Well, since I now have satellite radio, I want to mount it on the bird.

I am looking for ideas on a) to install a cigarette lighter adapter for power and b) mount the actual unit somewhere.

About the lighter, I was thinking first that I would need one that has a cover for external use, perhaps one that I could connect directly to the battery. I found one today at my local auto parts store, however, it did not have an inline fuse. Is this important? I would think it is...

For those of you that have this installed on your bike where did you mount it?

Would Ram Mount be the best way to mount the radio?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions/ideas.

I have mine mounted under the seat in the area for the U lock. I tapped into the headlight power so it comes on only when the key is on. I can take pics if you are interested.

I have heard several people just use the mount included in the car kit. I just used velcro.

I have mine hard wired into a bus block along with all my other goodies. It is attached to the bike via ram mount (I glued industrial velcro to it, hard side to ram mount, soft side to accessories). That way I can see the screen. Just be sure to keep any wires away from the coils or HT wires, they will make buzz.

I modified a cigarette lighter extension cord by cutting off the male end and wiring in an inline fuse. I have this wired directly to the battery and the female end of it snaps right in the U-lock holder under the seat. I usually have the XM powered off of it, but I can then also use it for other accessories as well if the need should arise.

You didn't say what receiver you have but the XM Roady can be mounted to the upper tree using the supplied swivel mount, as many have done. I didn't want the Roady pivoting with the bars, so I made my own mount out of some scrap polycarbonate that attaches to the front of the tank and positions the radio right above the steering stem.

Ideas for wiring here

Cycle gadgets sells a direct wire kit for the XM radio. I recommend something like that, as I've been through 2 or 3 XM Power adapters. They break pretty easily. Last one to die was on the trip to Hookers last year.

See the link Tim posted with the recommendations for wiring. I wired my entire bike using MBarton's mechanism: Wire in a relay powered with a 10 amp fuse and triggered by the headlight (Mike used the tail light.. but the principal is the same.
. I wired in a power strip similar to what you see in some of the pictures in that link. It's nice to be able to to quickly add additional stuff without having to worry about draining the battery. If the key is off, the power is off. The power strip, and the relay, were both available at Radio Shack, I think they cost me less than $20

XM.....did you oday XM.....Dave is a real man....a Howard listner

So I would assume it's Sirius

I instlled two 12V plugs I found at walmart under the dash cluster, attached them with four bolts each to the plastic cowling. You can see them here, one is closed and one has the GPS plugged into it.



I hard wired my sirius right to the battery since it uses 12v. I have another 12v adapter for it to use when I take it in the car or truck.

Thanks guys...this really helps me out.