Charging on bike via the Home charge connection

[TomServo]

Ok all, I just purchased a Tomtom Rider 2nd from the 'bay and now I'm realizing what a pain it's going to be to find a cradle for it. Now I'm thinking since I have some RAM mount hardware already I can just make a simple frame out of aluminum or steel stock from Lowes or Home Depot. I can bend this stuff to fit around the Rider and use self adhesive weatherstripping to allow it to grip the unit without it slipping around. It may not be pretty but it should hold it securely.
My concern is the power supply. While idealy 5 hours of battery life would probably work in most cases, the battery is probably not going to last that long. Now it appears that the Rider has a charging port on the bottom for the household charger and a series of pins on the back to connect to the cradle (which i won't have) which then connects to the 12v supply.
I'm wondering, is there any reason I can't use the lower port to charge/power the unit when on the bike? I realize if the weather turns bad I would need to unplug it as the weather sealing would be compromised with the door open, but otherwise I would think it would work. From what I gather by looking at replacement AC/household chargers that fit the rider, it outputs about 5 volts. This is pretty much standard with mini usb chargers and the like. Since I have a couple of these type of USB car chargers from older cell phones around I would think that I could remove the connector from the household unit and connect it to one of the car usb chargers I have to power the unit when on the bike. Ideally I would use a wiring harness type connector with a quick release so i could still connect it to the home charger transformer when I want to.
Does this sound reasonable? Is there something I'm missing here?

 

[rcacs]

As long as you are providing the correct voltage, you should have no problem doing what you suggest.

I do believe the proper cradle is available from the TomTom UK. This would simplify the process greatly and ensure that your Rider is mounted correctly.

TomTom - - Bike navigation - TomTom

Cheers!

 

[Pacific Coaster]

Your work arround sounds pretty much exactly what I have done to run my Rider 2 while driving in my car. Do check that the voltage is correct. I seem to remember that the Rider 1 and Rider 2 had a different voltage requirement ??? Anyone able to confirm or otherwise?

PC

 

[TomServo]

Success!

The Rider 2nd edition came in today (from ebay) and it came with the standard car charger (and the AC one) that plugs into the bottom so no having to frankenstein my cables to make this work. it plugs in directly my cig lighter adapter on my bike. Now the other problem I was worried about was the cradle which the ebay sale doesn't include but I was hoping to make my own, and well... it worked.

Is it pretty? Well not so much.

Is it solid? Oh yeah! There is no way it's coming out of there by accident.

Best part was it only cost me about $7.00 in parts from Lowes. Purchased a piece of 1/8th" X 1/2" aluminum stock (that's aluminium for you Euro types) from Lowes and some screws, locking nuts, etc. I already had a Ram plate so I didn't have to spend the 25 or so dollars on that. The plate I'm using is to attach the Magellan Roadmate 2200T cradle (you can see the part here Part Details)

To make this cradle I cut a length of the aluminum stock to the width of the area on the back of the Rider 2nd Ed where the OE cradle slides into. Then I simply drilled holes in the aluminum to match up with the Ram plate. I used some rounded screws that were pretty shallow on top (allen key type) so I only had to tgive this piece a slight bend to allow clearance for the screw heads as it slides up onto the channel in the back.
After that I cut two more pieces after loose fitting them on the back to make the securing arms. Since I used aluminum, it made it easy to bend the arms into the correct shape (or not so correct as you can see from my pics). I just clamped the arms in a vice with a towel wrapped around them to get the bends.
Once they were shaped "correctly" I drilled holes in them to match up with the four screw holes on the ram plate. Before attaching them I put some of that self adhesive weatherstripping foam on the arms to keep them from scratching the casing. After that I started tightening everything down. The hardest part was keeping the top two screws from turning as I couldn't get at the heads once the top piece is inserted. Putting side pressure on the ram plate was enough to keep them from turning while I tightened the locking nut down. The lower two are much easier as you can get a pair of needle-nose pliers under the plate to hold the hex head screws in place as you tighten.
The hex head screws have a taller head on them so they just contact the back of the casing when in place which keeps the gps stable in the mount.
Like I said above, it's not pretty but for a first try and not being very good at fabbing stuff up, it's a good start. I have enough aluminum stock left over to make a another attempt if i decide I can't stand the looks of the current unit (and maybe I'll paint it black).
Hope this helps some of you who need a cradle and don't want to pay full price for one.