[faz]

Hello Hans,

I know about the cable you mention and I have considered it, however I opted for the Thunderbox as it could offer more flexibility (a word that BMW Motorrad doesn’t quite like I have learnt!).

The HealTech Thunderbox arrived on Friday and I promptly started my DIY installation on Saturday morning. It took me all morning, mainly due to BMW motorcycles’ quirks, such as having to remove the luggage rack and the top section of the tail to unscrew the indicator… I also had to remove the tank cover to hide the cables under it, so that it’d look as tidy as possible. The Thunderbox was a breeze to install and it works perfectly so far, so if all goes to plan it was money well spent. I connected the Thunderbox and the K6’s power directly to the battery posts, then the K6’s trigger wire to the TB’s green terminal. The TB does have its own trigger wire but only as an option if you don’t want it to operate in auto mode, which kinda deceives the purpose of it so I have left it unconnected. In auto mode, the TB sends power to what is connected to it only when the engine is running and not as soon as the ignition is on if that makes sense. I thought that would be ideal as I want the camera and whatever other accessories to come on when the engine is on to avoid battery drain, but I think the only downside of that could be that the TB may think the engine isn’t running when it is idle for a while such as when stuck in traffic… Only time will tell and I’ll let you know how it goes in the next few days. Thus far everything works as it should, the K6 comes on about 30 seconds after the engine is running and it turns off shortly after the engine shuts off. I may have to fine tune the location of the cameras, especially the rear one as a little corner of the view is covered by the number plate, but all in all I’m pretty pleased with how it all worked out. Also, I didn’t have to update the K6’s firmware in the end as it came with the newest one intalled.

I’ll test everything this week on my daily commutes, then if all stays as good as it is I’ll post a comprehensive guide with some photos if you’d like that. I think it may help some fellow 850 owners, as there is a distinct lack of installing guides for that particular bike.

Thank you again for your help mate, much appreciated.

[faz]

Hi Hans,

Thank you for your reply. I have looked at the photos of your setup and unfortunately my bike’s connections are totally different. I think I could only use a posi-tap connector to link the K6 trigger wire to the number plate light, but that would require me to disassemble the luggage rack and part of the tail with as the cable goes under that. I have found an allegedly hot wire (blue and red) going into a big plug under the seat and I’ve seen online that some people have posi-tapped a trigger wire into that but there are differing opinions about it with a few discouraging it as it may interfere with the electronics. I have therefore ordered a 16A Thunderbox (the version that comes with an extra USB lead), so I am planning to give that option a go. I understand you recommend to connect the K6 power directly to the battery (as well as the TB of course) and the K6 trigger wire into the green TB connector – is that correct? If it works it’ll spare to have to tap into a hot wire and it’ll give me some flexibility for future accessories. If everything fails, I’ll just use a USB brick – that’s the beauty of the K6 I suppose! As you are a great font of knowledge, I have two more questions: 1) Can I use a 256GB Micro SD card to update the K6 firmware? The website states you need an 8GB or a 32GB, but I wonder if things have changed. 2) Does disconnecting the battery on a BMW cause any issues? Silly question I know, but I have never done it believe it or not.

Thanks again!