The only tools needed were a Philips-head screwdriver and an electric drill with a 1/2-inch drill bit.
It’s only a matter of time before Ride Power USA’s design for a cell phone charger is as commonplace on modern personal watercraft as folding swim steps and tilt steering.
Considering not only the convenience but safety and potential life saving qualities of having a plug-in-ready phone charger on personal watercraft, it’s actually surprising Ride Power USA has gone so long unchallenged by the OEMs thus far.
Choosing to perform a review (and obviously an installation) of Ride Power USA’s Android Phone Charger was a no-brainer from the minute we discovered the brand’s easy-to-install system.
The simplistic design is so straightforward that the only reason it took us longer than the suggest hour to installation was because we needed to photo-document the process. In all honesty, it took us less than an hour, including the time to toss in a few cosmetic additions.
The Ride Power USA phone charger kit is available in 3.5-foot for Androids, and 4-feet for iPhones 4 and 5.
Step One when always working on your PWC is to disconnect the battery.
The Android plug required the large 1/2-inch bit. The angle isn’t perfect from this position, but works.
The hole provides us a direct shot to the positive battery terminal, allowing for a very clean and uncomplicated installation.
Although not part of the Ride Power USA kit, we found this two-piece grommet to help seal up the hole we made in the glove box. Cheap rubber grommet kits can be found at any auto parts store.
Feeding the cord through the hole, the grommet helped seal up the hole we made with the drill and holds the wire in place.
The Quick Disconnect plugs into the battery tender with an easy snap. We coiled up the extra cord footage with a black zip tie.
We grounded our phone charger to the bottom of the Sea-Doo RXP battery bracket and attached the positive to the battery terminal.
With our battery’s positive terminal reconnected, the Ride Power USA phone charger is live and ready to work. The ease of the installation definitely earned the kit some serious points.
Priced at $69, the Ride Power USA kit can be as expensive as a full tank of fuel at your local dockside fuel pump, but given how often we bring our phones with us – be it for pictures, GPS mapping or just never being able to go anywhere without our smart phones – the purchase was worth every penny.
Being that the charger is “live” there is a threat of wearing down your battery if you leave your phone plugged in all day with the ski off – but again, that’s no different than with an aftermarket stereo system. We definitely recommend this kit and want to suggest that the OEMs pay attention to this awesome innovation.
Big thanks go to Matt Lackore and the use of his immaculate Sea-Doo RXP 215.
Been using the Ride Power Charger since day 1. Tried other chargers prior to no avail. I reccomend it to everyone cuz it works. Next winter will be 3rd year with no issues!!!
Great article, thank you for your time.