Gerbings/Battery Tender

[horizonchaser]

I received a Gerbings liner jacket for my sixtieth birthday last week and I am tickled pink. I have heard so much positive reviews from this forum that I have hinted to my wife many times that I wanted one. looks like it paid off!
Here is my dilemma. I already have a battery tender coming off my bikes battery. What I was wondering is, can I remove the existing battery tender coming off the battery and affix the coaxial harness that came with the Gerbings jacket in its place thereby reducing clutter and supplying my jacket liner with the connection that it needs for keeping me warm. Then, purchase an adapter ( which they sell) to put on the end of my battery tender so that at the end of the day I can simply plug that adapted end into the Gerbings coaxial cable and charge my battery. I want to be clear and say that I am not going to run my jacket off of the battery tender connected to the battery, that will be removed. What I hope to do is plug the jacket into the harness that Gerbings supplied for the battery but change the battery tender SAE cable with an adapter that will charge my battery at the end of the day.
I should point out that when I called Gerbings about this they said that they don't recommend doing that. When I questioned him as to why not, what harm can it do? He said that it is a company policy to not recommend doing that. Well, they sell those adapters for the exact reason that I want it for. Go figure.
So I guess my question is: Has anybody else done what I hope to do and if so, were there any problems?
Thanks for your input.

 

[Duckkarl]

I would think that should work. My only question is if the adapter has the right plug on it? The harness that comes with the gear is a female plug. I am not familiar with the harness you are talking about, but if it has a male plug, it should work, as it would mate up with the female harness at the battery.

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[Haywire]

Only problem I can see is the fuse protecting each device may be a different size so should check that

 

[Glider-Rider]

I have the wiring harness that Gerbing supplied with my jacket liner, and the battery tender hooked up to the battery on my fxdc. There is not much clutter and everything works great.

 

[horizonchaser]

I have the wiring harness that Gerbing supplied with my jacket liner, and the battery tender hooked up to the battery on my fxdc. There is not much clutter and everything works great.

You know, I think I just might end up doing what you do. I mean, why buy a special adapter for $9.95 when I can simply ( and neatly ) hook up the Gerbings coaxial harness and use it for its intended use.

 

[HarryB737]

You're going to love your new jacket liner. The only thing is after awhile you're going to think how nice it would be to have the heated gloves (G-3's by the way) .... Fathers day is coming before you know it...

On my bike I connected the Gerbings harness on the load side of the battery tender plug too, since it was already fused, and adjusted the fuse to the needed size for the jacket. The battery tender does not charge at a high amperage so the protection for the jacket took priority.

One thing to remember though...plug in your jacket after you start the bike as the infinate switch thermostat has low voltage protection, and the initial starting of the bike will fool the thermostat & it will drop out on low voltage...

 

[jwd98056]

What you are planning works just fine. I have done this on several bikes. The worst situation that could happen to your Battery Tender is if it shorts internally to ground and the battery dumps back through the charger. If it is a hard short even the Gerbings 20A fuse will blow. If it doesn't draws enough current to blow the fuse it could fry the charger. The chance of this happening is very remote but not impossible. I keep my chargers physically isolated so that if they do get very hot or even ignite they can't catch something else on fire.

 

[horizonchaser]

You're going to love your new jacket liner. The only thing is after awhile you're going to think how nice it would be to have the heated gloves (G-3's by the way) .... Fathers day is coming before you know it... I am aware that Father's Day is coming up Harry. You think like I do. ...and yeah, I've decided on the G-3's. The T5's are a little over the top for my driving habits.

On my bike I connected the Gerbings harness on the load side of the battery tender plug too, since it was already fused, and adjusted the fuse to the needed size for the jacket. The battery tender does not charge at a high amperage so the protection for the jacket took priority.

One thing to remember though...plug in your jacket after you start the bike as the infinate switch thermostat has low voltage protection, and the initial starting of the bike will fool the thermostat & it will drop out on low voltage...

Thanks. I will remember this.

 

[horizonchaser]

What you are planning works just fine. I have done this on several bikes. The worst situation that could happen to your Battery Tender is if it shorts internally to ground and the battery dumps back through the charger. If it is a hard short even the Gerbings 20A fuse will blow. If it doesn't draws enough current to blow the fuse it could fry the charger. The chance of this happening is very remote but not impossible. I keep my chargers physically isolated so that if they do get very hot or even ignite they can't catch something else on fire.

Great. That's what I was hoping to hear, someone who actually does it this way without any problems. I would certainly keep it isolated in case of the rare occurrence of a fire.

 

[glasspilot]

I also do what Dyna in post #4 does. I use both leads on my Ultra. They both stick out the right side. The tender lead (SAE plug) has a rain cover. The Gerbing co-axial also has a cover for when I'm not using it, but I have those leather bottle holder things on the front of my saddle bag crash bars. They have a nice storage compartment next to the bottle holder that I stuff the Gerbing wire into.