Bloody battery - Part 2

I bloody hope that Kawasaki have improved the battery placement on the
new Z1000. What a fcuking nightmare to take it out and charge it up. I
have no skin left on my fingers.

 

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300382429716

HTH.

 

I've already got a Frog version of that and when I connected the
cables to the battery, I found that there wasn't enough bloody space
in the battery compartment to put the battery back. The dremel is
coming out tonight.

 

The link showed the lead to connect to the accessory socket, so you
shouldn't need to go anywhere near the battery.

 

Could you not rotate the connectors so that they point upwards/
sideways to give you more room? You might even get away with
bending them slightly too.

Might be worth a fiddle before breaking out the Dremel!

 

Hmm, didn't see that. As it goes, I don't even know where/if the bike
has an accessory socket.

 

It was bloody cold this morning, so I froze my fingers off. I'll have
a crack tonight. The problem is that the battery fits upside down into
the battery compartment and there is very little space to play with.
In the warmth of the garage, I should be able to get a better look.

 

Be careful with the plastic as it gets very brittle when it's
cold - I know this because I managed to snap a fin off the
cooling fan of the BMW when I was replacing the serpentine
belt out in the cold just before Christmas...

It does make me wonder why manufacturers put batteries in
funny positions. MV lay theirs down on the Brutale and it
makes it very easy to put it in the wrong way round. As the
leads are short, it gets connected up wrong, then the ECU
goes pop...

 

Heh, I know.

I don't think that I'll have this problem, as the leads are shaped and
lengthened to avoid this. The Z1000 is the first bike I've had where I
have no space at all under the seats. The alarm and the ABS takes up
every nook and cranny. This is probably why Kawa stuck the battery in
this way. They probably forgot about it until some bright spark said
something like "ABS, check; electronics, check; space for alarm,
check. Battery, er, oh bugger [1], let's stick it in here, upside
down, like"

[1] In Japanese, obv.

 

Heh.

I've noticed seat units getting smaller and smaller in general
on sportsbikes over the last 5+ years, and it seems that this
is now the trend elsewhere too. They're probably using smaller
batteries too to keep weight down, which doesn't help when it
comes to longevity and power either.

 

There wasn't space on the tart to fit an alarm. Which TBF, in
hindsight, is a good thing. I managed to get a permanent harness for a
charger on though as there was just enough room to use the lead clamp
bolts for the haness connections and hide the socket in a small niche
under the seat. Just as well really seeing as the tail light mounting
and a whole section of mudgaurd liner has to taken off just to get to
the battery terminals. Plus you can't get it out without dropping the
rear wheel partially out.

I rigged up a home brewed harness for the Nordwest with wire a couple
of crimp on terminals and a speaker plug/socket. Is there nowwhere at
all that you could tuck the harness socket out of harms way zip tied
to the frame?

 

Erm:

1. I've got an alarm fitted onto mine.
2. To get to the battery, I first remove the rear seat, then the front
seat, then a metal bracket to reach the battery. What year Z1000 are
you talking about?

As for the battery, I'll need to figure out some way of seating the
connectors of the battery cable so that I can still insert the battery
afterwards.

 

The 04 Zed battery is a piece if piss to change, but a pal bought an 08 one
and that's a pure ****. I told him I'd not swap his bike for mine.

They couldn't possibly make the new Zed worse. I hope.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

In communiqué

Ah, forgot was posting to google groups under my alter ego. I was
talking about general battery inaccessibility rather than specifically
Z100s and my Voxan Roadster in particular.

That really must be a very tight fit. The harness I used is actually a
Bulldog charger one, rather than an Optimate. It added very little to
the footprint of the main battery connections and I was able to route
the wires fairly easily out of the battery stowage area. The socket has
its own natty rubber sealing cap, so location isn't quite so critical.
The Bulldog charger died, so I just made up an adapter cable to hook up
an Optimate to the Bulldog socket.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Mine's an '08

They could give it a damn good try...

 

Job done. A few photos of the work I've been doing for the last hour
(plus to give some people an idea as to what it looks like under the
seats of a Z1000).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24244090@N07/sets/72157623198345508/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24244090@N07/4269487053/in/set-72157623198345508/

fit a Scottoiler

 

Wimp. That's fucking luxury.

On the 12R. First remove the fuel "tank". Then the plate over the
battery, then wiggle it out, disconnect the cables, then jiggle the
battery and tray out and over the fairing (which blocks the tray
coming out of the frame).

It's not for nothing that there's a gel battery in there and an
optimate lead (which both went to darsy with the bike as there was
**** all likelihood of me going back in there to get them)

Paul.

 

I'm thinking about it. Not sure I want one, atm.