Modern Vespa

Hi,

I've had my luscious new BV350 for about a month now and due to the inclement winter weather have it garaged with a battery tender on it.

What I would like to do is keep the battery tender cable permanently screwed down to the terminals and have a way to get the short pigtail lead routed out into the pet carrier. That way it's a simply job to plug it up to keep it float charged this winter between rides.

But what I am having difficulty with, however, is how to do this. I'm at the conclusion that notching or cutting or drilling into the plastic battery cover is in order, and I would like to leverage the experience of other BV350 owners in this forum to understand what you did (if you did this).

I figure I can drill a hole in the center of the battery cover facing backwards (into the toolkit storage nook) and run the pigtail out there. That would give me a place to loop up the short pigtail cable and get it out of the way (snapped into the tool area under the tool cover.

Is this what you did? If not (or if so), can I ask for you to post a photo showing how it is routed, where you drilled, etc...?

Thanks!

This is what I did:

Installed a Powerlet Luggage Electrix Connector to the lower black panel right above the left side foot rest. I bought the connector at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00206ENZ0/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The installation looks like this (forgive the photo):

Works great; I can also hook up my heated vest to the same point.

I forgot to mention the routing; straight off the battery, down the inside of the left side of the bike; no notching of the battery cover required. You do have to get an SAE extension cable from the auto parts store. Cut off one end and attach it to the battery. The other end plugs into the back of the Powerlet outlet. I'll try to get better pics tomorrow.

My battery tender has a cigar-lighter plug. I plug it into the power socket that sits up front on my BV350. Yes, I have to leave the glove locker hatch open but the bike is garaged so that's not a problem. The power socket is permanently "live" so this works well for me and no modification to the bike is needed.
John W.

+1 on the auxiliary power socket in glove box used for charging battery

http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Deltran-Cigarette-Lighter-081-0069-5/dp/B003CJ927I/ref=sr_1_17?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1387887064&sr=1-17&keywords=battery+tender

In my opinion the auxiliary socket it's the best choice to recharge the battery, for me the direct connection with the battery it is not safe, probably it doesn't happen nothing but if you unfortunately have a short circuit what protects the circuit, the battery may explode, it's difficult it happens but it may happen and so if you use the the auxiliary plug you don't have problem because there is a fuse that protect the direct connection with the battery and the plug

I routed the cable thru the left side of the cover by notching the bottom so there wouldn't be an obvious hole. The cable I used has an integral in-line fuse so the battery is protected.

BVEE,

I have a short battery tender lead that has an inline fuse, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to have it connected to the battery with the battery cover screwed in place.

The issue is that the inline fuse housing is too bulky to be fit under the battery cover; can you advise where you have tucked yours that allows you to seat your battery cover fully? That's my big challenge...

Thanks!

I have attached a pic showing the fuse. I stuffed the fuse and excess wire in the space to the left of the battery .

Perfect, wonderful, and awesome. This is exactly what I needed.

THANK YOU!

No problem ...glad I could help BTW, LUV Portland. We spent a week there before attending the wedding of my wife's nephew. It was great