Smart Charger for winter storage

[DonGee]

Okay, first question of likely many to come. One of the only things that made me question buying this new-to-me 2005 S50, was reading some of the horror stories on the web of what a PITA is would be to remove the battery. On my previous relic of a bike ('81 Honda CM400T), I would just pull off the side cover, disconnect the battery and bring it in the house to throw on the smart charger for the winter. So after much more searching here and everywhere else, I feel fortunate to have found a solution to keep this S50 charged up. I guess I need you all to tell me I'm not crazy and that this will be a perfectly safe and easy way to keep the battery charged in the off-season. I already have the pigtail that came with the charger, so it looks like it's just a matter of hooking it up right and routing the connector outside the side cover once its back on.



Seems to me like it would work fine, but what the heck do I know. Any downside I'm not thinking about? Any recommendations as to how to route the pigtail for easy access without risking messing something else up?

Thanks!

[navigator]

Yes, that is where you can connect your trickle charger.
A few things to consider though:
You likely have a stock wet lead acid battery in there. If the water level is not maintained correctly, a charger can boil off the water and be totally ineffective.
It may behoove you to check the water levels, or see if someone has put an AGM battery in there.

It really isn't that hard to remove the battery.
Use a deep 10mm socket to remove the screws (negative side first) using a phillips will likely strip the heads.
Roll the rear tire up on a slab of 2x4 or 2x6. Place another slab under the kickstand.
Unbolt the battery door, and drop the battery out....easy peasy.

Reinstall the screws with a phillips (positive side first), then nip them up with a socket.
Star washers will insure a tight connection.

Edit to add, you do not leave the charger turned on for the winter. A few hours a month is plenty.

[DonGee]

Thank you for the reply.

I do know the battery was replaced in April with a Yuasa YB16B-A1 (according to the service record). And yes, I should have clarified my intentions. I wouldn't plan on leaving it on the smart charger for the winter. In fact, what I did with my previous bike, even with the battery in the house, was to put it on the charger maybe every other week for a day until it showed a full charge.

The battery doesn't look like it should be that much of a problem to get out, especially the way you describe it. Some of the comments that put the fear of God in me were references to wrapping the screwdriver in electrical tape first and not letting the socket touch any metal, etc. or it could destroy the rectifier or stator or something like that. It sounded like they were describing the old Operation game.

The other benefit to not removing the battery is on the off chance we get a nice 55 degree day in the middle of January. It may be very tempting to just hop on and go for a ride!

Thanks again.

[WintrSol]

The battery doesn't look like it should be that much of a problem to get out, especially the way you describe it. Some of the comments that put the fear of God in me were references to wrapping the screwdriver in electrical tape first and not letting the socket touch any metal, etc. or it could destroy the rectifier or stator or something like that. It sounded like they were describing the old Operation game.

Only an issue if you start with the positive terminal, since the negative is connected to the frame. Starting with the negative eliminates any chance of sparks, if you ensure the cable doesn't touch the battery again.

[DonGee]

Ahhh...okay. Thanks.

[navigator]

The Yuasa YB16B-A1 is a lead acid battery.
Since it was new in April, it is probably OK, but checking the water level periodically will ensure long battery life.
JMO.

[DonGee]

Makes sense. Thanks.

[DonGee]

Just a follow-up. I just went out to hook up the pigtail as mentioned above. I found the screw to remove the left side cover, but it didn't want to budge and I wasn't going to force it. Then I took another look. It looks like I may have to remove the seat to get at another screw for the side cover. Is that right?

This is where I find the field service manual kind of useless. It'll say things like "remove the left side cover", but it doesn't tell you how. It may be painfully obvious to someone who works on bikes a lot or has a lot of experience with a lot of different bikes, but not for someone unfamiliar with a particular bike. And the Owners Manual certainly doesn't help. So someone like me has to resort to bugging folks like you all.

So, do I need to remove the seat to remove the side cover? Any other surprises I'll discover halfway through?

[Herb]

Just a follow-up. I just went out to hook up the pigtail as mentioned above. I found the screw to remove the left side cover, but it didn't want to budge and I wasn't going to force it. Then I took another look. It looks like I may have to remove the seat to get at another screw for the side cover. Is that right?

This is where I find the field service manual kind of useless. It'll say things like "remove the left side cover", but it doesn't tell you how. It may be painfully obvious to someone who works on bikes a lot or has a lot of experience with a lot of different bikes, but not for someone unfamiliar with a particular bike. And the Owners Manual certainly doesn't help. So someone like me has to resort to bugging folks like you all.

So, do I need to remove the seat to remove the side cover? Any other surprises I'll discover halfway through?

Not sure about your bike but on the 1400 you have to remove the seat to get the side cover off and getting the seat off is a real pain in the ass, especially when a fuse blows in a rainstorm, and you are sitting on the side of Interstate 5 during rush hour in San Diego county.

[navigator]

Just a follow-up. I just went out to hook up the pigtail as mentioned above. I found the screw to remove the left side cover, but it didn't want to budge and I wasn't going to force it. Then I took another look. It looks like I may have to remove the seat to get at another screw for the side cover. Is that right?

This is where I find the field service manual kind of useless. It'll say things like "remove the left side cover", but it doesn't tell you how. It may be painfully obvious to someone who works on bikes a lot or has a lot of experience with a lot of different bikes, but not for someone unfamiliar with a particular bike. And the Owners Manual certainly doesn't help. So someone like me has to resort to bugging folks like you all.

So, do I need to remove the seat to remove the side cover? Any other surprises I'll discover halfway through?

No, you have to remove the side covers first in order to get the seat off.
The seat bolts are hidden by the side covers.
Herbs description is for the 1400. the 1400 and 800 are different in many ways.
Now, back to your dilemma.
Remove the screw at the bottom of the side cover, (forward of the fuse box).
Grab the rear of the cover and pull it away from the bike, swinging the bottom out.
Both covers are held in place with grommets on the cover that slide over ball shaped studs mounted on the bike.
A light coat of vaseline will help with reassembly.

[WintrSol]

This drawing might help: https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/suzuk ... r-model-k5
Rather than Vaseline, which could attack the rubber grommet, I would suggest silicone dielectric grease.

[navigator]

I agree on the dielectric grease, that is actually what I use...most folks only have Vaseline kicking around.

[DonGee]

Thank you!

This was the key line: Grab the rear of the cover and pull it away from the bike, swinging the bottom out. Made all the difference in the world. Of course, this time when I removed that screw, it fell somewhere and I'll be damned if I can find it. So now I'm going to need to order that screw from the dealer, as well as the one that fastens the battery terminal cover onto the battery case, which was really the only thing imperfect about the condition of the bike. I wish I knew what size screws those were so I could just head to the local hardware store.

The screws for the accessory connection are smaller than the connectors on the charger, but I was able to fasten them on there solidly. Now to get a couple of zip ties and route the pigtail somewhere out of sight but easily accessible. I'm leaning toward the chrome frame piece that runs alongside the passenger footpeg.

Thanks again for the explanation.

[DonGee]

Well, I found the screw from the side cover. It had fallen sort of behind the back edge of the rectifier. Unfortunately, in my attempt to retrieve it, I managed to move it out of sight totally. I futzed around with a magnet a bit with no success. Now I'm wondering where else it could have gone and the only thing I can come up with is maybe the battery box. If it's not there, is the rectifier something relatively easy to remove/replace, or is it more of a risk than it's worth? I suppose it may just fall out onto the road next time i take a ride and I could just buy a new screw.

[navigator]

No need to go to the dealer, a local hdwe store will do.
I believe it is M5x.08. Maybe 1/4" long....same with the pos battery cover.

[DonGee]

Excellent. I'll check the hardware store first. Thank you.

[DonGee]

Just a little update for anyone interested.

I bought two M5 x .8 x 10 Phillips head screws. Tried the side cover first . Screws were just a hair too small to grip properly, so i ended up wrapping the threads with a little electrical tape, tried again, and it grabbed..at least for now. I'm pretty sure the next size up would be too big, but i may try. meanwhile, the other one fit perfectly in the battery terminal cover hole, so that should be good.

That's the good news. Now for the "I'm not sure" news. I dragged the extension cord over to test out the pigtail connection to the fuse box. Connected the end of the pigtail to the other connection on the smart charger, plugged it in and...all the lights flashed on for a second, then just the green Standby light stayed on (video attached). I think it means the battery is fully charged, in which case I'm happy. But in the past when I had it hooked up to my old Honda battery, it would go through the sequence of lights as it charged the battery. Ultimately, when it was all charged up, all three lights were lit up, so that's my only point of reference. I will say the bike started right up after sitting for a couple of days. So it could well mean that the battery is fully charged and did not ever require a topping off. For the heck of it, I went back and re-checked my connection to the fuse box and it's still firmly in place. I'll try again when I actually set it up for storage. Worst case, I can use the charger with the alligator clips on the positive terminal and aa bolt on the frame to keep it charged, but i do like the idea of the pigtail just being there at the ready.

[DonGee]

Just wanted to follow-up on the issue with the lights n the Smart Charger as noted above.

Since I had pretty much put the bike into off-season storage a couple of weeks ago, I figured I'd put it on the Smart Charger and see what the lights toid me this time. Surely the battery would have drained a little due to two weeks of inactivity. Well, the light display showed exactly what it had showed when I first tested it out as referenced in the previous video.

I had some time today to investigate further, so I checked connections again at the fuse box and they looked fine. I then decided to check with a multimeter and I got nothing at the connection point in the fuse box. Checked at the terminals on the battery itself and got the 12+v that I was expecting. For the heck of it I then decided to check the fuse designated as for the Power Source and sure enough it was bad. Guess I should have checked there first. Anyway, I replaced the fuse and connected the smart charger and got the expected sequence of lights. I closed everything back up and It's now going to stay on the charger for a day or so until it shows a full charge. I'll continue with that procedure every couple of weeks, and I fully expect everything to be just fine come the Spring.

Still no idea why that fuse may have gone bad, but then again it may have been like that when I bought the bike. I never had a problem starting it so never gave it a second thought.