Maybe you’re like me, incapable of leaving your bike stock. Heated grips are nice for year-round riding, or perhaps you like to watch and have added a moto-dashcam? It’s also helpful to be able to charge a phone while riding, so you can Bluetooth tunes and directions without fear of a dead battery in the middle of nowhere. Innovv’s Power Hub1 offers a simple solution for powering all those add-ons.
Innovv is best known for their dashcams and DVR units, like the C3 we reviewed in 2015 (“Innovv C3” – New Stuff, August 2015). The new Power Hub1 was an obvious next step in simplifying the installation of those devices. Going beyond standard relays, it employs a ten-second delay before switching on power, allowing your charging system voltage to stabilize before supplying power to voltage sensitive-devices.
Having just acquired a V-Strom 1000 for myself—the second ‘Strom added to Wrecking Crew this month—I used the power hub to do a pretty standard ‘Strom setup, adding a 12v charging port, power for my LED auxiliary lights, and a heated gear line.
Installation is straightforward, requiring only a direct feed from your battery, a switched source for sensing on and off, a ground—and of course a place to put the hub and associated bundle of wires. I used the power feed from my headlight switch as the switched source. Main power feed was easy to get from the battery posts.
There are five separate fused power outputs, and Innovv thoughtfully staggered the location of the fuses in the output wires to avoid bulk. This is one area the Innovv box deviates from other options in the market, using preinstalled pigtails instead of terminals.
Finding a home on the ‘Strom for the Hub1 was a bit more of a challenge than hooking it up. The central box has molded ears to run a zip tie through—not what I think of as permanent installation, but it went up against a subframe rail nicely and ended up being very tidy.
When I finished with the hub, I added one additional switch to the bike to control my LED lights, but even if I become an inattentive idiot and walk away with the switch on, the power still shuts off when I turn the key off. I call that a win—basically providing OEM-like functionality for aftermarket additions. This is the other area that the Hub1 deviates from other power controllers—many offer the ability to select constant or switched power for each connected device.
Nit-picking: I’d like to connect to the fuses with a terminal instead of a butt connector. Using butt connectors does make for a compact install, and the unused leads are easily disabled by removing the fuses. The extra wires can be tied up out of the way, in case I decide I need a “real” GPS on the ‘Strom. But this arrangement is still bulkier than terminals, where there are only wires for installed connections.
Innovv’s Power Hub1 is a simple, low-cost solution to powering accessories without requiring you to butcher your factory harness looking for outputs, or add extra switches that open you up to battery drain. Although it lacks the flexibility of more expensive units, this little box makes your farkles work as if they were stock.
$69.00. Learn more and get your own at Innovv.com.
This story originally appeared in our April 2017 issue, which you can read in all its original high-res glory here.