Hey gang, question here for ya.
I know some of you guys/gals have a battery tender, so do I. If I'm gonna not ride for more than a couple days, then I like to hook that sucker up and let her keep the battery charged up. When I got mine, it came with two connections an eyelet terminal ends for + and - that you could bolt to terminal posts and aligator clamps for + and -. I always use the aligator clamps which is a hassle since I have to kind of undo the seat, remove battery cover bolt, remove battery cover and then hook up terminals. I had tried to install the eyelet mounts to posts for permanent install, that way I could just plug charger into dangling pigtail but, I finagled and wrangled and could not get battery cover reinstalled with em on. Do any of you have this permanently on your battery posts, if you do, you mind showing me a pic of your battery so I can see either the routing or your posts, why mine won't allow the battery cover back on. I appreciate it, thanks.

I just saw a reply from Toastman a couple weeks back on another thread, he has it installed. Toastman, you get a chance shoot me a pic so I can a visual. Thanks....

 

Are you saying there is not enough room to add one pigtail to the battery terminals? Maybe you already have one installed? Have you taken the battery out, and looked at all the leads to see where they go? If a positive lead has an inline fuse, it probably is an add on.

 

Most dealers put them on before delivery look down below the coil

 

Don' have a pic but i had the same issue - it's awfully tight in there. I ran mine out thru the same routing as the battery cable on the right side (had to remove battery cable and slide both thru the hole at the same time). I then tied it off behind the battery and let it run over to the left side of the bike. I stick it up under the seat when not in use.

 

If you are running a new charger lead in you need a fuse on the + wire as near to the battery terminal post as poss. It's pretty tight in there so there's a good chance of the wire chaffing on the frame and shorting out, at least if you've got a fuse that's all that will blow

Derv

 

I am a big fan of the Powerlet. I have one of these outlets on my handelbars



LINK

I ran cables to this directly to the battery through a 7.5A fuse.

It is NOT a cig lighter plug. They sell many adapters, this is the one for battery tender:



LINK

I connect this adapter to the Battery Tender cable when I want to put a charge on the battery. I have other adapters if I want to clamp on my GPS etc... I also carry in my bag an adapter to a female cig lighter plug for emergencies on the road where I might need to use a +12V plug like that for something.

These Powerlet plugs make a nice tight secure connection and they are very well made.

Bob

 

hey man sorry i'm late to the party.

i'm at school so the only pics i have are the ones in my album.

i took a closeup of that side of the bike though so in one of the pics you can see the battery and the pigtail for the tender.

i just kind of worked it so that the wiring laid as flat as possible, then snuck the pigtail back out the top of the battery cover and used some good old brute force to get the cover snapped back down.

zip tied the pigtail to the downtube of the frame right behind the battery and viola! permanent tender connection.

 

Cactusred,

My bike (a 2000 DWG) didn't have the battery tender hook-up installed, so instead of pulling the battery (which I have done before) I took the connection cables and attached the one I could get to easily and bolted it down (I don't remember if it was the neg or pos) then I took the other side and cut the brass ring just enough that when I loosened the other terminal nut that I could slide it around the terminal between the battery cable attachment and nut and the tightened it down, so now it stays installed on the bike. Then I took the alligator clip cables and cut off the other end (the quick connect end) and then I drilled a small hole in it (through the wire area) and used a tie wrap (very loosely) to fasten it to the frame under the seat so that when I disconnect the battery tender I put on the other connector plug I cut off to act as a protective cap for the exposed plug that is connected to the battery. If you wanted to use the battery tender more then once a year I would fish it out around the battery area and use a small piece of black Velcro (one the has the hook on one side and the loop on the other side) and attach it to a section on the frame, but still use the protective cap to cover the cable end when not in use.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures at this time.

Take care,

 

I installed banana plugs for mine. I drilled 2 holes in the battery box, installed a black and red plug. Now I come home and just plug my tender in. WS6 did the same thing. Don't have to remove anything, just plug in, takes 3 seconds.

 

Thanks guys for some great replys, I just got home from work and a few of you had some questions, so I took a couple pictures.

This first pictures is what I currently have to do, which as you can see, requires removing the battery cover, a little time consuming and not as convenient. I'm all about easy and convenient



This next picture shows the other pigtail that came with the battery tender that I would like to use, it's got the eyelet ends that could get bolted on to terminal studs.



Now the green arrows obviously show where I want to hook said eyelets too. The red arrow shows that it is fused allready, I think some one had mentioned to make sure and have it fused, so that is taken care of.
Someone mentioned routing the pigtail back through the same routing the hot terminal goes through, I don't think I tried that (don't remember) but I think the red arrow (fuse) will not go through the opening where the white arrows are showing the hot leads routing.
The blue circle is the pigtail connection out to the battery tender, and I think I had a reason for coloring and circling it for you but after working all night, I don't remember why I colored and circled it, That must mean it's time for nap time.
Thanks for ideas and input guys.