I am not an engineer so probably a stupid question. Wouldn’t the fact that the mount appears to be on a cross piece at the end of two longish arms tend to amplify any vibration?
I wanted to site the mount on the top yolk between the top of the fork stanchions as I didn’t see an acceptable alternative. I tried three or four times using tie wraps but was not totally happy about the mount just being held down, what if one of the ties came loose, also it was difficult to prevent the ties from stopping full movement of the sliding release collar. So out with the Dremel and I cut four slots in the base to allow the tie wraps to thread through it. It is now totally solid. FYI my phone is an iPhone 8 max. Can one of you who has a charging mount please tell me the height of it. Just want to get an idea whether it will obscure too much of the instrumentation.
You'll have to remove the mount to lift the sticky pad on the underside, under which you'll find a captive nut, which will fall out of its receptacle when you remove the central screw.
Gary, many thanks for the dims. So in terms of height it’s not dissimilar to the existing mount. I take it that the side elevation shows the bolt sticking out of the bottom. As for the captive nut falling out, not the end of the world but I did notice when I peeled back the sticky pad that it was not just a flat sheet but had a plug in the middle which fitted up into the recess where the captive nut is. So fingers crossed. finally, how do you release the phone, is it by pressing down on the “wings” either side of the central circular section shown on the plan view?
Many thanks for the words of warning but the machine is not out as often as most and we are a whole 20 degrees of latitude further North than you so I don’t think I need to be overly worried on this point.
Those of that have bought these charging heads, now that you have used them in anger, what are your opinions. Gary, from the photo posted above you will see that the mount is close to the ignition switch and I have already had a spare key cut which I have cut down so it sits under the phone. As the mount, which sits below the phone case is so much wider I am concerned whether I will have enough space for the key. If there is I don’t have a problem with accessing the key by removing the phone every time. So please see this annotated version of your dimensioned drawing below. The area of the underside of the mount I am concerned with is outlined in red. I have rescaled the drawing and added some dims which give me just over 11mm from the base of the unit to the surface in which sits the on/off switch. When you release the phone does the whole mount slide downwards, and if so by how much, or just the side “wings”. Also the incoming power to the USB C port is that from the bike’s 12 volt supply or is it coming from an adapter that has already dropped the voltage.
Make sure you have clearance for the usb c cable which attaches to the underside of the mount (see post 7)
Yes, the whole mount slides, but only by enough to release the phone, much like the blue collar on your existing mount. I’m not sure the key would be fouled by releasing your phone. As for power, yes, the included adaptor does the voltage reduction. It’s connected by SAE connector to the battery, and outputs to Female USB. The lead to connect the charger is USB to USB-C. All required leads are included, even the battery to SAE adaptor if you don’t already have one for your Optimate.
Okay I think this video from Quadlock answers all of my questions and confirms, together with your very informative responses that it is doable. Many thanks. https://www.quadlockcase.co.uk/pages/motorcycle-wch
Finally, after a few emails to Quadlock the following facts have been established. The reason we are told that the motorcycle charging head will not fit on the push bike mounts is the absence of the toothed ring onto which the base of the charging head will fit. in the wiring kit there is a lead which gives a SAE connection direct from the battery. I challenged them about the absence of an inline fuse and the response, which I am not entirely comfortable with, was “Yes the wires are safe even if the connection doesn't have an inline fuse.It has Surge & Polarity protection to keep the charger protected and Thermal protection to prevent overheating.” I also asked if the charger was connected using this direct to battery cable would it draw any power even if the switch on the charging head was off. Their response was “If you wire it via a SAE connector/directly to your battery, the device will draw a very slight current when not in use. If the power button on the wireless head is switched on, it will draw 12mA. If the power button on the wireless head is switched off, it will draw 6mA. An average motorcycle battery this will take about 1 month to drain at 12mA or 2 months at 6mA. We recommend disconnecting the charger from the battery if you bike is parked and not started for prolonged periods.” So for those who do not plug their bike into an Optimate it would be best to take the power from a switched supply.
Finally fitted, though with more fettling required than I'd have liked... The 3D-printed bracket arrived from my brother-in0-law on Saturday, so I was all set. Putting everything together for fit, I realised the assembly did not leave enough room for the supplied USB-C connector, so I had to take a corner off the bracket (not my neatest work, but it won't be seen once fitted) and get a lead with a compact connector for another fiver. Once the bracket was fitted to the bike, it was sutably sturdy, even with the corner missing. Finally, it was just a case of connecting the charging head using the provided screw. As can be seen, the connector leaves only just enough room to operate the Quad Lock mechanism. I'm happy with the final result (just need to tidy-up the cable routing), and I can mount the phone in landscape or portrait without obscuring the clocks, as there's no cable sticking out the bottom. I haven't used the power converter, as the KTM already has a weather-protected USB port at 5V/2.1Amp. I just need to road test with GPS to make sure it's sufficient. Once I've done that, I may use a little Sugru to weather-seal the connector at the charging head. Other than that, I should never have to fanny about with cables again!
So, this is obviously the acid test. Went out for a ride of about 40 minutes using my 2 1/2-year-old iPhone X to track my route, display it on Apple Maps and listen to music wirelessly. Battery went from 80% to 85% - I'm happy with that.
Superb job, looks like a cable with a right angle USB C plug is going to be needed. Must look at getting one of these printers, the new base plate is brilliant. Two questions:- What is the proper name for the threaded, interference fit brass ferrules? By producing the bespoke base plate you have obviated the need to already have a Quadlock motorcycle mount. I note that there are four “teeth” on the base plate, is that all the standard Quadlock has?
If you shop around you can probably get one done for about a tenner. Just upload the file from the link I referenced early on in in this thread (I'd attach it here, but it's not a recognised format). Female Thread Brass Embedment Nuts. I got mine from Amazon. There's 100 in a pack, so I'd be happy to send you a few. Yes, but rather handily, they also engage with the teeth on the charger head.
Many thanks for this information. Because I will be using the Quadlock stem mount as my starting point I need a slightly modified version of the base plate which would have the base with the four fixing holes removed but the thickness under the the circular area to remain and to be profiled to match the curved top of the stem mount, thus stopping any twisting. The removal of the plate fixing holes should also alleviate any problem with the USB C power connection. I would need to source a longer bolt to go through to the captive nut that is already in the stem mount. The file that you mention is STL format and I have already found that it’s possible to convert it to DXF format which will load into AutoCAD which I have on my old Windows laptop. So, fun and games ahead, haven’t used it in 3D before, will be interesting. One final question for you, what material did Brother-in-Law use to print the base plate, PLA or ABS?
Quadlock vibration dampener coming soon?... https://www.quadlockcase.com.au/pages/quad-lock-vibration-dampener
