The Spark of Life

So I've been a bit busy with things for the past, well, year I guess. I haven't really stretched my legs on the motorcycles in that time since I've been puttering around with home improvements and other more pressing tasks. Now that those things are largely behind me, though, I decided it was time to dust off the ol' iron aluminum steeds.

They'd be a bit less dusty if these black (yes, they started out jet black) motorcycle covers haven't been degrading in the sun and shedding bits of microplastics all over them.

That aside, it's uncommon for vehicles to be able to sit for almost a year and still retain enough juice in the batteries to crank over, so rather than jump starting them as I usually do, I figured I'd make use of my battery tender to more gently top up the charge.

Which is now a much more convenient task thanks to the electrical outlets I installed a while back when I did my irrigation overhaul.

But accessing the battery to clip on the charging leads is far from being the pinnacle of convenience, so I think it's high time I installed some quick-connect pigtails.

Step one, get to the battery.

And, oh, I guess there was already technically a pigtail on this one, though I have no idea what type of connector this is.

Well anyway, as per usual the negative lead comes off first, lest we weld our wrench to the frame.

Then the positive side can be safely unscrewed. Adding the new pigtail is just a matter of running those steps in reverse, making sure to reconnect the positive side first, of course.

The pigtail gets zip tied to a convenient spot on the frame, where it's easy to plug in the charger.

And easy to tuck up out of the way when not in use.

And now I just have to do that three more times.

Well it's a good thing I did this early in the morning, because it is smouldering hot this week. Speaking of the weather, though, it's a good idea to keep the weather off the charger. I think it's supposed to be at least water resistant, but I have no doubt that the UV exposure outside would crumble the membrane buttons in short order.

So the charger gets tucked away in an outdoor power strip box thing.

It's got some nice supple grommets to keep the rain out too when it's all closed up.

And when it's not in use, there's enough room inside to bundle up the charging cable and its extension.

And still leave room to spare for all the spiders that will take up residence in here as soon as I turn my back.