An essential accessory that is often overlooked, not exepenive and can be self installed.
Batteries play a key role in the operation of a motorcycle, so it makes sense to maintain them.
Batteries are prone to lose their charge ‘go flat’ during the winter season and from prolonged periods of when the motorcycle is not used.
The charger used in this How To was purchased from the local Bunnings store at the cost of $49
What you get is the charging unit, loom to connect temporarily to the battery and a loom to permenantly attach to the battery (lower loom in the pic)
The first job is to remove the seat and disconnect the ‘lugs from the terminals starting with the negative lug first. Keep these away from the metal parts of the motorcycle.
I use a craft knife to cut a small slit in the positive ‘red’ rubber boot of the positive lug, just slightly wider then the O flat connector.
Then insert the positive o connector through the slit you’ve just made in the boot.
This part could be a bit tricky, place the bolt through the o connector and then through the positive battery cable lug and dab some loctite on the thread of the bolt.
Over time particulary on the track the vibrations could work the bolt lose causing issues with charging or the bike starting or stopping.
I prefer to hand tighten the bolt first, the nut is fairly soft and easy to cross thread. Thighten to finger tighten.
I finish off with using a 10mm hex socket. Taking it just over a 1/4 turn after finger tighten.
The red rubber boot can then easilier be pushed over the connection and into place. Note the charger loom cable is neatly protruding through the bolt ensuring that the boot still fits snugly.
Don’t forget to now connect the negative lead of the charger loom using the same method as the positive. Note that there is normally no rubber boot for the negative. I like to use the inplace cable clips, adding a zip tie here and there to keep the loom neat and away from moving parts.
Route the charger connection plug end of the loom to the space under the pillion seat. All you need to do now is leave the pillion seat off and connect the charger lead socket to the plug and charging commences.
You can leave this connected to ensure that the battery remains charged. Easily remove when ready to use the bike.
