My Electronics Tank Box Version 2.0 - Think Inside the Box

[Lost Rider]

About a year and a half ago I put together this Pelican tank box, using a SW-Motech gascap quick release mounting system.














The Pelican has worked well for me overall, but there's a few things I wanted to do different.
I'm preparing for a 2+ month motorbike adventure this winter, have had too much time on my hands "working" while in rehearsals, and just wanted to upgrade my previous design and electronics...

I've been changing all my cases from Pelican to the HPRC Cases simply because I like the overall design better, and they are slightly lighter than a Pelican. The HPRC 2100 is slightly smaller than a Pelican 1200, perfect for me.
http://hprc-usa.com/index3.htm
Without babbling too much about why I went with the components that I used, I had wanted a much larger screen with up to date graphics so in comes the $299 ebay refurb Garmin Nuvi 5000.
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=11547

The Garmin uses 12v power going straight into it, so I just ordered a cheap $15 wall ac plug off ebay and cut the end I needed off, using the extra wall PSU to supply 12v power to test the box. (I'm 1000's of miles from my bike)
Since the Nuvi's not anything proof I bought a Aqua Box for it to live in.
http://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_ ... ts_id=5678

After bending a piece of 1/4" aluminum, drilling a few holes, and covering it with gaff tape I had a solid, waterproof mount. Sorry I didn't make too many photo's of this part, but you get the idea...
Here you see the mount with the power and audio line from the GPS into the box with some silicone to seal it.




One of the things I wanted to make more reliable was the way power came into the box. On the pelican I had a panel mount 9 pin connector with cable whips going directly from the connector to the electronics. I wanted to have things more separated, making it easier to tech so I came up with this.
Battery -> Fuse -> 6 circuit cable -> XLR coneectors -> terminal block -> individual gadgets.
Two individual fused circuits going to the box.

I started with using a male and female Neutrik 5 pin XLR connector that is waterproof and suited for the job.
http://www.neutrik.com/us/en/audio/204_ ... tlist.aspx








Wanting to get away from needing to buy any kind of batteries on the road, and wanting better, louder sound I did away with my Boost-A-Roo (that I thought worked OK) for a AmpliRider. Having a volume knob now is a bonus.
I made my own 1/8" audio cable's to go to and from the volume knob, GPS, iPod, XM. I went with 6 Neutrik Right Angle 1/8" audio connectors to help save space
http://www.neutrik.com/us/en/audio/204_ ... tlist.aspx




Next comes the XM. Since the Nuvi doesn't have XM, I needed to add a small receiver so I picked up a like new/used Pioneer Inno on ebay for $75. The only problem with the Inno is that it uses 5v power so I would have to use it's power supply. The auction came with the car kit so I had the PSU, but it was kinda bulky and needed a 12v socket to plug into.
http://www.xmradio.com/pioneerinno/index.xmc

I took the case off, cut the board down, soldered some wires on it, shortened the power cable going to the Inno, stuck it in a balloon, wrapped it in e-tape, stuck some velcro on it and here you go. A PSU wired directly in that takes up half the space with no left over cable.






It's not going to win any design contests, but works for me.





Also you'll see the 12v accessory socket I added for other electronics chargers; iPod, iPhone, Nikon, etc...



I added a Switchcraft 3.5mm Stereo Panel Mount Connector along with the AmpliRiders volume knob to the front of the box.





SOme velcro and tool box liner held on with foam adhesive finished the job.
So now I have a quick release hard tank case that is waterproof, lockable, powered, with a big screen GPS that has 3D terrain views and spoken directions, going into a mixer/amp along with the XM and iPod or iPhone.













Now if I can just make it to January so I can ride and utilize this new tool.

[Skippy]

Great solution you've got there for a load of aplications. It ain't pretty though but it shure looks pretty sturdy and usefull. I also use a SW Motech QL tankbag but the way I'm build and the way the bag is positioned I won't be able to see anything of a GPS screen mounted at the position you are using. How is your visability this way?

[OU812]

Joe, it seems your vocation certainly cross applies here in this thread.

[Dan-A]

Hi Joe,

I just got an amplirider for my 800. Have not installed it yet. How do you like it?

[Lost Rider]

Great solution you've got there for a load of aplications. It ain't pretty though but it shure looks pretty sturdy and usefull. I also use a SW Motech QL tankbag but the way I'm build and the way the bag is positioned I won't be able to see anything of a GPS screen mounted at the position you are using. How is your visability this way?

Thanks, beauty takes a back seat to durability and functionality... you know how I roll...

I have great eyesight, the position of the GPS is similar to my old setup so I hope it will be OK. I'm away from my bike until January so we'll see... After seeing the 3D graphics on a big screen I wanted to have it..

Hi Joe,

I just got an amplirider for my 800. Have not installed it yet. How do you like it?

I did only listen to it for a few minutes, so I don't have that solid of an opinion yet...
It sounded good, maybe a little louder than the boostaroo. No noise, at least when using my power source, not the bike's.
It mixes the 3 inputs evenly so you have to adjust the volume for the GPS voice to go over the music since it doesn't lower the volume for you.


Cheers

[Skippy]

Great solution you've got there for a load of aplications. It ain't pretty though but it shure looks pretty sturdy and usefull. I also use a SW Motech QL tankbag but the way I'm build and the way the bag is positioned I won't be able to see anything of a GPS screen mounted at the position you are using. How is your visability this way?

Thanks, beauty takes a back seat to durability and functionality... you know how I roll...

I have great eyesight, the position of the GPS is similar to my old setup so I hope it will be OK. I'm away from my bike until January so we'll see... After seeing the 3D graphics on a big screen I wanted to have it..

Hi Joe,

I just got an amplirider for my 800. Have not installed it yet. How do you like it?

I did only listen to it for a few minutes, so I don't have that solid of an opinion yet...
It sounded good, maybe a little louder than the boostaroo. No noise, at least when using my power source, not the bike's.
It mixes the 3 inputs evenly so you have to adjust the volume for the GPS voice to go over the music since it doesn't lower the volume for you.


Cheers

I know how you roll and am looking forward to your next big trip and photo's.
Eye sight isn't the problem that I'm having but I'm 184cm tall and when I'm looking down to the position where the gps would be in case of the tankbag mount my helmet is pretty mutch in the same place as where my gPS screen would be so for me it didn't work out. I now have a SW Motech bag mounted to the sportscreen bracket as I feel this is the best position for it not getting in the way of the dashboard witch it did when I tried mounting it to the handdle bars. Now I just have to make a connector so I can stil get the srceen and bracket of when I don't need the GPS cause I like the R1200R best without the screen(only in the winter I put it on to keep some cold from my upper body).

[WildBlue]

Awesome setup, thanks for the write up.