Battery tender

[Elevener]

Anyone using one? Where do you hook it up? I know the battery, but it would be a pain to pull it out each time. Would under the right hand side cover work the same or is there some reason not to? And would any ground work ok?

Thanks

[jjwaller]

Yes hook it up on the main battery connection on the solenoid.
Hook the ground on the engine somewhere.
It's how I do my chargers.

[cywelchjr]

Mine came with a pigtail that hooks onto the battery terminals and gives me a connector that I have hanging out just over the left side cover. I just pop the little cover off the pigtail and plug the maintainer into it. BTW I got my maintainer at Walmart and it has been working just fine for me.

[XJOK2PLAY]

Elevener,

Yeah, I use one... any time I park mine for a long period of time.

My XJ has a pigtail with the connector that hangs out the left side...

One word of caution... if you leave one on for an extended period... (say 2 weeks or more...) be observant to the rating of the maintainer!
The first one I used was a 2 amp rated, automatic... Next thing I knew, I had this trail of battery acid that had leaked all over my frame when it boiled out of the battery!!! Not good for the battery... horrible for the painted frame!

2 amps is too much! I now use a 900 MV automatic I got from NAPA for $20. Just right, and I don't have to add replacement battery acid anymore! No more dry cells... stinkin' batteries aren't cheap anymore, either!

Battery tenders are great, though because they prevent the battery from sulfiding... leading to early failure. They don't just keep it fully charged. Definitely worth it. Batteries properly maintained will last at least 3 times longer than ones that aren't.
JAT

[bikerphil]

I run a bolt mounted in the rear plastic fenderwell away from the frame as an aux battery terminal. Reach under and hook up your pos. alligator clip, hook the neg. to the frame, and your charging. Functions as a power source too.

[81xsproject]

If you don't already have one, I highly recommend the one I got from Northerntool.com. It is a half amp charger and has the desulphatizing feature. I have rescued several batteries with this extra feature, which I initially though was snake oil but have read up on since. It also comes with the pig tail and standard jaw connectors.

[jwhughes3]

under right side cover

on mine there is a set of positive/negative screw terminals that I hooked my pigtail eyes to and ziptied the other end to the frame tube outside the cover. Now I just hook up charger to the exposed connector when needed - I also bought a couple extra 2-pole trailer wire connectors that mate the exposed plug - one I wired to a set of small battery clips and with an extension cord connector of about 3 feet this makes a nice small set of jumpers in case I have a dead batt sometime. They live in the fork bag.

The other connector I wired a small 12v power receptacle to in case I needed to plug in a GPS or cell charger on a run. Those connectors are only $2.19 a pair at AutoZone. Any medium duty lampcord will work for the extension.

If I was home I'd post pics but you get the idea.

John in San Antonio