Relay controlled power outlet on my BMW R1150GS

As I mentined in previous entry/article about the Samsung Battery pack and gadgets charging problem on journey, here is my solution:

Scheme of wiring

I want to place my battery pack into detachable topcase behind the rear seat. That is why I want to place the connection of the power outlet from the topcase into the toolbox under the rear seat (in some waterproof way if possible). The scheme of the circuit is described above.  

Prepared wiring (with connector) going to the rear seat tool box,
12V car power outlet socket (that will be placed in topcase),
relay embedded in a plastic box (which is placed under the tank)

So here is everything ready. Now the most difficult part - finding 12V cable that switches the lights on (I am not sure if it is the side light or dashboard light). The connector with lights is located on BMW R 1150 GS under the gas tank. There is quite lot of cables and connectors in two rows above each other. The one with lights is in upper row of connectors, on right-hand side (from riders view). Then you have to find the proper pin of the connector.

Trial and error method to find the 12V side lights wire

Better if you check it on your own - if it is the same as for me (funny is how ABS is blinking :))

Here it is: left bottom corner pin (from riders view)

After finding out that the pin that switches on the lights is in left bottom corner (of above mentioned upper right connector) from riders view. The last picture (above this paragraph) is taken from handlebars back. Since the connector is waterproof I removed the cable insulation from the cable that is soldered to this pin about 2-5cm (1-2 inches) behind the connector. After removing the insulation I could solder a new cable that is controlling the relay. Then I insulated everything back again. I fixed this "relay controlling cable" on several places to ensure its position and gave the tank back to its place. The relay is placed under the tank as well to reduce the possibility of short circuit caused by water. So everything is done, covered and works perfectly. 

Everything charges only when the lights are switched on - so that solves the problem of lack of energy for starting the engine, when you forget something connected to the power outlet (for example overnight).

Samsung battery pack for all electronic gadgets

Because the everyday electricity source is almost necessity of today's world (mainly due to smartphones) and that usually means a problem during travelling on motorcycle - mainly when camping. For that reason I decided to buy myself some battery pack that could charge my electronic gadgets that I use every day on my motorcycle trips. That means of course my smartphone, GoPro camcorder, helmet intercom and maybe some other in the future. Most of those gadgets are charged with some kind of USB connector (so it can be charged from computer, electricity adaptor or even 12V car power outlet. 

Samsung 9000mAh Battery Pack and my Galaxy Nexus

When riding a motorcycle I do not want any cables hanging on handlebars or to my pockets, or even having a cell phone in topcase or something. For that reason I decided to buy a battery pack that would charge from 12V power outlet when riding (I have to work on this circuit with some relay that will switch on when I start the engine) and when I reach my destination or during the night it can charge what I need.

The best price/performance ratio seemed the Samsung Battery Pack with 9000mAh (the capacity is for 3,8V internal battery - but don't worry the output has standard USB with 5V and something between 1-2A) - that means capacity of 34Wh. Which should be enough for charging my cellphone 4-5 times! It costs here in Czech Republic about 50 Euros (that's about 60 USD). It is charged through USB mini connector (the producer claims that it can be charged with current up to 2A and voltage of 5V which means really fast charging). And it can charge your devices through standard USB female connector so you can use enclosed short micro USB cable or some special cable for some of your devices. The dimmensions of the battery pack are similar to the pack of cigarettes.

Size comparison with pack of cigarettes

Short test: The battery pack was charged during the night with standard (I believe some old OEM Nokia) charger. In the morning the battery pack was used to charge one smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S3 mini). It was charged from 19% to 100% in 2 hours, 5 minutes (which is very similar to standard charging time when normal charger is used). 

Then there was a pause for two or three hours and another smartphone (Samsung Galaxy Nexus) was charged from 20% to 100% in 2 hours and 15minutes (again very similar to OEM charger). After that test the Battery Pack indicated still 3 of 4 LEDs so I believe that it was somewhere on the edge of 1/2 and 3/4 of its capacity. So really great result.

UPDATE:
So I managed to charge 4 smartphones without any problems.

What to say as a conclusion? Great product with great reputation of manufacturer and what's more: for great price.

Sunday morning ride to the earth-fill dam

Since I do not have too much time for riding (I am finishing my bachelor's thesis at university), the only possibility this week was the sunday morning. So me and my father took our bikes and went for short ride (about two hours of total time). We visited quite interesting water structure - the earth-filled dam Švihov that is also known as Želivka. This structure supplies Czech capital city - Prague with drinking water via 52km (about 32 miles) long gravity pipeline with diameter 2,6m. There are few pictures - sorry for the image quality - it's just cellphone photo.

Water outlet at the toe of the dam

Our bikes at the toe of earth-fill dam

The closest picture that I was able to take (through the fence)

Tailwater channel and the concrete weir for measurements of discharges

New Sargent seat for my R 1150 GS

My seat started to be less comfortable than I would expect of touring bike or maybe my ass starts to be more sensitive:). Maybe its also a matter of time - I mean the seat is about 11 years old. I was thinking about two possibilities of solving the problem:

1. Refurbishing of old seat - new foam, maybe some modification of layout of the foam layers, also some new cover with some GS logo etc...
2. Buying some new comfortable seat. 

After I tried the Sargent seat - there was no question about it... I just orderder the Sargent seat for my GS from local dealer and after some time I've finally got it. It has more concave shape, so you are not sitting on your tailbone but on your butt. That makes it suitable for long trips (one friend of my rode 1600km on it without problem in one day - that speaks for itself).
The Sargent manufactures also the frame (or skeleton if you want) of the seat unlike most of the manufacturers that use old OEM seats. The only thing that you have to do on GS 1150 seat, is that you have to remove from OEM seat special steel support that is fixed by 4 screws from the bottom. And this support is fixed to the new Sargent seat. That takes 2 minutes only. So no problem. I have not tried the seat in traffic yet due to bad weather conditions and also the lack of time, but I hope that next weekend will be fine for a ride. Or even better now with the new seat ;)

The Sargent seat and the OEM BMW seat in the background

Comparison of the seats from the bottom,
the steel support was "transplanted" to the new Sargent seat

Top case padding

I ordered custom top case for my R 1150 GS. The top case dimensions are based on original aluminum top case from BMW R1200GS Adventure (approx. 365x310x315mm) because I like the proportions but since my helmet is little bit bigger I enlarged it to 400x340x340mm (still can be used on R1200GS and it fits between the side cases) that is much better for my purposes but still seems reasonably small. 

Another thing that I wanted from the manufacturer (BEGR) was the padded upper edge to avoid damaging of my helmet when inserting to/removing from the topcase. The producer did that really nicely with some rubber gasket. Since I want to use the topcase basicly only for the helmet I decided to pad the interior with heavy duty carpet. 

I bought all the necessary stuff and started with padding (for the first time in my life):

Preparation for the padding of the top case - just to avoid strain of the adhesive
on the surface of the top case

Walls already padded with the heavy duty carpet

Heavy duty carpet and soft foam for the bottom of the top case

Almost finished - just the carpet cover of the bottom is missing

And here it is - the final product