The fuse are on the right I looked in clymers and I got it wrongand I looked at bike and you dont have to take off seat. can you tell me of another bike thats takes longer to get to the battery than this bike .

victory  motorcycle pull side cover one second the battery is there.  I had suzuki 650 gr  turn key under seat  2 seconds the seat is off and battery is there  had 95 goldwing easyer than s40. My vl1500  2 screws about a minute battery is there. Other than these two bikes all where easyer  than the s40 to work on. I really like the bike but I find it much harder to do things on than other bikes. this is my 16th bike.

I never had to remove my intruder seat in 8 years

You got it baby

I installed 2 #2 phillips head screws in their place, much easier than a wrench as stated so no extra tools are needed. I got a kick out of the post title...the wife and I went on a 100 mile jaunt yesterday through the countryside. We're cruising along and the wife slows down and rides onto the shoulder. I pull up next to her and ask whats wrong? She says she's just riding along and the motor sputters a couple of times then quits. I look at my odometer and ask if she tried turning on the reserve...nope she had never run into the reserve before, now she knows.

I ASSumed it was a blown fuse and it was not -- no fuse was blown.   Fought the seat bolt war for nothing.

Recheck with the key (after dusk) showed a faint glow on the neutral light and a red wire on the headlight -- neither of which were noticeable in the daylight.  This caused me to pull the battery, to charge it if nothing else.  Volt meter showed proper volts, but no storeage of juice after charging.

Bad battery, cause unknown.  New battery -- bike makes it home.  Now we run a week to see if charging system is working OK.

Actually, no.   These new style fuses are readily visible if they blow, they break the connection pretty good and blow black crap all over the inside of the plastic holder if they are blown.

I eyeballed each of them by flashlight and put them back in place as they were OK.   I will buy some replacements and stock them in my growing "road parts saddle bag kit".

So far Baby is passing the ongoing short trip charging test with flying colors.   I think the stock Suzuki charging system overvolts the battery pretty good and has enough amps available on a stock set up to "overcharge" the battery even with short trips on top of short trips.  

Overcharging.  Have you noticed that you need to add a lot of distilled water to your battery every fall when you pull it out to store it?  I sure have -- amazing that the batteries last for several years with that sort of constant overcharging going on all the time.

But in the end, I'd rather have overcharging and eventual battery death just once every 3-4 years than a constant fight with short trip undercharging.

You do know that eventually we are going to be able to buy a lithium ion battery pack that will fit our scooters?  And some of you guys are going to shell out $100 plus to buy one?

<grin>

Oldfeller