philkin Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I am setting my FJ-09 up with my add-ons. I thought I would do the electrics first, adding my charger extension and my electric clothing connector First stop: I look under the seat and realize it is overly complicated to just get to the battery connections. The passenger seat was like most separate seat layouts I removed it. How to remove rider's seat? I had to look at the manual. First time for that. There is a block of tight fitting rubber covering it's release lever. My hands were cold and had to use a screw driver to pry it out. Lifting the Rider's seat out I reached the next crazy thing. The battery negative wire was connected on the side, not top, the positive wire was connected to the top of the battery like any I have seen before. Which begs the question, why on the side?? this will require the battery to be lifted out almost all the way just to take the connector off. Was this a dealer error? Please take a look and see if they are all done this way. From what I can see, the negative wire doesn't look long enough to lift the battery high enough to get to the side screw. There must be more length to that wire than it appears to have. Next that rubber block has got to go! I get into the under seat area too often to face that every time. I can't imagine why it needs to be there. I would appreciate other owner's input on their under seat experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member ULEWZ Posted February 7, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted February 7, 2015 I am setting my FJ-09 up with my add-ons. I thought I would do the electrics first, adding my charger extension and my electric clothing connector First stop: I look under the seat and realize it is overly complicated to just get to the battery connections. The passenger seat was like most separate seat layouts I removed it. How to remove rider's seat? I had to look at the manual. First time for that. There is a block of tight fitting rubber covering it's release lever. My hands were cold and had to use a screw driver to pry it out. Lifting the Rider's seat out I reached the next crazy thing. The battery negative wire was connected on the side, not top, the positive wire was connected to the top of the battery like any I have seen before. Which begs the question, why on the side?? this will require the battery to be lifted out almost all the way just to take the connector off. Was this a dealer error? Please take a look and see if they are all done this way. From what I can see, the negative wire doesn't look long enough to lift the battery high enough to get to the side screw. There must be more length to that wire than it appears to have. Next that rubber block has got to go! I get into the under seat area too often to face that every time. I can't imagine why it needs to be there. I would appreciate other owner's input on their under seat experience. I will check mine later when the sun comes up and post back. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Bikes: 2015 FJ-09, Seat Concepts seat cover and foam, Cal Sci medium screen, rim stripes, factory heated grips, Cortech Dryver tank bag ring, Modified stock exhaust, FlashTune with Graves fuel map, Cree driving lights, Aux power socket. 2012 Street Triple type R (Wifes) 2007 FJR1300 (Sold!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabefzr6 Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I agree. The rubber thing went straight into a box with other nonessentials (ie. reflectors, stock turn signals...). I think it was to prevent any loose items under the seat from accidentally activating the release lever. My battery negative wire has a brass 'L' bracket that allows the bolt head to face upward the same as the positive bolt. 2008 Street Triple G 2015 FJ-09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skunkmilk Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 The manual said something about not needing to trickle charge this battery because it's gel. They say to take the battery out if you're not going to ride it for over a month. No batteryminder? Can anyone confirm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deersSlayer Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 The manual said something about not needing to trickle charge this battery because it's gel. They say to take the battery out if you're not going to ride it for over a month. No batteryminder? Can anyone confirm? Battery Tender Jr. works fine on a gel VRLA, which is what this battery is. Perfect for all lead-acid, flooded or sealed maintenance free batteries (AGM and gel cell). I just topped up the battery using a new Battery Tender 800 (waterproof version, weighs 1 lb, I'll take it on trips):http://www.batterytender.com/Motorcycle/Waterproof-800-International-12V-800-mA-USA-Western-Hemisphere.html It went from yellow (charging), to green (charged) in about 10 minutes. I then disconnected it (quick connect lives under passenger seat.) Bike & battery were about 4 & 1/2 weeks since bike was prepped, and I still haven't ridden or started it. Ever. Stupid winter! My battery positive lead was connected to the side of the battery's terminal. I left it that way, seemed better for connecting the charger pigtail lead. I put a small piece of painter's tape on the positive post to stop the positive lead's nut from slipping out - battery seems to slope down forward. FJ-09, 690 Enduro R. Back Roads. Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robb Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Here is how the service manual shows the battery cable connections. Most importantly is the positive that you dont want anywhere close to the frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyD Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Don't know what they are talking about as far not trickle charging a gel battery. The dealer I bought from puts a Tender connection on every new bike in the showroom. They said before they started doing that and keeping a chart on which bikes get trickled once every 2 weeks they were throwing away good money after bad one replacing batteries in brand new bikes that didn't sell quick enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2damax Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I would put them on a Tender. The AGM or Gels has a slower sulfur-cation build up than free liquid type but still there is a build up. Keeping the battery at full charge prevents this build up from even concurring, leading to long battery life. I use a solar powered tender to keep the battery charged when I don't use the bike for a few days. Bought those from Banggood.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beo Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I dumped all my Battery Tenders and went with Ctek's pulse chargers. Pulse chargers don't cook batteries and they run a desulfate mode automatically. I had a truck battery last 8+ years and haven't replaced a motorcycle (3) or jetskis (2) battery in over 3 years using them. I have CTEK (56-865) US 0.8 attached to all my toys and they come with quick connects and a 5 year warranty. Only $39 on Amazon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woozer Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I would appreciate other owner's input on their under seat experience. Well here's a hint on what NOT to do. I wanted to add a battery tender tail, and the plastic frame that adjusts the seat height was in the way. Because I hadn't RTFM, I didn't a) realize what it was; b) realize it just snaps out. So I thought it was held in place by the bolt right next to it. Imagine my surprise when I loosened said bolt and liquid started seeping out. Not squirting or anything, but I'm guessing it's brake fluid, maybe something to do with the ABS? So I tightened it right back up, and then read the manual and figured out what was what. After you loosen the terminals to put the tender leads on, the bolt for the positive terminal wants to fall out of the little slot and won't stay aligned. I put a piece of electrical tape over the opening on the side of the battery and that fixed that. Sheesh. After nearly 50 years of riding you'd think I'd know better. No warning lights or suspicious behavior, but I will ask Yamaha to retorque that bolt and take a look when I bring it in for the break-in service next week. *#! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member smiley Posted February 22, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted February 22, 2015 Lifting the Rider's seat out I reached the next crazy thing. The battery negative wire was connected on the side, not top, the positive wire was connected to the top of the battery like any I have seen before. Which begs the question, why on the side?? this will require the battery to be lifted out almost all the way just to take the connector off. Was this a dealer error? I installed my battery tender pigtail last night. My positive cable was just like you described your negative. The battery had to come out and I could see no way to get the cable back to the top like it should be. I also installed my extra DC outlet and learned about plastic push rivets. After sending the first one shooting across the garage I found all you do is push the little center button and and pull it out with you fingers. No tools required. Now I know. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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