Rider1 problems

[demoderbydave]

Hi, everyone, I am new to the forum and was wondeing if anyone else here has done or thought about doing what i intend to do. I bought a used rider1 cheap off ebay and it has the usual pin-dock charging problem. I saw the video on how to open the unit..(VERY NICE and Thank You!) and since as we all know tomtom does not support ANYTHING with out a receipt or out of warranty (...their answer...buy a new one.)
I plan to open up both the base and the unit itself and hardwire another connector to charge the unit off a cig lighter adapter that puts out the correct voltage and eliminate the pesky and poorly designed oem set up.has anyone done this ? In hind site..that is why the guy probably got rid of it and if I had done my research...but I like a challenge and am a glutton for punishment.....

Also I read a couple of posts here about guys riders falling off...I attached a car alarm transmitter key chain to the side of the unit where the little strap goes...it has a little quick release clip on it and placed a little mount on the dock that it clips to just in case... I ride a big touring bike that rides very soft so it has not moved as of yet.

Sorry for the long winded post...any thoughts?
Dave in massachusetts.

 

[demoderbydave]

Rider 1 problem solved

Just in case anyone here cared...I did my fix and it works GREAT!
I eliminated the useless pins. Once I opened the unit I found a plug coming off the charger pins. I cut that ,soldered my connector wiring to the 3 wires. I opened the cradle (you need security torx bits, I bought them at Harbor Freight for 4 bucks) I figured out what pin did what with a meter....really simple and soldered the other end of the connector to the board where the connector connects. Next I had to drill a hole in both the cradle and the rider. A little silicone to seal up the holes and it works the way it should! Granted now I have to unclip the unit from the cradle and unplug an other connector...big deal...but my ebay steal now works as it should! And I saved Hundreds over buying new.
I used a 4 pin connector scrounged from an old car radio...but I am sure Radio Shack has something similar.
Took about an hour to do and well worth it. If anyone is interested I can post some pix.
Dave

 

[Thom]

Way to go Dave. I was lucky (you might say) to have the issue while still under warranty and they just replaced my V1 with a V2 after teh second dock failed. I believe that there is still some issues with the pins in the V2 dock, as I'm on my second one for it as well.

I'm not electronically inclined when it comes to circuit boards / soldering / metering, so I rely on our guys for my information. I'd say do a write up and post it. If you help just one other person that is what it's all about...

 

[rcacs]

Nice job...

How bout posting what wire went where, etc.

Cheers!

 

[hdfergie]

You guys have me worried. I have been using my battery in the Rider to get me there but on my last trip it went DOA after about 6 hours and then it had some very interesting directions you knew was crazy. I need a hard wire from my battery but in the USA you are SOL for any accessories. I was woundering if I could cut the wire off a lighter charging cord and wire it up direct to a 12 volt tap. I guess I need to know where the voltage drops to 5 volts is. Is the drop in the bike mount or the ciggarette lighter plug. Has anyone else tried this? My bike has no lighter or I would just plug it in or I guess I could wire up a Lighter, but that would be a little tacky. Anyone knows or tried this?

 

[Thom]

My bike has no lighter or I would just plug it in or I guess I could wire up a Lighter, but that would be a little tacky. Anyone knows or tried this?

Sounds like you need the instructions from demoderbydave. What he has done sounds like it will fix your problem. As for a lighter socket, those are easy to mount up, but your better bet would be to add a fuse (hardwire to bikes charging system), then reduce the power (if needed) before wiring up to the device.

I'm going to guess that the power gets zapped down as it gets to the bike mount as there is no other place it could be done. I don't think the device cuts to 5v as I just pulled the charger out of the wall and the power is reduced right there, as is the charger for the car adapter.

 

[demoderbydave]

My solution to the rider power problems.

Well for everyone anxiously awaiting the juicy details and photos on how I did this repair your wait is over!!!!

Like I said you need to open the unit...get the bits on line or at Harbor freight...theyre securuty torx and regular tiny torx under the sticker...see the video elsewhere on this site on how to open it.

I am assuming you have the dock that came with the unit and it is wired to 12 volts, That you have a meter and a decent soldering iron.

If you are facing the bike dock the for pins are from the left...5 volts +, nothing, ground and ground.

(why there are 2 grounds? Your guess is as good as mine! )

When you open the rider...you will see on the inside back cover the wires coming from the connector are as follows...

black is 5 volts+ , red is ground and orange is ground. I wired my plug so the grounds are the same as it would be using the oem connector even though I know ground is ground.. I cut/disconnected the wires from the connector...I figure they did not work anyways..make sure you insulate your connections from each other so there ore no shorts.

You have to open the dock...this steps the input of 12 volts down to the required 5 volts dc.

You will see on the back of the board...sorry I did not take any pics of it while i had it apart...

That the back side of the connector that the order required to solder the connector wires that you are using is from left to right ...Ground, ground, nothing and positive...Basically you are just reversing the connectors so you wire it up like it would be on the bike. on the board you will see the back side of where the junk 4 pin connector is soldered. I did not remove the connector that is part of the sealing of the dock. I just added (soldered) the connector wires to the backside where they go on the board. It sounds complicated but it is really simple.

You have to drill a hole in the the back of the case and the dock to allow the wires to exit and seal them up to keep moisture out...silicone....not just used for breast augmentation,... yuk yuk

It works fine ...no more not charging...it turns on and off with the key the way I want it to, I have ridden 300 + miles so far since I did it and it works great. Like I said before now I have a plug coming out of it that i have to unplug when I remove it from the bike as well but it WORKS>..the most important thing to me.

In theory you could just power the unit off of a cord designed to power the unit from a car lighter in the charging slot on the bottom (on ebay cheap and they put out the required 5 volts...BUT then you cannot close the door on the bottom to keep moisture out and prevent the SD card from falling out AND you also CANNOT use the oem mounting dock set up.... yest the whole original set up BLOWS but I was not there for the design process...Maybe the new one...if they ever come out with one will address all that.

In hindsight I suppose you could solder a mini jack with a male and female plug to serve the same function as what I did as well and would probably look cleaner...Maybe I will do that over the winter...Riding season is short in Massachusetts!

Also you can see in the pix my solution to "what happens if it ever falls off the mount?"

Sorry for the LONG WINDED posts but hopefully it works for someone...I would be willing to bet something similar could be done on the rider v2

hope this helps someone...
Dave
(e-mail address removed)

 

[rcacs]

Great job there Dave, super duper even.

I note that you have it chained to itself basically.

My R2 came with a tether that was to go to the docking bracket. I figured that wasnt a good choice and actually have the tether to my handlebar. That way if for some really odd reason the mount itself breaks/falls off, it will all be attached to the bar instead of "itself".

Cheers!

 

[demoderbydave]

rider tether

I figured that if it were to fall off the dock....the chain...came off a car alarm transmitter...is clipped to a base that is attached firmly to the fairing with a cell phone mount. I am the king of recycling...I use what I have in the"pile of junk I should have thrown out long ago! "