Battery removal?
 

I feel stupid asking this (I did search), but I can't get the battery out of the tray. That little fuse box is in the way. Is there something I am missing? Should I remove the fuse box first?

Un-clip the fuse box. Rotate it out of the way and then remove the battery.

Make sure you remove the negative first.

Then replace the positive first.

That will prevent shorting to ground.

Cool. Thanks guys. Need to put the battery on a tender.

you might want to confirm you have the correct battery for the bike. the battery that was in my bike when I bought it was a bear to remove. I recently bought a new one and it's much easier to get in and out.

You can battery tend it while its in the bike, thats what I do. Also, DONT just leave it on the tender all winter. Do it periodicly

Ok, I'll bite......why not? A battery tender shuts off when the battery hits full charge and only turns back on when the voltage drops.

When I had my '83 BMW R100RS (for 15 years), I'd set my 2/10 amp charger on 2 amps with a plug-in timer hooked up to it to charge 1/2 hour per day. You could do the same with a Battery Tender for whatever length of time you want. No worries.

But then I got my Superhawk, which was soooo much more fun to ride that it's never sat for more than a week without riding.

And that RS was a real bitch to change the battery. It had an almost car sized battery that sat completely recessed down in the frame. I went through about 4 or 5 batteries while I owned that bike.

Brotherhood of the RS airheads. Had to unbolt the subframe and flex the ass end down to extract the battery. Had a subscription to the diode board (rectifier) mailing service, failed so often I carried a spare under the seat and kept another in the what-not's box.

I wonder now if perhaps I should keep a spare R/R for the 'Shawk. . .but the battery comes straight out, no sweat. Push from the bottom.

When my rectifier board burned up on the RS, fortunately as I was exiting the freeway 1 mile from home. I went to the dealer to get a new board, and the Japanese BMW tech (this guy was the best) at the dealership told me to buy 4 new ground wires (it comes with 2 from the factory). He then said to solder the ends, since they are just crimped from the factory, and double them up, 2 on each side of the board. I did as he said and never had another problem with it for the last 10 years I owned the bike, and my batteries lasted twice as long after that fix.

Just had to pull my battery, how do you push from the bottom cant see anywhere to push? I used some thin cable through the connectors and pulled.

I put a long cable tie around the battery in my VTR before I reinstalled it. It makes it a lot easier to take the battery out of the bike.

I'm no mechanic or electrician, but a tender is just that, a tender. Never heard such a thing as not leaving it plugged in/hooked up. Also, many tenders come with a connector that can be attached to the terminals to make connection a snap.

I pulled mine out of the bike because the tender instructions said not to use an extension cord to with the battery tender and I couldn't reach an outlet due to the tight fit in my garage.

I have a Battery Tender Jr and I just leave it on the battery. It knows when to shift from charging to "maitain".

The "Battery Tenders" have an electroninc brain so they won't overcharge. I have always left all of my batteries on all winter with no issues. They last 5 or more years. My '02 Shadow still has the original.

Many electrical devices that always stay plugged in say to not use an extension cord. Usually it is because they don't get unplugged and are left unattended, which is a potential risk of fire if you use a cheap cord with very light gauge wire. In addition, cheap, light gauge cords can reduce the amps to the tender, causing a problem. Use a cord that has at least 12/2 and you are gaurenteed to have at least as good if not better than in the wall. No issues.