but I was recently made aware of the secondary option connector that is snugly attached above the battery on the F800GS. This connector is usually used for things like adding a second power plug next to the ignition key or connecting a BMW factory GPS option to the bike. I wanted a way to connect my new GPS to switchable power that it is powered only when the ignition is on and this is the way to do it. First I ordered BMW part #83 30 0 413 585 which is the opposite end of the connector on top of the battery holder.
The connector has 3 wires which are numbered 1, 2, 3. You can match up these all yellow wires to color coded wies on the other end by removing the cap on the other end and looking inside, the pins are numbered the same as the wires. The only important thing is to know that you don’t need wire #2 (at least not for the Garmin 60CSx, evidenced by its connector cable only having two wires) and that wire #1 is ground.
I cut the auto socket end off the power plug for the GPS. Normally you would plug this into the GPS and the other end into the cigarette lighter or whatever they call those sockets these days to power the GPS off the car battery instead of its internal batteries. A little solder, a little shrink, some heat, and the new cable will connect from the BMW option connector to the GPS directly.
Then you just route the wires from the connector up to the GPS mount and done. This isn’t a new found discovery. That connector has been sitting there for several years without my noticing it but in case somebody else never thought of it. I know a lot of people use the front socket next to the ignition but on my trip out West I found that to be flaky at best, especially if you use the automotive-to-BMW socket adapter which is huge. This solution is a lot cleaner. When I turn off the F800 now, the GPS sits for about 30 seconds then announces its lost plugin power and shuts itself down, saving its internal batteries for use off-bike!
