[Mr. Markus]

Hello Community.

I have a 1998 Enfield Bullet 500 ES and want to connect a USB charger. Somebody advised me to use the headlight cable because its directly connected with the alternator and only has power if the engine is running.

Is that a good idea? If so, what wires can I use. I have a orange, green and blue cable on the headlight.

[REpozer]

Will your head light turn on with battery power only?
Mine will. Would have to look at a wiring diagram.

[Arizoni]

IMO, the problem with connecting a charger to the headlight wires (orange/blue/green) is only the blue & orange (high beam and ground) or the green & orange (low beam and ground) will be turned on at any one time.
Say the charger was connected to the blue & orange wires.  It would only work when the headlight was in the High beam position.

Most RE's also have a gray wire close to the headlight.
This gray wire is often unconnected because it is the power wire for the small "parking" bulb that is inside some headlight shells.  This is never used with a sealed beam headlight.

Any how, the gray wire always has power if the light switch is in the Parking or Headlight on position.  It is turned off only if the light switch on the handlebars is in the OFF position AND the switch bypass wire was removed from the headlight casquette.

If your charger is the type made for plugging into a cigarette lighter or hooking up directly to a 12 volt wire in a car, you do NOT want AC power going to it.

If you try hooking up a USB wire directly to the motorcycle you will fry any USB device you might have plugged into it.  (USB power is 5 volts DC.  12-14 volts AC or DC that might be lurking on your motorcycle is way too much.)

Anyway, that's my opinion for the moment.

[malky]

Use a 12volt auto reducer connected to the battery, operated via a relay, with an inline fuse for protection. You can run the cable with the output charging plug to wherever is convenient, like inside a topbox or pannier, so if you're charging a phone/tablet etc it doesn't get a soaking.

[hpwaco]

I have a Battery Tender cigarette lighter "socket" with weather proof cap and fairly long cord that plugs into my fused Battery Tender pig tail.   I can then plug in an automotive type cigarette lighter USB  (12 vdc to 5 vdc) charger.    My daughter has a handlebar mounted call phone holder (ebay less then $20) with built in charger that plugs into her Battery Tender pig tail when needed.

[heloego]

   If you already have a Battery Tender Jr., and the supplied battery pigtail, use this:

      http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-BATTERY-TENDER-USB-CHARGER-QUICK-DISCONNECT-SAE-TO-USB-ADAPTER-PLUG-/292079559030?epid=1217829044&hash=item44014c6176:g:P0gAAOSwc-tY5~o7

   Plugs right into your Tender pigtail.

   I just used it to keep my stuff charged while riding up to Aurora, CO and back to Albuquerque, NM.
   Works great!
   Only drawback is it handles only one unit at a time, but it's genius IMHO.

[Mr. Markus]

Hello@all.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Maybe some more explanation because I am riding a Swiss Version of the Bike and maybe dont use the right words. I have 2 bulbs in the headlight. The small parking bulb is always on power. The main bulb, with the ground and high beam is only on power if the engine is running (and the switch is turned on).

Basically I want to get sure that the USB charger is only working if the engine is running and not when the ignition is turned on. Thats the reason why I want to connect it to the green & orange (low beam and ground).

Is there a better place to connect it?
Any recommendations?

[Adrian II]

The headlight power on these models is AC only (powered straight off the alternator via an AC regulator) which will not be suitable for your USB charger if it runs off DC.

Not wishing to cause trouble, but this post really belongs in the Cast Iron Bullet section, the Electra-X and AVL Bullets are different models.

A.