I bought a round rubbery cap/plug from the hardware store section where nuts and bolts are. Used a sharp knife and made my own. Bikes gone now.

 

Yep I'll probably end up modifying an aftermarket cap.

With enough ingenuity, electrical tape, and zip ties, almost anything is possible!

 

With enough ingenuity, electrical tape, and zip ties, almost anything is possible!

With a bit of duct tape you can make your own cap from scratch.

 

Seat base is plastic - don't worry about it

 

Contact with the underside of the seat is not the concern.

 

What is?

 

Something I noticed about absolutely every one of the sets of aftermarket terminal caps: they come with two. One for positive, one for negative.

Don't you only need one terminal capped, at most? Suzuki only put a cap on the (+) terminal.

I expect their reasoning was, the frame and engine are already at ground. So, if you drop a wrench and it comes to rest touching the (-) terminal and the frame, BFD.

Do the same with the (+) terminal, and you get a funky new wrench and maybe a fire.

 

Agree with that. And related to that is this: When working on the battery or electric system, always DISCONNECT the negative terminal first, and CONNECT the negative terminal last.

As soon as either of the battery terminals is disconnected, the battery is isolated, the system is voltage-free and you can safely work. So you disconnect the battery as the very first task, and reconnect it as the very last task. But which terminal do you disconnect? It's much safer to work on the negative terminal when the electric system is (becoming) live, than it is to work on the positive. Just in case a tool or body part touches the frame while also being in contact with the terminal.

 

Agree with that. And related to that is this: When working on the battery or electric system, always DISCONNECT the negative terminal first, and CONNECT the negative terminal last.

As soon as either of the battery terminals is disconnected, the battery is isolated, the system is voltage-free and you can safely work. So you disconnect the battery as the very first task, and reconnect it as the very last task. But which terminal do you disconnect? It's much safer to work on the negative terminal when the electric system is (becoming) live, than it is to work on the positive.

Depends on the vehicle Positive ground systems are (were) a thing.

 

@oldjeep
Lucas….Prince of Darkness

 

@oldjeep
Lucas….Prince of Darkness

There are only 2 states that British cars exist in. Had a dash fire or about to have a dash fire.

 

A plastic bottle cap will do it.

Drill a hole in one side big enough for the cables to fit through, then snip though the leftover, clip that over the cable, it will keep the cap in place and the terminal covered.

 

If you want something "fancy", not hard to find lots of options like these on Amazon:
Battery terminal cover

 

Or:

https://www.amazon.com./Battery-Terminal-Flexible-Positive-Negative/dp/B07YCJXJXY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=38O5K9BR7NWYK&keywords=motorcycle+battery+terminal+cap&qid=1687487969&sprefix=motorcycle+battery+terminal+cap%2Caps%2C360&sr=8-1

Covering the earth is unnecessary but you never know what you might one day accidentally drop on the Pos terminal..

Go look at your Vstrom's battery and you'll see why those aftermarket caps/covers won't work.

Vstrom battery terminals in general aren't round. Including the battery I have now, which is a Duraboost (Cycle Gear store brand).

The terminals aren't raised above the top of the battery, and are just about square. Photo to follow.

The more square-shaped covers still won't work, because of the cable.

The positive cable doesn't come in from the side, it comes up the side of the battery. That vertical cable approach is why the OEM positive terminal cover is special, and the biggest reason the aftermarket covers won't fit.

 

Or:

https://www.amazon.com./Battery-Terminal-Flexible-Positive-Negative/dp/B07YCJXJXY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=38O5K9BR7NWYK&keywords=motorcycle+battery+terminal+cap&qid=1687487969&sprefix=motorcycle+battery+terminal+cap%2Caps%2C360&sr=8-1

Covering the earth is unnecessary but you never know what you might one day accidentally drop on the Pos terminal..

 

One more alternative: The Suzuki OEM cap. Part number 3362427G00, costs 7 euros from my usual retailer. Just add it to the next order to save shipping costs.

 

Going to do that ...eventually. Using a couple pieces of electrical tape, for now.

Suzuki never changed the way the positive cable comes up the side of the battery, and the terminal cap for the 2023 DL650 is the same part number as for the 2004 DL650. About US$8 (then another $9 to ship by itself) so I'll probably get a stator cover gasket or something to fill out the order.

Most of the aftermarket rubber terminal covers come in around the same price. Might as well get one that will definitely fit right, vs. having to hack up an aftermarket cap and still not having it work quite right.

Now I only need to figure out some other stuff to order to make the shipping cost worth it.

 

Makes me think back to the POS trucks I had in the past. With no battery terminal protectors at all and a battery secured with crash a rated bungee cord.

 

This is how my positive terminal looks now (attached).

Story where I can't decide if I'm being resourceful and clever, or unsafe and stupid:

The newest battery (Duraboost AGM from Cycle Gear) came with these formed sheetmetal terminals, that you can really only connect your leads to one way. On top, or from the side, but not both.

Even with the accessory fuse panel I'm almost done installing, I have a few things that need to connect directly to the battery:

--SAE pigtail for battery tender or running a tire pump.

--Eastern Beaver headlight relay harness.

--Dashcam power supply. It's "Smart" and doesn't turn on unless the bike is running, using a separate 12V sense wire, and needs to have power while it does a soft shutdown, thus needs a direct battery hookup.

--And of course, one of the leads for the relay that powers the new fuse panel, as well as the ground wire coming back from the (-) bus of said fuse panel.

It ends up being more stuff than I want to stack on top. But, you can't also connect from the side, with the hardware supplied with the battery, which are the typical M6 screws and rectangular nuts, like these:

Amazon.com: binifiMux 6-Pack Motorcycle Battery Terminal M6 x10mm Bolt Square Nut Kit Stainless Steel 304 : Automotive

Buy binifiMux 6-Pack Motorcycle Battery Terminal M6 x10mm Bolt Square Nut Kit Stainless Steel 304: Terminals & Ends - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

I found these:

Odyssey L Terminal Adapter | Battery Mart

(FWIW, they only charge $4.95 shipping on this item. Might be a good deal if you don't mind waiting, and need extra M6 battery terminal screws.)

Then I thought "those are basically brass right-angle brackets...I bet they have those at the Home Depot around the corner."

Everbilt 3/4 in. Satin Brass Corner Braces (4-Pack) 20374 - The Home Depot

Yep.

Only change I made was to drill the holes out to 1/4", so that the typical M6 battery screws (which I had some extras of) would fit.

Now some of the stuff can connect from the side. I don't have to have a ridiculous huge stack of ring terminals on top of the battery.

 

You didn't ask my opinion, but hey, it's free! Just wanted to mention, in case you didn't already know, that the Eastern Beaver PC8 solves nearly all these problems for me:

--SAE pigtail for battery tender or running a tire pump.

--Eastern Beaver headlight relay harness.

--Dashcam power supply. It's "Smart" and doesn't turn on unless the bike is running, using a separate 12V sense wire, and needs to have power while it does a soft shutdown, thus needs a direct battery hookup.

--And of course, one of the leads for the relay that powers the new fuse panel, as well as the ground wire coming back from the (-) bus of said fuse panel.

The PC8 has 2 unswitched terminals, which I use for the battery tender (and could use for a tire pump). Headlight relay harness goes on the PC8 with everything else (it'd be easy to bypass in the unlikely event of some failure affecting the PC8 that I can't fix quickly). Dashcam: a good one, like the Thinkware, has a small amount of stored energy (either a small battery or a capacitor of some sort) which provides a few seconds for writes after the power is cut, for exactly this reason. YMMV there, but worst case, you could use one of the unswitched terminals on the PC8.

 

Rather than waste the same money on an aftermarket cap that I would have had to cut up and still have it not fit right, I ordered an OEM replacement, along with some other OEM-specific parts (O-rings for the coolant unions and stator cover gasket) that I expect to need eventually. Maximized that ol' shipping dollar.

It won't ship until some time next week, but that's fine. The electrical tape is doing the job for now.

 

Wanted to roll my own this time, so I did. Showing the more or less final setup:

(1) Auxiliary fuse box (block) | Page 2 | StromTrooper

Still need to go in and secure the dashcam DVR.

Some dashcams have a capacitor to perform soft shutdown. Others use a "smart" power supply that turns itself off once soft shutdown achieved, drawing on the battery as needed. That's how both of mine (Innovv K2's) on the 2 motorcycles work.

I did get my OEM replacement terminal cap, and it's installed. It doesn't sit quite right because I have that bracket with the side connections on the (+) terminal. But, it does do the job of protecting against me getting clumsy or forgetful & putting a wrench across the terminals.