I was wondering if anyone has ever thought to use the direct lead that you connect to the battery for Gerbing clothes as a connector for a trickle charger?

I was thinking it would be nice to just have a single wire coming out from under the seat, (and plust it's already mounted on my SG). But I would need some way to convert the Gerbing plug style to the trickle charge connector (ie Battery Tender Jr).

Has anyone ever tried this?

 

Yep. You can easily do that. Or... Do what I did, add a powerlet outlet port to one of your side covers and plug in there, nice and clean.

 

You can use any connector you want.I like the Powerlet plugs,heavy duty,and unlike SAE and coax easy to handle with gloves on.Go to www.powerlet.com for Gerbing (conversion to Powerlet,coax,sae etc.) connectors or make your own.I made my own pigtail for the tender,not hard to do.Just verify you've got the correct polarity on everything.

 

From the FAQ section on Gerbing's web site:

"Q: My bike already has a pigtail for my battery charger/maintainer. Can I use that to power Gerbing's Heated Clothing?
A: Unfortunately, no. We understand the desire not to have any more pigtail leads poking out from under the seat than is absolutely necessary. But depending on the device, some of these battery charger leads are only capable of handling the 1-to-2 amps that such chargers deliver. Using them to power from 4 to 15 amps of heated gear can blow the fuse and, even with the proper fuse in place, can overload the capacity of these same wire leads."

Now this speaks to using the harness from the Battery Tender to power heated gear, not sure how it would operate in reverse (using the heated gear pigtail to run the tender). The newer Gerbings gear uses a coax style plug that doesn't match up to the Battery Tender plug, although I've seen adapters that allow them to connect.

 

I have a coax plug mounted on two of my bikes and use it for tender and heated gear. I also use the tender harness on my other bike with 10amp fuse for my heated gear and tender. No problem at all

 

I use my heated gear pigtail for my battey tender, works great. Just used a spare pigtail from an old controller to make the connection, as said before make sure your polarity is right.

 

The heated gear wiring and fuse are stronger than a tender plug so yes it is possible to use the heated gear plug for battery tender. Adapters are available on line for exactly this purpose. I think its Firstgear that makes numerous plugs that also fit Gerbing and HD heated gear.

Here is also one from Tourmaster for $7. Firstgear is about $9.
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...l-Adaptor.aspx

 

I routed my tender cable under the frame and came out the right side cover but I keep it tucked inside the cover unless I am using it which is not very often. My Gerbings power cable I would like to clean up one day with one of the suggestions.

 

I use the firstgear flush mount in the left heat deflector.
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...Connector.aspx

 

Perfect! Thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for.