battery charging during winter

[redneck diva]

question,,,,,, on my 2014 Rt Limited we were able to relocate a fuse & make the cigarette lighter port active at all times so we could plug in a battery tender to it to keep at peak charge at all times.

can we do anything like that on the 2020 RT Limited's ??? to serve as the same purpose.

thx

[Mazo EMS2]

Not familiar with the 2020. Did they even put a cig lighter port in them? Hasn't everything migrated to usb by now? You'd likely be better off to just connect the tender pigtail to the battery terminals.

[2dogs]

Mazo is right. The best and safest way is to run a fused pigtail directly off the battery. And by all means, as you mentioned, use a tender and not a charger over the wintertime. A long enough pigtail run up and under the seat can be useful for a number of other things like heated clothing and so on.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

question,,,,,, on my 2014 Rt Limited we were able to relocate a fuse & make the cigarette lighter port active at all times so we could plug in a battery tender to it to keep at peak charge at all times.

can we do anything like that on the 2020 RT Limited's ??? to serve as the same purpose.

thx

The operators manual shows a fuse the same as in years past, but there doesn't appear to be any 12 volt power outlet as in the past. Without having a wiring diagram for the 2020 I'm guessing the fuse supplies power to the USB power outlet in the trunk. It looks like your best bet, as Mazo says, is add a pigtail to the battery.

[Littleantlers]

i use a tender hooked up to a timer .It runs one hour a day and keeps the battery fully charged

[fantinjaf]

question,,,,,, on my 2014 Rt Limited we were able to relocate a fuse & make the cigarette lighter port active at all times so we could plug in a battery tender to it to keep at peak charge at all times.

can we do anything like that on the 2020 RT Limited's ??? to serve as the same purpose.

thx

I bought my 2020 RT in October and it came with the battery tender lead. It is in the frunk. There is a zipper on the back wall and behind that is the battery and there should be the tender lead already there. Unless my dealer did it on his own, not sure.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I bought my 2020 RT in October and it came with the battery tender lead. It is in the frunk. There is a zipper on the back wall and behind that is the battery and there should be the tender lead already there. Unless my dealer did it on his own, not sure.

I'm sure that was an extra from the dealer. The parts diagrams don't show it. Others have mentioned the dealer installing one and everyone else has none.

[Steve W.]

I bought my 2020 RT in October and it came with the battery tender lead. It is in the frunk. There is a zipper on the back wall and behind that is the battery and there should be the tender lead already there. Unless my dealer did it on his own, not sure.

I'm sure that was an extra from the dealer. The parts diagrams don't show it. Others have mentioned the dealer installing one and everyone else has none.

I asked the previous owner of my wife's RT about the charging lead. He did not install it, said it came that way from the dealer. His other RT came the same way (from the same dealer).

.

[MONK]

If your RT has an SAE connector hooked up to the battery, it's aftermarket. RTs didn't come with them from the factory. Many dealers add the connector and battery charger. Mine came from dealer with one installed. Since my previous '18 didn't come with one (different dealer), I asked about it. They said they added it to all of their new bikes.

[2dogs]

The service department manager where I purchased my spyder quoted me $100 to install a tender lead. I guess you know where I told him he could stick his tender lead. I don't know if he took my advice, but he's not employed there longer. Wonder why? Sometimes it's good to know the owners of establishments where you do business. More often it's employees that give a business a bad name rather than the owner.