K11 Owners Group

John Clauss · Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 2:02 pm Post subject: Battery Tender pigtail

Potentially stupid question:

Last night I installed a new battery in my K1100RS. While doing that I installed a battery tender pigtail to make connecting it up easier. When I was done I noticed that the red was on the (-) and the black was on the (+). With my limited knowledge of circuitry I am thinking that it shouldn't matter, but then I realized that the plug is meant to connect red to (+).

So do I need to take the thing off and reinstall, or will it be OK as is?
_________________
1997 K1100LT
1975 R75/6

It will bring you so close to nausea, it will make you sick! - Big Al

whyoldbill · Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:03 pm Post subject: Re: Battery Tender pigtail

drikko · Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:18 pm Post subject:

Switch them over!!! If its a good charger it will tell you it's the wrong way around, if its not..... it will tell you by running smoke.exe
_________________
K1100RS '97
Laverda RGS 1000 '84
Jim Young Trailer Sailer 5.7M WB

DISCLAIMER:- Anything I say may have been when I was drunk so please don't take it personally.

'Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same.'
Oscar Wilde

SugarHillCTD · Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 7:38 pm Post subject:

YES!

Do NOT connect a charger to your pigtail. You need the get the red end on +

BAD things can happen in your electron world.
_________________
John & Cathy

'92 K100RS4V Pearl White SOLD
'04 K1200GT
IBA Several-SS1k, BBG, 50CC NYC to S.F.

John Clauss · Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 8:40 pm Post subject:

I thought so, sigh. Well I think I can do it by just lifting the Moronic and not having to do the whole surgery. Thanks!
_________________
1997 K1100LT
1975 R75/6

It will bring you so close to nausea, it will make you sick! - Big Al

ColoradoRod · Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:17 pm Post subject:

I guess it's not directly responsive to your question, but I'll throw it out there anyway since I miss you guys and my K11LT!

I always just used my Hella jacks for my charger. I would install a Hella plug on the end of my charger wire and then plug it directly into the factory-installed Hella plug. I never pushed a bunch of amps through there, but it's fuse-protected in any case. I used the jack up by the ignition key because I know it's hot all the time. I can't remember for sure, but I'm thinking that the jack down under the seat is switched so that wouldn't be appropriate for a charger.

Heck, I liked the concept so well, I installed a Hella jack in my airplane, too. It uses the same Odyssey PC680 battery as my K11LT.

I recently purchased an extra Hella jack that I'm planning to install on my VStrom sometime before next winter.

FWIW... Just another option.

Rod
_________________
1996 K1100LT 26,xxx miles-SOLD
Mystic Red

drikko · Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:59 pm Post subject:

Not sure about the LT but the hella jack near the coils on the RS is permanently on and it's where I plug the charger in as well. BTW both the plugs and sockets are available from ebay and seem to be of good quality from these guys. http://stores.ebay.com.au/towzatronics They have Hella to standard cigarette lighter adapters so you can plug your phone charger in.

Hella plugs are much better than standard ciggy lighter sockets and can take more current so no worries about how much you put through them. I have one in the back of the 4WD which I plug the boat winch into. It drags 1 ton of boat up the trailer and the plug doesn't even get warm, it's drawing close to 20 amps most of the time.
_________________
K1100RS '97
Laverda RGS 1000 '84
Jim Young Trailer Sailer 5.7M WB

DISCLAIMER:- Anything I say may have been when I was drunk so please don't take it personally.

'Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same.'
Oscar Wilde

ColoradoRod · Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 10:33 pm Post subject:

Yah. I wouldn't worry about how much juice the PLUG can take. I'd be worried about the wiring between the jack and the bike's electrical system. If you're using something larger than a trickle charger or battery maintainer, you could be sending 10-20 amps towards the battery. I wouldn't want to do that for any length of time with undersized wire. But I guess that wire is protected with a fuse so the worst you'd do is blow a fuse, so no real biggie.
_________________
1996 K1100LT 26,xxx miles-SOLD
Mystic Red

robleyd · Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 5:01 am Post subject:

John Clauss · Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 10:17 am Post subject:

I did the switch-a-roo last night. Interestingly I had two extra pigtails so I compared them, one came with the battery tender two battery charger was shorter and much heavier wire. The other I picked up when I bought the new battery and is longer, but thinner wire. I switched it to the heavier one. They both have a 75A fuse in line. The whole thing only took me about 15 minutes so it was no big deal. While I was doing it my wife saw my Allen wrench pouch and decided that I needed a better one which she quickly whipped up on her sewing machine. Love my wife!
_________________
1997 K1100LT
1975 R75/6

It will bring you so close to nausea, it will make you sick! - Big Al

drikko · Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 3:50 pm Post subject: