Upgrading the electrical connectors for use with a BatteryTender (and other chargers/tools)

I keep my '86 VFR on a BatteryTender when it's parked in the garage, because due to schedule and weather, I don't ride it nearly often enough. The last time I tried to ride it, the battery was dead, even though it was on a tender (and had been parked for a month or two).

I tried hooking up my better charger (Schumacher SC-1200A), which does wonders to batteries with sulfation problems. No go, at least through the SAE connector I use with the battery tender.

Upon inspection, the SAE connector was filthy, and the contacts were pretty mangled. I normally cap it when riding, but do often forget. But, I've never been very happy with the connector, and wanted to replace it with something better:

- lower contact resistance
- self-cleaning
- something idiot-proof to connect

The emergency radio volunteers that help out with big natural disasters (RACES, ARES) standardized on these connectors from Anderson called PowerPoles. They are wonderful little guys:

Powerpole Connectors
Anderson Powerpole & SB Multipole Series Sets: Bags of housings and contacts in different sizes

- small
- "genderless" (like the SAE connectors)
- very low contact resistance
- self-cleaning contacts
- cheap

What's nicest about them is that they're mirrored both electrically and physically (unlike the SAE connectors, which are only physically mirrored). As a result, any two identically configured set of contacts plugs into one another correctly, without a chance of reversing anything. This feature is one of the reasons they're so popular with the radio guys. When setting up communication centers, never having to worry about which end of the cable to deal with helps a lot.

I picked up some 15A and 30A connector kits (they're sized on the gauge wire they accept, 12-14g for 30A, and 16-20g for 15A, some red/black 14g wire, and the "good" crimper:

15 Amp Unassembled Red/Black Anderson Powerpole Sets - $9.99
TRIcrimp, the ideal Powerpole Crimping Tool for 15, 30 and 45 amp contacts [TRIcrimp] - $39.99

And then went to work on my VFR, the wife's HawkGT (since I still hadn't installed the Battery Tender pigtails after at least 3 years...), the chargers and a new set of leads for the multimeter.

The goal was to make it easy to hook up either the tender, or my larger charger, and also the multimeter for when I need to trouble-shoot things like battery voltage and charging system health (I've had to use the DMM with the battery a few too many times for the $8 spent on a pair of leads to customize for this to be more than worth it).

The result? Everything is nice and clean, and the big charger is easy to hook up, and can really work it's magic, without needing to fiddle with the big alligator clamps, which are somewhat dicey to use with the battery on the bike. I usually need to pull the battery to use it, and even then, I feel like it's not making as good of contact as it should. In fact, it refused to charge through the SAE connector that was on the bike (too much resistance as it started to apply current). Not a problem at all with the new connectors.

Install pics after the break.

 

First, I made a 6' extension cable to practice with the crimper and feeding the contacts into the connectors. This turned out to be a good idea.

Then I pulled the fuse out of my BatteryTender SAE connector pigtails, and cut off the SAE connector from the end.



Next, I stripped and crimped the contacts onto the ends of the wire. Orientation matters at this point, and yes, I did crimp one on backwards at one point along the line.



The way the radio guys use these, positive is on the right, and the contacts curve up and then down as you look down on the contacts (as you see them in the picture above). I have the connector housings held next to them for reference.

Then you push the contact into the back of the connector housing. Trying to do both wires at the same time is difficult, so I found it easier to push the contacts into the housings individually, and then slide the housing dovetails together to hook them together. Sorry, I don't have pics of that, but it's obvious what to do when they're in your hands.

Here's the (mostly) finished connector on the pigtail:



All that's left is a small 3/32" pin that goes into that hole in the center of the connector, which stops the two connectors from moving independently.

This next photo shows the business end of the connectors on the pigtail and on my 6' extension cord:



Note that they're identical ends, and yet, they correctly plug into each other:



In addition to the connectors on the pigtail, the 6' extension cord, I also needed to replace the SAE connector on the battey tender itself. I also cut the cord off my Schumacher charger, which can actually deal with a fully discharged, sulfated battery (unlike the battery tender), and put it back together with a pair of the PowerPole connectors.

Here's the big schumacher charger hooked up to the bike, through the 6' extension:



And I also picked up a second pair of test leads for my multimeter, and crimped a set of connectors onto them as well. Now I can poke at the battery voltage quickly, without taking anything apart. Here's the full set of things that I put connectors on:



I haven't figured out the final place where I'm going to zip-tie the connector into place on the bike, and I still need to pick up a dust cap (just to be safe) for the connectors on the bikes, but so far I'm much happier with the PowerPole connectors than I was with the SAE connectors.

Also, the PowerPole connectors disengage with a lighter tug than I expected (12ftlbs, they claim), and they make some nice retention pins that hold connections together against being tugged apart:

Retention Clips for PP15/30/45 Powerpole Connectors [110G68] - $0.50

 

Larger versions (up to 6mp) of all the photos can be seen here: Installing PowerPole connectors on the VFR - a set on Flickr

 

Nice job! I've bookmarked the Power Werx page, too (never heard of them before). However, I would appreciate it if you and the rest of the forum members would not keep your bikes so clean. I'm starting to feel neglectful. :biggrin:

 

Don't worry, my bike only looks clean because it's always been garaged, and I'm good with a camera and picking the "good" side of things. The rash from it's unexpected landings are all on the other side of the bike, and the tank and side panel are just filthy, but that's hard to see in the pics (since the side panel is removed).

PowerWerx is just one distributor for Anderson, who makes the PowerPoles:

Standard Powerpole® Family

If you've seen the big disconnects for jumper cables, you might recognize the high amperage version of these connectors:

SB175 SB Series 175 Amp Anderson Powerpole Set - $7.99
Warn Aux. Electric Connector, 175 Amp - WARN-22680