Modern Vespa

I'm leaving tomorrow for a tour of New England. I tried installing the Peak Design Qi2 mount, but it wasn't charging. Finally got it replaced. Just took the whole front end apart, re-ran the cable, and put my phone on the mount. Apparently Peak Design's Pixel 7 Pro case doesn't align correctly with Peak Design's charging mount 😭. My phone says it's charging for 4 seconds and stops. Gemini says it's a safety thing because charging at the periphery of the inductive field can cause it to overheat. (Bonkers that my Peak case has always worked fine with an Anker magnetic battery. I've actually been using the mag battery as the primary charging source, because the USB does a crappy job staying in too.)

Anyway, it would be super handy to have my phone visible for speed cameras and maps and all that. My 7 Pro's battery is even more dismal now than it was when it was new; I'd need to charge it during the day even if I wasn't touring.

I've just given the USB port a thorough cleaning to hopefully fix that part of the problem. Now it's a matter of where to charge it. Options are:

- Anker battery, in my pocket
- Stock USB charger, in the glovebox
- Anker battery, routed to the Peak mount
- Scooterwest USB port, routed to the Peak mount.

The last one would be the most convenient, but is probably also the most stupid. My glovebox can attest that Vespa legshields are not watertight, but I presume the knee door does keep most of the water out of the electric harness.

How bad of an idea would it be to take the knee door off for this tour, so I can use the USB I tucked into the wiring harness behind it to charge my phone?

Now that I've typed all that out, I wonder if I could use the Peak cable I ran as a medium to shimmy a USB-C cable up without taking the whole thing apart again. Maybe I could pull all the slack, tie a USB cable to the top of the Peak cable, and then pull the slack the other way to get it through the mirror hole. I'd still have to take the mirror off, and probably the windshield.

It would probably get snagged on something, but it would be nice to not have to get a bunch of tools out and spend an hour or two of my tour taking the whole damned thing apart again!

I'd get the battery replaced in your 7pro and not bother with charging it on the bike.

secondly I found the wireless charging on my 7pro was moody and therefore pointless - you'll find a lot of other people whinging about how shit a job google did.

I've got a Pixel Fold on order, but it wouldn't arrive before the tour.

TBD if/how I'll rig it to use the mount.