You got the pigtail .... where?

At my dealer's. In the same area with the battery tender (Jr.) and associated parts. It was relatively cheap (maybe $15?)... Well worth it!

Forum members who have ridden with me know that I like a GPS on long trips (comes from all my life on the water!). I have a Garmin 176C mounted to a RAM handlebar mount and it is nice... even readable while underway! Even if you don't care for maps, you can custom design a screen and change speed units to metric if you travel in Canada, etc.

The problem, of course is battery power. AA Batteries run low or, on a bike, can be bounced around and the unit will power down on bumpy roads. The problem, then, was how to connect and route the wiring to draw off the bike's battery. No problem. Just wire into an accessory block. Right? I found a simpler and more portable way that also allows quick attachment and, more importantly, quick detachment for any 12-volt accessory.

Most of us use a battery tender for the winter. It works by attaching a pigtail to the battery permanently that mates with a pigtail that is a part of the charger. It happens that you can buy the pigtail separately. I bought a spare pigtail and soldered it to the 12-volt power cord for the GPS. Now I can just plug the GPS in to the battery cord and I have instant power. The cord is fused and I tested it by deliberately shorting the line to see how effective the fuse was. Duh. It was effective.

It is easy to route and hide the line temporarily and later quickly remove it if I am not touring. It is also easy to disconnect the GPS and take it in at night.

I can imagine other applications. The only caution is to remember to power down the GPS while parked, though the current draw is so minimal that I doubt that it could pull down the battery, even overnight. I will test this during the remaining winter months by leaving the unit on to see just how long it takes to drain the battery.

Just sharing a quick and easy method for a temporary and versatile power supply.

I did something like that, being a smoker, I installed a cigarette lighter and I can plug anything in it! :tour