Charging

[SteveST1300]

Can a battery be charged through a powerlet? One of our members asked me and I just don't know if it can be done. If the charger can be plugged in to thre powerlet will it charge the battery?

 

[st1300r]

Yup assuming the powerlet is wired always on.
I used to do it that way until I wired all my powerlet sockets thru the acc fuse panel.

And NO you can't charge one bike with another bike using two of those cables LOL.
(the polarity will be wrong)
That's the down side of a hermaphroditic connector like the SAE.

 

[davehirst]

That's the down side of a hermaphroditic connector like the SAE.

A What?

 

[st1300r]

LOL LINKY

Either end of the pushmepullyou is the same.
SAE style one terminal is insulated (you want that hot)
The problem is the battery+ is hot so you want that to be the insulated side. The charger is also hot so you want to be the insulated side. The two insulated sides can't plug together so to plug them in you have reversed polarity.

In practice the battery wins and gets the insulated side hooked to the +terminal of the battery.
That works with the charger.
Bike to bike would be kablooey.

Connectors like the barrel connector have a sex. The out side of the plug and socket are ground.
The inside is + and protected with both sexes.

(I guess I should add it's the industry terminology I'm not making it up LOL)

 

[Tom Mac 04a]

That's the down side of a hermaphroditic connector

cute!

 

[970mike]

I have that powerlet cord that plugs into my battery tender through the BMW style powerlet like the one shown by BatteryStuff. It works great keeping the battery topped off and you have one less wire going to your battery.

 

[Mellow]

Yes, if they use this cord and use a battery tender or any other charger that uses the SAE cable

That's how I do it... the powerlet outlet is always hot and goes straight to the battery w/inline fuse. I also use that powerlet sometimes for heated gear or an air compressor.

 

[John OoSTerhuis]

Can a battery be charged through a powerlet? One of our members asked me and I just don't know if it can be done. If the charger can be plugged in to thre powerlet will it charge the battery?

Sure, Steve. I installed a Powelet-style socket (Hella, I think... also have Powerlet, BMW, Bosch, and John Deere sockets and plugs on my SSMST) many years ago for just that purpose. If the ST's in the garage, it's plugged in! That's the socket just behind the seat lock:



Run a fused lead from the pos battery post to the center contact in the socket, neg lead to the barrel's. Then wire up your Powerlet/BMW-style plug to the Battery Tender lead, center post positive of course. In a pinch you can run a 12V mini compressor from it, trouble/camp light, etc., but use good gage wire on the battery side harness and fuse appropriately (probably a 10A, a compressor will blow a 3A... DAMHIKT).

HTH

Regards, John