With all the seasonal chatter about winterizing and winter riding, I thought I'd share a recent purchase. The Battery Butler is cheap ($20 CDN), smart (doesn't over charge) and small. So far I am pleased with it as it seems to deliver better value than a typical battery tender.

The KLX's battery cover can be a bit of a pain to remove, especially with the Nomadic rack installed so it's nice that the BB comes with a ring terminal plug.

I'd recommend the BB to anyone looking for a simple cheap way to keep the KLX charged and ready to go year round.

 

These bikes seem a little finicky to start sometimes, first time I drove my son out to the bush, to teach him how to ride, his (weakly charged) battery went dead before we could get it to start. Tried push starting it, but no success. Ended up swapping batteries while my bike was running and got his bike going with the (fully charged) battery from my bike.
Didn't want to go through that again, so adding an aux battery charge connector was the first "mod" my son and I did to our bikes. Now we just keep them plugged in all the time while they are parked.

This is the unit we got.


Edit: I'll add to this post that this battery charger we bought only came with one aux quick connect adapter that I attached to my son's bike, so I bought a separate aux adapter for my bike which has an added feature that constantly monitors the level of the charge left in the battery with a flashing LED indicator, so you can tell at a glance the condition of the battery.

 

been using the schumacher speed charge which includes the quick release/plug that you attach to the battery and stays on the motorcycle. connect or disconnect anytime without removing the side panel.

 

Glad I ride my bike every day, all year round. No problems with battery discharging. Unless, of course, I leave the key with the ignition on all day long, like I did 2 weeks ago.

 

Malves: You still ride around Rio when it gets up over 40C?! Wow!
Too hot for me to be wearing a helmet! I'll take 0C!

 

Yes, I do! With gear! It´s not too bad, thou. It gets really bad when it rains and I have to put on the rain gear on top of everything else.

 

Moto sauna!! Fun fun fun!

 

Where did you buy your Battery Butler? I haven't been able to find anything to do the job for under $40.

 

I have a similar battery tender that I bought at Walmart for 15~20 bucks. Made by energizer, has the bolt on pig tail for easy hook up.
Dan

 

I got it off eBay from a store called Drago's Corvettes. I had a good experience dealing with the seller.