We are Doomed

[Zoney]

I had a customer, a young man of about 25 years old come in to the motorcycle store.  He said his battery was dead on his bike.  He wanted to buy a charger, that would fit in the power outlet (the cigarette lighter socket thingy), on his motorcycle to recharge the battery.

[Nashorn]

you are right, you know we are doomed when motorcycles come with power outlets 

[Scherf]

You should have told him it won't work without the purple power band.

[RotBaron]

So what did you say?

[nrshida]

I had a customer, a young man of about 25 years old come in to the motorcycle store.  He said his battery was dead on his bike.  He wanted to buy a charger, that would fit in the power outlet (the cigarette lighter socket thingy), on his motorcycle to recharge the battery.

There's a motorcycle with a cigarette lighter on it? 

[RngFndr]

I'll bet he had a college education too.. 

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I had a customer, a young man of about 25 years old come in to the motorcycle store.  He said his battery was dead on his bike.  He wanted to buy a charger, that would fit in the power outlet (the cigarette lighter socket thingy), on his motorcycle to recharge the battery.

Perhaps he had two motorcycles next to eachothers in the garage...

[eagl]

I had a customer, a young man of about 25 years old come in to the motorcycle store.  He said his battery was dead on his bike.  He wanted to buy a charger, that would fit in the power outlet (the cigarette lighter socket thingy), on his motorcycle to recharge the battery.

Lots of solar trickle chargers used to work that way, until manufacturers started disabling the outlets when the car is turned off.  I had a cheapo solar panel that connected through the cig lighter in my firebird, and it let me keep using a weak battery for 2 extra winters because I could trickle charge it while at work which kept the weak battery from cold soaking to the point it wouldn't crank.  It cranked fine when it was warm, so I didn't want to replace the battery until I had to.  Neither of our current 2 cars have active cig lighter outlets when the car is turned off though, so I got rid of the trickle charger.  I was considering putting a jumper in the fuze box to power the cig lighter all the time in my G8, but that removes fuze protection so I'd have to hack in another in-line fuze.  Instead, if I find myself with a lot of free time I might just directly wire a small solar panel trickle charger to the battery harness and make it a permanent installation.  I've seen RVs with that sort of setup and it works fine for the occasional time when an interior light is accidentally left on overnight and the battery needs a little boost before starting the car.

[Hajo]

Yep....thing ain't lookin' to good for the future.  About two months ago was watching the Leno show.  The show sends out someone who asks simple questions that people really should know.

On the Campus of Cal-Berkley two students were asked who the Vice President was....LOL now I grant you who really cares, neither of the students knew the answer.

I guess they get a great 400K$ education at Berkley eh?

[Zoney]

There's a motorcycle with a cigarette lighter on it? 

It's actually called a "power outlet" normally used to power your radar detector, gps device, cell phone etc.

So what did you say?

I smiled, took a breath and told him that would not work.  I did not explain why.  We then sold him a small trickle charger and a "pigtail" that is mounted on the battery so you can plug it into an outlet in your garage, connect it to the pigtail and keep your battery fully charged every time you park it.  I use one myself and have mine plugged into my garage door outlet which is overhead so I have no wires to trip over.  In the Arizona heat batteries are lucky to go 2 years on bikes, with the charger and keeping the battery up every day you can double that battery life.

you are right, you know we are doomed when motorcycles come with power outlets 

Very few of them do but a lot of customers ask for them to be installed

[smoe]

I just bought a cigarette lighter charger at a Estate sale for a couple bucks. I have a pair of jumper cables also, but the cigarette lighter charger is small and simple. If it works it works.

[Maverick]

My previous bike (BMW) had a cig lighter outlet. It was wired direct to the battery with just a fuse in the line. Commonly used to power things like a GPS or heated clothing for winter riding. I used to trickle charge the bike battery all the time through it. Makes things a lot simpler when the battery is buried under the tupperware like on the beemer, or even a wing. That was a neat solution to the charging issue and it worked just fine.

Sometimes folks just don't understand the situation and instead of looking at it for the reality of the situation, just try to ridicule what they don't understand. It ain't a hardware problem, more of a software issue between the ears.

[icepac]

I modify all of my cars power outlet/cigarette lighters to be live at all times.

[danny76]

you are right, you know we are doomed when motorcycles come with power outlets 

My Pan European has 2 x 12v power outlets. Is having them fitted somehow against motorcycling?

[Tank-Ace]

I smiled, took a breath and told him that would not work.  I did not explain why.  We then sold him a small trickle charger and a "pigtail" that is mounted on the battery so you can plug it into an outlet in your garage, connect it to the pigtail and keep your battery fully charged every time you park it.  I use one myself and have mine plugged into my garage door outlet which is overhead so I have no wires to trip over.  In the Arizona heat batteries are lucky to go 2 years on bikes, with the charger and keeping the battery up every day you can double that battery life.

What part of Arizona are you in? If you're ever down in Phoenix/Tempe, let me know; I'll buy you a beer or a cup of coffee or something.