Battery Tender / Charging thru Auxiliary DC jack

[Bluesman]

With the less than easy access location of the battery, has anyone tried jumping a dead battery, or using a battery tender that plugs into the accessories (cig lighter) jack located in the accessories box??

Porsche cars have a similar issue that the electric bonnet (hood) won't open when the battery is dead. When I had this issue I use a neat special jumper cable that worked by jumping 2 cars between the accessories jacks. It took a long time to fully charge from dead, but I mostly used it to get enough juice to open the hood for a proper jump between 2 car batteries.

Porsche sells factory battery tenders that work from the same accessories jack as well.

Has any one tried either of these methods with the FJR??

 

[user 6393]

Nope, but have used a battery tender hooked up thru my fuze thingy under the seat to charge my battery. About to do it again when I make a new wire/spade connector (kid stole my 1st one.......grrrrr)

 

[yamafitter]

My Battery Tender is plugged into my powerlet outlet which is wired through an inline fuse directly to the battery.

I had ordered a powerlet plug and made my own adaptor to plug into the SAE connector on the Battery Tender output cable.

 

[builderwill]

That is always how I connect my charger, although I use an auxillary outlet instead of the glovebox outlet.

 

[RaYzerman19]

I have a Battery Tender harness attached to the battery, run rearward, then down and looped back up to tuck under the front corner of the gas tank. Also, I ran #10 wires from the battery posts to the rear of the bike (saw this posted somewhere here), which also go to my fuse panel under the seat. One could install a heavy connector and make up some jumper cables that could be used here in a pinch, but a true boost should be done at the battery.

I don't think you can charge at the accessory outlet in the fairing pocket. It is switched and the wires are very light.

 

[McRide]

Battery tender package usually comes with a 12" or so SAE whip with rings on the other end.

I found it very convenient to attach the ring end directly to the battery stems and have the SAE end run inside

the fairing and poke out at the radiator fill cap area. It lives there permanently and is a snap to plug in the tender whenever.

 

[Donal]

My Battery Tender is plugged into my powerlet outlet which is wired through an inline fuse directly to the battery.

I had ordered a powerlet plug and made my own adaptor to plug into the SAE connector on the Battery Tender output cable.

This works for me. As has been said previously the OEM outlet is ignition switched, so no use for charging.

Don

 

[mcatrophy]

My Battery Tender is plugged into my powerlet outlet which is wired through an inline fuse directly to the battery.

I had ordered a powerlet plug and made my own adaptor to plug into the SAE connector on the Battery Tender output cable.

... the OEM outlet is ignition switched, so no use for charging.

Don

And fused at 3 amps, so will likely blow the fuse if you have your ignition switch on and connect another battery through it.

 

[dcarver]

My Battery Tender is plugged into my powerlet outlet which is wired through an inline fuse directly to the battery.

I had ordered a powerlet plug and made my own adaptor to plug into the SAE connector on the Battery Tender output cable.

... the OEM outlet is ignition switched, so no use for charging.

Don

And fused at 3 amps, so will likely blow the fuse if you have your ignition switch on and connect another battery through it.

Yep.

 

[TomInPA]

On the FJR my battery tender outlet is fused at 3-amps and I have an accessory outlet with a SAE plug that uses that as a power source. On the cruiser however, I have a direct connection to the battery with #10 wire with an inline 30 amp fuse that terminates in a SAE plug. That can be used by a trickle charger or a full-jumper cable set with SAE on one-end and battery clamps on the other. Its all about wire gauge if you want to use that connection to jump to or from vehicles. The SAE plugs can be used with any amperage your system can stand, but you can't use wimpy 16 Ga wire or it will just burn up. I have only used the heavy duty connections on the cruiser twice for jumping...once to start the cruiser after leaving on the lights, and another time to start another motorcycle. It can be done.

 

[yamafitter]

The way I have mine wired allows me to maintain the battery over the winter months when the bike is under wraps and my setup works fine for that purpose. Even when charging a new battery the current being supplied is well below the fuse and wiring ratings so it is all good.

I would not suggest using the powerlet plug to jumpstart the bike but rather use proper jumper cables connected to the battery to handle the current of cranking the bike over.

As mentioned earlier the aux outlet in the glovebox is only connected to the battery when the ignition is on therfore making the aux outlet unsuitable as a connection point for charging the battery.