During my recent work on my PC800 I decided to add a Battery Tender Jr harness that is permanently connected to the battery. On other bikes, such as my old VT700, you can just hook some alligator clips to the battery when you want to charge it. In the case of the PC800, there is way way too much plastic in the way to do that easily. This is even more the case in my situation since my bike gets stored outside in a public area under a tarp.
I chose to have the Battery Tender Jr harness stick out from the right passenger foot peg hole. This is a pretty good spot to put it for ease of installation and access for charging. However, it’s been a bit annoying trying to tuck it away and out of sight when I ride. When I get around to carrying a passenger on the bike, I am going to have to figure out how to tuck it away better so they aren’t stepping on the plug. My thought is to push it back into the void behind the plastics and hope that I can fish it out again easily without having to take off any plastic panels.
Not shown in any of these photos (forgot to take pictures before the plastics went back on!) is how I connected to the battery. Having been super frustrated trying to get both the battery cables and the battery tender harness to allow the screw on the battery terminal to catch the nut (trust me, you’ll know what I mean if you try this), I decided to change the ring terminals on the battery tender harness to spade terminals. Rather than solder new terminals on, I just cut out a chunk of each of the ring terminals. Viola! Spade terminals! After that, installation was a snap. I put the battery cables onto the battery screws, loosely tightened them, then slid in the battery tender spade terminals. Then I cranked down the screws until everything was nice and tight. The final step was to push the harness connector to where I wanted it and then reassemble the plastics.
If you happen to have suggestions of where else to put my Battery Tender Jr, please let me know! I’m interested in other options that don’t require modifying the bike, routinely removing plastic parts, and keep the connector tucked away when not in use.
The harness is sticking out from the passenger footrest hole. In this photo I have it plugged into the battery tender. When riding, I tuck the plug up and away the best I can.
You can see the plug and cable running back toward the power outlet (through a hole I drilled in a window frame, out of the shot).
I ran into the same problem with the captured nut on the battery post – bolt not picking up a thread on the nut. I used a hooked dental pick to reach behind the nut & pull it forward while at the same time turning the bolt. This worked fine to solve the problem. I just let the battery tender pigtail hang down between the tupperware & the top of the muffler cover, it hardly shows when not in use & just requires a slight pull down to connect.
Hi Dan,
I tried the dental pick method but I have fat fingers and got frustrated after a few tries. Thus the drastic measures 🙂
Do you have troubles with the plastic coating on the wires melting or anything like that? I thought about having it emerge from above the muffler cover but was worried about that.
I’ve been toying with the idea of doing what Arvid did for his battery tender. He installed a BMW-style socket under the passenger foot peg. There’s a photo of it about halfway down this page: https://lovik.tripod.com/PCextras.html
Doug,
Long time replying, but I haven’t had any problems with melted wires. Just as a precaution after riding & hooking up the tender I loop the battery tender lead over the rear foot rest just to be sure it isn’t touching the muffler.
Hi Dan,
I might try relocating my wire there the next time I have the tupperwear off on that part of the bike. It’s been in its current location since last spring. When I have a passenger, I tuck the wire down into the plastic so it’s out of the way. No problems with that approach so far although it is a bit annoying to have to stick down in the plastic.
Hi, I put my battery tender plug in the luggage compartment, that way I can lock the tender and the 110v plug sticks out the back. WORKS GREAT Jim
That’s a good idea! One of my other motorcycles had a battery tender from a different maker integrated into the battery box. It had a 110 volt plug sticking out the side that you’d plug an extension cord into. It worked pretty well although I eventually replaced it with a Battery Tender Jr so I could put something else in the space on the bike.
-Douglas