Guys, please help me out with a little research here. I recently built a rectifier so I could run my GPS directly off my sled's electrical system and not go through 6000 AA batteries this season. I couldn't find anything anywhere that accomplished this and am wondering if there is an actual market for it.

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

I defiantely think you are to something!!! Good luck. I just cant believe the GPS companies didnt come up with this first!

I got a 12V DC accessory outlet installed in my REV just for this purpose.

Originally posted by OntRider@Dec 17 2002, 02:56 PM
I got a 12V DC accessory outlet installed in my REV just for this purpose.
Is your Rev electric start? I couldn't find any dealer available options unless the sled had a battery for the electric start.

why not just take a 12 volt lawn mower battery and tap directly to that?recharge it overnight and be done with it? SWRules

Originally posted by boss hoss@Dec 17 2002, 03:20 PM
why not just take a 12 volt lawn mower battery and tap directly to that?recharge it overnight and be done with it? SWRules
I thought about that too, but depending on where we are for the night charging it might not always be possible.

I think this would be a worth while investment for my purposes. I'd buy one. :)

Originally posted by atyszka+Dec 17 2002, 02:41 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (atyszka @ Dec 17 2002, 02:41 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--boss hoss,Dec 17 2002, 03:20 PM
why not just take a 12 volt lawn mower battery and tap directly to that?recharge it overnight and be done with it? SWRules
I thought about that too, but depending on where we are for the night charging it might not always be possible. [/b][/quote]
how many days would a fully charged-heavy plated($25 rather than $15) 12 volt battery last pushing a small little gps?i&#39;d bet 2 days at least.whatch think?? ;) SWRules

What kinda battery are we talking about? I looked up some on the net and the weight was like 15 pounds!

Try this site out and see if it is something you could use. Portable unit..Looks like it might work and not at a bad price.

http://www.outdoor-catalog.com/power/new_page_1.htm

I&#39;d buy oneArt. Wait, I&#39;ll just bring you along lol. Buy please bring that 10 cent key chain compass for a back up again lol.
Caleb

Originally posted by Sled Dogg@Dec 17 2002, 05:20 PM
I&#39;d buy oneArt. Wait, I&#39;ll just bring you along lol. Buy please bring that 10 cent key chain compass for a back up again lol.
Caleb
lol, sometimes low-tech is still the best. I think having the GPS plugged in with the backlight on full time would have been a tremendous help. I&#39;ll see if the rectifier I built holds up between xmas and new year.

When I replaced the batteries in my PCs UPS system, I made an adapter to plug in my GPS. The batteries are gell cells so they don&#39;t leak and are about 4" x 3.5" x 2.5". I use one at a time and they are small enough to stick anywhere. I left the GPS on for two days and it still had plenty of battery left. The battery number is NP4-12 and I replaced it with a NP5-12. It is the same size just 5 amp hours instead of 4. If you build a rectifier you can use the battery as a capacitor and charge it at the same time.

:thumbsup: I really like the idea, but would think that if you could make the adapter "plug into" the electric faceshield outlet it would be more marketable and transportable to different sleds. :)

I&#39;d buy one, depending on cost of course, how much did it cost ya for your homemade one?

Is your rectifier built in a waterproof case of some sort? Also, where did you tap into power? I might be interested in getting one from you if it works...

Originally posted by atyszka@Dec 17 2002, 03:01 PM
Is your Rev electric start? I couldn&#39;t find any dealer available options unless the sled had a battery for the electric start.
No, my REV is not electric start. Although I haven&#39;t checked (and I will ASAP), I believe the accessory outlet I had installed is 12V DC and is a Bombardier part. It never donned on me that the visor outlet would be 12V AC instead of 12V DC.

:D Sign me up...i would buy one as well...... :D

Originally posted by OntRider@Dec 18 2002, 04:25 PM
No, my REV is not electric start. *Although I haven&#39;t checked (and I will ASAP), I believe the accessory outlet I had installed is 12V DC and is a Bombardier part. *It never donned on me that the visor outlet would be 12V AC instead of 12V DC.
Yes, a visor outlet is unregulated AC, the heater is like a light bulb, it doesn&#39;t care. You can&#39;t run a GPS or similar off of that outlet - at least with the AC kit, don&#39;t know what Doo offers.

To answer a few more questions from other folks - As for cost on the unit I built, it was $25 and is in a case, silicone provides the waterproofing. You could never build and sell the unit I made at a profit. Radio Shack is very expensive in reality for these parts. I have a friend that was into electronics long before he was into programming. If we can justify the initial cost (make sure that there is a market) we "may" do it. But there are also engineering obstacles such as universal mounting, tapping into the power, etc. I&#39;m still not sure it&#39;d be worth the effort.

OntRider please let me know more about the outlet you had installed. I didn&#39;t check with any other dealers, but Cat only offers a DC accessory outlet for sleds with electric start/battery. If SD or the others offer a kit with a rectifier I&#39;ll be bummed I went through the effort of building mine.

I will have to find my multimeter and test the output of the accessory outlet I had installed. I have a bad feeling that it was intended for an electric start machine and is outputting 12V AC.

i have to get my gps first, hopefully a christmas gift, then i shall need one.

So what&#39;s new with this issue? Now I&#39;m interested since I just purchased my GPS. Woodycam is helping me with this, but I wanted to know if anyone has found a rectifier in a store somewhere, already made for our purpose. My ZR doesn&#39;t have elec. start, so I think I will stick with the rectifier route, unless one of the battery methods is easy to do, with little mess and maintenance, and very little add&#39;l weight.

Jim


I just noticed last night in the Polaris catalog that they offer a 12v plug (like they all do), but Poo also offers an "adaptor" for non-battery sleds. I guess this is their version of a rectifier. Has anyone seen or used this item?

I would like to know how you built this rectifier, as I would like to hook my GPS directly to my sled&#39;s electrical system also. Can you post the schematics?

Here&#39;s another thread on the rectifier situation:

Click Here (http://www.snowmobileworld.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15275&st=0)

Personally, I like the sled&#39;s elec running the GPS, as having the backlight on during night riding, or general day time riding is very helpful. Once turning the sled off, I have 30 seconds to continue the GPS on battery mode or it turns off automatically. Nice feature.

Here&#39;s a photo:

and another

I agree with you Joel, I definately want the unit to run off the sled&#39;s power. Here&#39;s what my dealer told me today...

as I can see I would go with the Polaris one because the Cat one is built for electric start models which would be a battery type system. All the Polaris one is built to plug into the wires for the one without battery. So thats the one I would go with and you probly wont even need a cat plug for it just wire it up with some bullet type connectors.

Will just have to see once we get our stuff together Joel...I may go ahead and order the Polaris unit to have it and see how it works.

Jim,

if you do, make sure that you test the wiring on something like a spare trailer marker light or low watt head light. that way you only blow the cheap light compared to the $500 GPS toy.

Let me know when you plan on doing this. As for me currently, my sleds are out in a trailer in a barn at one of our farms. I don&#39;t plan on messing with mine til around August. Oh crap, that&#39;s only a month away. Perhaps I&#39;ll waitl til Sept.

:D

Jim, I have no plans to build and sell a rectifier. It would be too much work for too little return.

If the Polaris or Doo kit include a rectifier I&#39;d buy it in a heartbeat if it&#39;s anything less than $40. Mine cost over $25 and with the labor to build, waterproof and figure out a place to mount it . . .

But in retrospect I think a small battery is almost a better choice providing you have room to mount it. To me, it&#39;s a PIA everytime you shut your sled off you have to remember to hit the GPS or it will turn off in 30 seconds. It sounds like Joel likes this feature, I don&#39;t. The backlight only stays active for a max of 1 minute (I think). So if it&#39;s dark and your sled is off and you need to spend some time figuring out where you are you have to hit the backlight button again and again. This is my only peeve with the rectifier route, the positive is that you don&#39;t need to recharge the rectifier.

12V portable Battery http://store.yahoo.com/emptronics/1265.html

Rectifier schematic for pottsie http://www.numbskull.com/snowmo/gps/schematic.asp

COme to think of it, you guys have me wondering now. Actually, I believe my GPS stays on even when the sled is off, since I wired it to a constant hot. My sled has elec start. Once I unplug it to take it inside is when I have the 30 seconds to continue on battery or it will shut off. Perhaps that&#39;s why I like it the way I do.

Either way, its all good, and they&#39;re a great toy and usable tool. Especially for someone like me who only gets to head up north once a year. I don&#39;t know the trails that well, even though I&#39;ll have 3-4 maps. :p

Thank goodness for good fuel mileage. :D

Joel, sounds like you have the same setup as if it were wired to a battery pack. I told Jim that in retrospect that&#39;d be the route I take. We stop to take in the sights a fair amount which means everytime we do I need to tap the GPS to keep it from turning off and if it&#39;s dark I need to turn on the backlight again when I restart the sled. In the grand scheme of things this still isn&#39;t bad but a constant power source would eliminate the minor inconveniences and make trying to figure out where you are in the dark a tad easier as the backlight wouldn&#39;t keep turning off every 60 seconds.

I bought a Cig lighter for my Rev from autozone and wired it in at the fuse block, Works like a champ. I also cut my 12v cord for my gps and wired it in the same place and ran it up my bars. When the sled is running everything works fine. No electric start, it&#39;s a &#39;03 Rev 800 RER. You guy&#39;s think that this is hurting the Gps? The sled runs a 12v system, what is the harm? Thanks for any info.

Jason

DoobieDoo, I have no idea how that is working for you. I wired in the cig adapter before I found out I needed a Rectifier and the fuse in my GPS cable would pop immediately. I&#39;d be very hesitant to wire a $300 GPS directly to a largely unregulated AC power source. The actual voltage on a sled varries greatly depending on RPM. The cig adapter cord for my eTrex has more than just a fuse, there is actually a small circuit board so I assume it&#39;s performing some function. Maybe some electricians could shed some light on this for us.

Originally posted by DoobieDoo@Jul 9 2003, 09:50 AM
I bought a Cig lighter for my Rev from autozone and wired it in at the fuse block, Works like a champ. I also cut my 12v cord for my gps and wired it in the same place and ran it up my bars. When the sled is running everything works fine. No electric start, it&#39;s a &#39;03 Rev 800 RER. You guy&#39;s think that this is hurting the Gps? The sled runs a 12v system, what is the harm? Thanks for any info.

Jason
Have you ran any accessories off the cig adapter? Phone charger or anything?

I did it this summer and only checked to see if it worked, I fired the sled up and everything turned on and worked. Maybe i should check into this more before the snow flys and i burn my GPS out.

Thanks, Jason

Edit: No just tried the Lighter, I hate being on the trail and have no lighter for a smoke.

Ok, a lighter is a completely different story. It&#39;s a "dumb" device like a light buld and doesn&#39;t care if it&#39;s getting AC or DC. Hopefully an electrician or two will see this thread and help us out.

--EDIT--
Just dug up this thread from the archives. It&#39;s what started my quest to build a rectifier. Some good info in it.

http://www.snowmobileworld.com/forum/index...t=ST&f=7&t=9747 (http://www.snowmobileworld.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=7&t=9747)

Would THIS (http://cu1.com/copinlowvola.html) work guys, assuming you wanted to operate off of the sled&#39;s power? I still think the battery pack sounds lilke the best route....have been searching for other battery packs, and can&#39;t seem to find any.

Originally posted by Beerman@Dec 19 2002, 10:47 AM


To answer a few more questions from other folks - As for cost on the unit I built, it was $25 and is in a case, silicone provides the waterproofing. You could never build and sell the unit I made at a profit. Radio Shack is very expensive in reality for these parts.
Seems like if you had a business manufacturing (even if it is in your home) and selling these things you could get the parts directly from a distributor at whole sale such as one like who supplies radio shack. Does that make sense. It may take some research to find a small electronics distributor who would work with you.

I am interested in this. I just got a Garmin e-trex legend and it is just the right size to mount on the sled. The mapping cabilities are nice. It works great in the boat.

Some GPS units will work without a regulating transistor.

For instance, my Garmin GPS will work with any voltage from 5Vdc - 35Vdc. Some units don&#39;t require exactly 12volts dc. Check your GPS owner&#39;s manual spec sheet.

You still need the rectifier to convert AC to DC. There&#39;s no way around that.

If your GPS has a wide range like this, all you need is a 1000mfd (>35wvdc) capacitor and a rectifier.

These two items can be soldered directly together without a circuit board and mounted in-line right on the wire. Taped up of course, to prevent exposure.

Last winter&#39;s solution was 20 AA NiMh cells mounted in 5 4-place AA battery holders from Radio Shack. They were wired in series mounted in a 3/4" broadcast tape case, but any container will do.

The battery (3/4" tape) case was mounted in the bottom of the belly pan to keep the batteries warm and the additional weight low. The tape case is similar to a standard VHS plastic case, just a little larger. There&#39;s some flat shaped tupperware out there that would do the trick real nice and provide some water-proofness. (Proofness??????? Is that even a word??!?!! :D )

I wired them in series so that even if the batteries were severely run down or frozen, it would still supply the minimum required 5 volts to operate the GPS.

When fully charged, 20 1.2v AA batteries is supposed to be 24V. The GPS reports that it actually is 28 or more volts, which I verified with my meter.

After a 9 days of leaving the thing on full time, and only using the light for an average of 4 hours a night, it still registered 13 volts. The unit will continue to work as long as each cell voltage doesn&#39;t drop below .208 volts each.

I have pics of the NiMh battery pack at home, I won&#39;t be able to post a pic until I get home this weekend. The AA cells are easily removed from the holders and charged by a conventional battery charger.

I previously ran it off the sled, but was unhappy about the unit shutting down when the sled was turned off. And I&#39;m not about to add the weight of a battery and holding tray.

So far, the AA battery unit works great, is lighter than a sled battery (& required tray hardware). Also, there&#39;s always spare batteries available for pocket flashlights in case of a night-time emergency.

Hope I remember to post some pics when I get home next weekend. e- me to remind me if you like.

Originally posted by JIM FRITCH@Jul 12 2003, 11:49 PM
Would THIS (http://cu1.com/copinlowvola.html) work guys, assuming you wanted to operate off of the sled&#39;s power? I still think the battery pack sounds lilke the best route....have been searching for other battery packs, and can&#39;t seem to find any.
Jim, for $10 I&#39;d try it. Wire it in and hook up your GPS&#39;s power cable. Hopefully yours has a LED like mine, if the fuse in the cable doesn&#39;t pop you may be good to go.

Oh, it&#39;s $22. I&#39;d just go the lead battery route. AG&#39;s solution sounds like it works well but a couple pounds from a small lead battery doesn&#39;t worry me. Hell, I usually have 2 pounds of beef jerky in my map bag, lol.

Originally posted by Beerman@Jul 14 2003, 04:24 PM
...but a couple pounds from a small lead battery doesn&#39;t worry me. Hell, I usually have 2 pounds of beef jerky in my map bag, lol.
Being careful what weight gets added to the sled is the easy part.

My own weight already has too much &#39;added&#39; aftermarket weight as it is! LOL!!!

I will post pics tomorrow of what I came up with this weekend...I&#39;m thinking it will work!!

Polaris makes a cigarette style plug with a rectifier in it. Check it out.

For about 40 bucks I bought 4 AA Nimh batteries and a 30 minute charger. The batteries last about 10 hrs or so. This year I bought 6 more batteries for $20. 6 or 8 batteries should last the weekend easily. Plus they can be used for other devices at home. In the perfect world I would have an adapter, but my sled does not have a 12 volt outlet so I don&#39;t think it is worth the screwing around at this point.

Jim, I have no plans to build and sell a rectifier. It would be too much work for too little return.

If the Polaris or Doo kit include a rectifier I&#39;d buy it in a heartbeat if it&#39;s anything less than $40. Mine cost over $25 and with the labor to build, waterproof and figure out a place to mount it . . .

But in retrospect I think a small battery is almost a better choice providing you have room to mount it. To me, it&#39;s a PIA everytime you shut your sled off you have to remember to hit the GPS or it will turn off in 30 seconds. It sounds like Joel likes this feature, I don&#39;t. The backlight only stays active for a max of 1 minute (I think). So if it&#39;s dark and your sled is off and you need to spend some time figuring out where you are you have to hit the backlight button again and again. This is my only peeve with the rectifier route, the positive is that you don&#39;t need to recharge the rectifier.

12V portable Battery http://store.yahoo.com/emptronics/1265.html

Rectifier schematic for pottsie http://www.numbskull.com/snowmo/gps/schematic.asp
[/b]
Beerman, I currently own a Garmin GPSMAP60CS and you are able to change the setting for external power loss, you have the 30 second option for powerdown/batt and a always on option. Also once powered by external power the backlight stays on. I dunno what gps you have but check thru the settings of it for a similiar option maybe ...or bite the bullet and buy a newer gps unit with the same function as mine if you do not like the way your current unit operates? I personally like the rectifier over the heavier battery option. I would be very interested in having one made so I can move on to finding/making a good mounting location for the unit. I saw a great idea on one post around here with the steel bracket using risor bolts to hold it in place. I may pursue a similiar option. But I do still need a rectifier of some sort and would rather purchase one pre-built and proven trail worthy at whatever cost :thumbsup: if your interested in possibly doing this for me. I&#39;d rather the rectifier route cause its the only thing I plan on using the power for and I want to hardwire it to the Garmin plug they sell specifically for my unit. I&#39;d rather not have the cig lighter option and have all those wires hanging out with a plug thats going to possibly fall out, otherwise I would go with the Polaris or Doo adapters. If it can be made with just wire leads coming from the sealed unit I can hardwire it from there with sealed butt connectors...knowing which lead is for what of course!
Also figured I&#39;d add..if you have a Garmin unit and it does not have the options mine has I highly recommend check out there sites for software updates for your unit there are many updates available for most of there units, found a update for mine within a month of owning it. If there is a update they very well could have added in those features to your unit as well.

http://www.purepolaris.com/Detail.aspx?Ite...&nPage=4&nSet=1 (http://www.purepolaris.com/Detail.aspx?ItemID=2875005(PolarisPGACatalog)&Department=Snowmobile(PolarisPGACatalog)&Category=SnowAccessories(PolarisPGACatalog)&Listing=SNOAcc2006NEW(PolarisPGACatalog)&nPage=4&nSet=1)

http://www.purepolaris.com/Detail.aspx?Ite...&nPage=4&nSet=1 (http://www.purepolaris.com/Detail.aspx?ItemID=2875005(PolarisPGACatalog)&Department=Snowmobile(PolarisPGACatalog)&Category=SnowAccessories(PolarisPGACatalog)&Listing=SNOAcc2006NEW(PolarisPGACatalog)&nPage=4&nSet=1)
[/b]
That is what I dont want. :bash: I&#39;d rather it be hard wired right to my gps unit&#39;s specific power plug. That way there is only one plug and thats right on the back of the unit. Rather than have the unit plug, plus a cig plug to come flying out in mid trails. Otherwise I would have purchased one of those already. Cost is not a issue here Beerman. Tell me a price fair to you and build it up for me. :D I&#39;ll pay all expenses..parts, silicone, shipping etc...

I think the best way is to have a rectifier ( to bring it back to DC) and a small 12 battery as well, the battery acts as a &#39;filter&#39; to keep the voltage somewhat more consistent. I&#39;ve been thinking of rigging something like this to power my helmet cam... I think some of the GPS out there can take a 12V AC input and the GPS itself converts to DC...

I think the best way is to have a rectifier ( to bring it back to DC) and a small 12 battery as well, the battery acts as a &#39;filter&#39; to keep the voltage somewhat more consistent. I&#39;ve been thinking of rigging something like this to power my helmet cam... I think some of the GPS out there can take a 12V AC input and the GPS itself converts to DC...
[/b]

The right way to doo it then is to buy a voltage regulator off the same sled as your but with electric start (for doo)
It will have an extra wire coming out of it going back into the harness that then runs to the key switch plug.
PERFECT 12vdc right where you want it.

That is what I dont want. :bash: I&#39;d rather it be hard wired right to my gps unit&#39;s specific power plug. That way there is only one plug and thats right on the back of the unit. Rather than have the unit plug, plus a cig plug to come flying out in mid trails. Otherwise I would have purchased one of those already. Cost is not a issue here Beerman. Tell me a price fair to you and build it up for me. :D I&#39;ll pay all expenses..parts, silicone, shipping etc...
[/b]

You really think the GPS plug will bounce out of a cig type outlet? I sincerely have my doubts...in fact I&#39;d put money on it not falling out. I&#39;ve used this type of setup on my quad which is a hell of a rougher ride and I have never had it fall out. Why would this be any different. I prefer a clean install to a scraped together home made box that isn&#39;t sealed right for water...If you are that worried about it falling out, tape the thing in..won&#39;t look any worse than a home made rectifier.....

Guys, please help me out with a little research here. I recently built a rectifier so I could run my GPS directly off my sled&#39;s electrical system and not go through 6000 AA batteries this season. I couldn&#39;t find anything anywhere that accomplished this and am wondering if there is an actual market for it.

Thanks for taking the time to answer.
[/b]


I use rechargable AA&#39;s.. cycle through about 8 of of them,,,

You really think the GPS plug will bounce out of a cig type outlet? I sincerely have my doubts...in fact I&#39;d put money on it not falling out. I&#39;ve used this type of setup on my quad which is a hell of a rougher ride and I have never had it fall out. Why would this be any different. I prefer a clean install to a scraped together home made box that isn&#39;t sealed right for water...If you are that worried about it falling out, tape the thing in..won&#39;t look any worse than a home made rectifier..... [/b]

I agree with Rocketman - I also use my GPS on my ATV with the cig outlet and NEVER had it bounce or fall out and have rode on some VERY rough trail. I plan on installing a cig adapter on my sled + it can be user for more then a GPS.

rjmlakota