The Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route, Day 4 (side note)

On Day 3 during dinner, Tom verbally abused the hypothetical gadget-head who might carry a butane powered soldering iron on a motorcycle. Within 36 hours he was soldering on the trail. Revenge comes swiftly. Tom makes a mental note to keep his trap shut (yeah right!) However, it might make some sense to carry a little bit of soldering paste......(we were very lucky that the solder bonded, especially with such a crude, untinned, and contaminated soldering iron!)

For GPSs which use a voltage converter in the cord: Garmin eMap, eTrex, and GPS12

If your GPS has a converter circuid in the cord, carefully open the case by unscrewing the end. Wiggle the halves gently left and right as you carefully spread the case open. All the components sticking up off the circuitboard must be glued down. Silicone is OK as long as you don't glob it on too thick but Silicone oozes acids. Other glues such as epoxy or liquid steel, or hot glue are perhaps better. The first component to break off will be the choke coil (copper colored) and that is a certainty if you use the adapter on a motorcycle! (In this photo the heated tire iron is pointing directly at the choke coil.)

Glue every component that is sticking up to the circuitboard, and secure the loose wires too so they don't vibrate and break off. Put some goo on the little red power LED.

This is not rocket science, and who cares if you void the warranty - it's only a power cable. If you don't do it, and you're using it on a motorcycle, you WILL have a warranty issue anyway. If you're not confident enough to do it, ask around. Anyone with any electrical experience can do it in five minutes. We do it for $4 if you buy the cord at CycoActive.

If you're thinking ahead you might consider positioning the thread behind the tabs prior to the silicone.

With any GPS on a motorcycle, you MUST have a vibration-isolated mount to protect the GPS circuitboard from engine vibration. There are several available. RAM makes several excellent mounts that use rubber balls for adjustment and isolation. Touratech makes trick CNC aluminum mounts. See these mounts on www.cycoactive.com/gps.