lakelander wrote:

Thanks for putting my mind at rest. I soldered the connection onto the back of the cigar lighter socket.

as you can see i am a real amateur - dont understand how i would connect it directly to the battery ? it's under the passenger seat.

Did I mention I wouldn't recommend soldering in vehicles?

Mo Murphy wrote:

You can buy USB sockets designed to go behind the dash out of sight for permanent charging installation.
Mo

Yeah, this was suggested to me and it looks like it will be the way to go as the Garmin lighter cable thing has a fuse inside it already.

lakelander wrote:

what's wrong with soldering?

um.. sorry, didn't want to worry you This is a much-debated topic and probably depends more on how well the connections are executed. Here are some pros and cons: https://millennialdiyer.com/articles/motor...or-solder/
I guess it also depends on personal traumata. This is me in the 90s, rebuilding electrics, after my newly purchased 1976 CB250 left me sitting in Scottish rain... I new there was a catch when I only paid £300 Lots of brittle, corroded soldered wires - but also some badly crimped ones that had failed.