I have no beef with anyone's solutions and, heck, they're all good if they work for someone. We okay so far? That said, I hope no one minds, but I thought I'd add yet some more alternative info, for future readers of this thread, just to share some other experience.
As I said in an earlier post, on two bikes over the years I've used Powerlet's Termin-8 extension gizmo (but mostly added fuse panels, and several of those from Eastern Beaver, specifically its PC-8,
https://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/Fuseboxes/fuseboxes.html).
What I really wanted to point out here is that on
six bikes now I've added a Powerlet/BMW/DIN/Hella
socket under the left thigh. Here are some examples:
I keep doing this for several use-cases:
1) Powering heated gear (as shown on the Burgman, although I long ago replaced that straight, coax-to-Powerlet-plug, cord with a self-coiling one).
2) As a receptacle for a smart charger (having replaced the typical SAE-to-SAE extension cords that come with smart chargers with an SAE-to-Powerlet-plug extenstion, as shown in the Victory and BMW pics).
3) And, FWIW, most air compressors (I carry one in a saddlebag, along with a patch kit) have a Powerlet plug option, or you can get an adapter, if need be.
And I keep choosing the same under-the-left-thigh spot because:
- Heated gear connections invariably terminate by the left side of the waist.
- Draping a cord over the left thigh doesn't interfere with steering, doesn't interfere with a passenger, doesn't rub the body work, and provides the longest slack if you forget to unplug before getting off the bike (which most of us do on the left side).
- And using a Powerlet plug and socket for this, as opposed to the more common SAE setups, allows me to plug in or unplug that connection
while sitting on the bike and with only one hand. I think those Powerlet/BMW/DIN/Hella plugs make very solid connections, both physically and electrically, so I've been using this kind of setup on all my bikes since 2007.
And so, naturally, I got around to doing this on the M350 a couple of months ago:
Happily, this was the first time that I didn't need to actually mess with battery bolts to add the socket. As many dealers do, mine had added an SAE pigtail for charging (or whatever). Since I wasn't going to mess with the battery on the Meteor for anything else -- no fuse box, no Termin-8, etc. -- I just moved the end of that pigtail from where the dealer put it -- on top of the engine case on the right side -- over to the left side, behind that cover.
And then I just terminated the wires from the Powerlet socket that I added with an SAE connector (instead of battery ring terminals), and plugged it into the dealer-installed pigtail. Oh, and I changed the fuse in the pigtail from 7.5 amps to 15 amps, and I was done. If you want to see some more pics of this process, drilling the hole, etc., my description of this mod starts with this image-and-caption in my Meteor gallery:
That's all I got, and I hope maybe
someone finds maybe
some of this useful. On the Victory forum, I did have at least one guy follow my lead (and I have a pic of his work in my Vic gallery).
