I have become used to having GPS navigation on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 whether it was with the Garmin Nuvo 595 GPS or later, just running my smartphone with a navigation application such as Rever. I added the same RAM universal bar mount and Tackform phone mount to the SFV650, but quickly realized that the navigation application consumes quite a bit of battery life and phone charging capabilities would be required.
The Multistrada has a switched circuit dedicated for hardwired GPS units and also has multiple, switched powerlet connectors, so it was very easy to provide charging capabilities to the GPS or phone.
My first attempt to provide power on the SFV650 to the phone was to use the battery tender connection that was installed by the previous owner. I added a SAE connector to cigarette lighter adapter and cigarette lighter fast charger to this connection. A 6′ USB Type C cable was run from under the seat and gas tank to provide power to the phone at the handlebar. This investment was about $30, but I quickly realized that this setup would always be drawing power and was not a favorable setup when the SFV650 is not operated that frequently.
The SFV650 does not provide any dedicated, switched power sources, but with my removal of the existing rear fender and tail tidy conversion, I was left with an unused, switched power source for the original license plate light.
Not wanting to take any chances with my phone charging causing problems with the electrical system, I used the existing license plate light wire to trigger a relay that would provide switched power directly from the battery to the phone.
In this simple circuit, it does not matter if you trigger the relay with the positive or negative wire. I like to be consistent and trigger with the positive wire.
With the new circuit being created I decided to hard wire in a USB fast charger. It is a fairly neat installation under the seat, provides switched USB power, and as a bonus it provides a voltage readout even though I won’t be able to see it without removing the seat from the bike.
The final installation was cleaned up with split, woven wiring sleeve protectors.
The phone can now run the navigation application and have the phone battery charged to 100% capacity at the same time.
Two Wheel Junkie 