I installed the latest NIM today along with a few other goodies and wanted to share my (so far limited) experience. I have a 2011 CVO Ultra with XM in the HK and MP3 in the 660...and for some crazy reason decided to tear my electronics apart when the NIM was replaced. I talked my HD dealer into letting me swap the cables and while I was at it, changed a few other things. Specifically, I installed:
- My own Y-cable (HD is back-ordered)
- New NIM
- Boostero
- Rear auxillary connection on radio
- Installed HD-BOMM
- Relocated the XM antenna to on top of the XM module from its (higher) perch right under the windshield trim.
All in all, I'm a happy camper right now, though I've only tested it 10 miles so far. This was the first of these I've done and it took me longer than I had expected to get it apart, modified, and back together. Here's what I learned:
- The new NIM really does seem to do the job and has fixed the false triggering problem. It seems to interrupt when it should and give up control when it should. One weird case I've found so far is that if you've got MP3 playing but are currently listening to something else (XM on the HK, in my case) and the GPS interrupts you, just before it returns you to your XM music, it leaks a few notes from the MP3 playing on the Zumo. Usually if I'm playing MP3s on the Zumo, I'm listening to them (not something else), so this is a bit of a moot point.
- The rear aux modification is not bad if you're familiar with a soldering iron and have done the research. Though I was still waaay nervous doing the modification. The most touchy part is cutting the trace on the circuit board--be prepared with a VERY sharp knife and some optics that REALLY let you see it up close and personal. I had to get a 10X monocle it order to see it sufficiently and I still think I butchered the cut a bit--though it seems to work fine.
- The boostero really does increase the volume of your Zumo output. Originally, I installed it at the Zumo output and before the y-cable. However, in doing some basic testing, it seemed the NIM was having triggering issues. It would sometimes seem to miss a GPS trigger entirely and other times it would hold the trigger interruption much longer than it needed to for the GPS commands. Despite this, it worked correctly about 2/3 of the time. I found that if I moved the Boostero to the leg of the Y-cable leading to the Aux port, the NIM handled interrupts MUCH better (flawlessly so far). However, you do give up some volume on the GPS voice by moving the booster to the Aux leg of the Y.
- Although I haven't used it going down the road yet, the HD-BOMM seems to work perfectly. I'm still a little worried the call recipient won't be able to hear me over my pipes, despite full-face and a good microphone. We'll see...
- I have been having XM reception issues--it just cuts out in areas where my car (or even previous CVO) never does. I've heard some people claim the metal windshield trim on some bikes (as on mine) causes issues. As a result, I relocated the XM antenna to the top of the XM module (actually slightly lower than the original mount). Testing is so far inconclusive...I already have a better antenna on order and will likely upgrade. More to come on this.
Questions:
- How do you know if you've cut too deep on the circuit board when cutting the "rear auxillary" trace? Everything seems to work fine but just curious...
- Does installation of the HD-BOMM cause the Zumo microphone volume to be lowered? It seems the volume if talking through the Zumo cell connection (using the Zumo microphone) seems to come across quieter than before installing the HD-BOMM. Admittedly, this is scenario that I'll probably never use the cell but just curious.
I'll be returning my old NIM cable to the dealer on Monday so he can submit it under warrant. More testing to come...