How To - ARGUS Battery Bug Installation

Raywood · 05-21-2009, 09:52 PM

Here is a simple installation of the "Battery Bug".

First I would like to thank Mad Dog for arranging this group buy on this product. It seems to me now after installing it that it can help out a lot with battery issues you may have in the future. Thanks Don.

Ok, first some info on the product. It monitors your battery just as you suspect it does but seems from reading the instructions it bases a lot of it's information on history after installation so I would advise all of you to start with a fully charged battery. So those of you that don't think you need a battery tender or only use it when your bike is put up for a long period I would really advise you give your battery a full charge before connecting this product up.

This "Bug" has a one minute start-up programming. The display alternates the battery voltage and the starting health of your battery. It uses an analog "fuel gauge" display to graphically show you the health of your battery.

It also shows you starting performance of last start, has a weak battery indicator and a replace battery indicator.

The weak battery icon comes on when the battery strength goes below 30%.
When starting health drops below 10% the "replace battery" icon turns on and an audible alarm will sound for 30 seconds after the engine is turned off.
There is a "low temp" icon also if the temp gets to 14 degrees or below.

Pretty kool little device here (my watch next to it for comparison) and here is how I installed mine. I will tell you the instructions state to install the "RED" lead and install the "GROUND" lead and thats it. Easy, anybody can do it.

First thing I did was determine where I was going to put this thing. Things are a bit cramped in my battery compartment on an 05 Chopper. But I figured the best place to put the "Bug" was on top of the wiring harness. So I cleaned the surface with an alcohol swab and remove the tape on the back of the supplied Velcro and stuck it to the harness. Fit great in there albeit tight.

In this picture you see all the wire they give you. Well that's just to much. I only need a 10" pigtail so I cut all the "2 meters" of wire with some dikes. 2 meters is about 78" of wire so way more than you need.

If you have room or you don't like cutting and soldering or crimping then you can leave it alone but I wanted mine tight and clean!

Then I broke out my trusty soldering iron and with a little flux and some soldering wire I reconnected the wire to the nice end pieces. You could just cut the wire strip it and add new connectors but I didn't have red and black connectors so I soldered on the originals. I don't like having other colors on the battery cause long ago a mechanic in San Diego re-connected my battery tender leads wrong after they have broken off and were replace by the mechanic with other colors!!

I added shrink tubing to the main lead and to each of the terminal leads. After I soldered them up I heated up the shrink wrap on the leads and then covered the whole thing with the main lead wrap and heated that up. Nice and clean now.

Now it's just a matter of wiring it up "RED" first then "GROUND" and let it program itself and your done. Here it's indicating I have 100% cranking health.

And 12.5 volts. I had turned the key on and let it cycle and sit for a while as I was taking pictures. It had started with 13.2 but then drained down some with the headlight on. But started right up!

I then cranked the bike up and it started as usual and this is what I got. Looks like 14.3 volts so guess the VR is working (this number was fluctuating between 14.2 - 14.5)!

Aaaahhhh, but it tells me my battery on has 10% live left in it. Again as I stated previously this works on history and algorithms I imagine so I will let it go for a while and see if it changes. Notice I have the weak battery icon on also.

But here it is again while idling showing a good charge.

Overall I think this is a great little product and I would be happy to hear from others on what battery health listing it's showing for your own battery. My battery is just over a year old so with a 10% showing I want to see if it changes over the next week or two.

Easy to do and not a bad price for this little thing.

Eric · 05-21-2009, 10:39 PM

has any one thought of a good location to mount these where thay can be monitored while riding?? so if VR quits or breakes trips youll know, wonder why it wasnt included in the speedo to start with??

chacha · 05-21-2009, 11:20 PM

Nice How-to Raywood!

I think the idea of a "battery monitor" for anything other than a satellite is pretty crazy, but you did a great job on how to install it....

Nomad2day · 05-22-2009, 02:08 AM

Good job Ray,
I just put a new Harley Battery in tonight and did not even think about hooking my battery bug up. I will do it this weekend...

scubaman15 · 05-22-2009, 12:07 PM

Nice Job Ray.... do a follow up latter on to let us know if this little gadget is worth it

alhall88 · 05-22-2009, 12:57 PM

Good job Ray, is there a mode that displays any value for cranking amps?

Raywood · 05-22-2009, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alhall88

Good job Ray, is there a mode that displays any value for cranking amps?

That would have been a nice option but no CCA info.

stlmikie · 05-22-2009, 03:45 PM

Sweet Polex homie!

lee · 05-22-2009, 09:44 PM

nice job Ray

Nomad2day · 05-24-2009, 02:25 PM

I put mine in with a new battery from Harley and I am kinda confused here. It shows 13.6 volts and a 46% battery life after the first crank an has a new battery. Rode it all day yesterday and it now shows a 26% life left. Yes it always on a battery tender.....I am not impressed at the moment but not sure of what....I now have a weak battery indicator now on the unit because it is below 30% starting performance.
I am going to reset the unit by disconnecting it and start over and see what happens then.....
If anything it will make a good voltage indicator without having to use a meter,,,
Neil

117bigdog · 05-24-2009, 02:35 PM

how much did this cost?

Nomad2day · 05-24-2009, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 117bigdog

how much did this cost?

It is $39.95. Here is the group buy post
http://www.bigdogbiker.com/forums/gr...group-buy.html

117bigdog · 05-24-2009, 03:09 PM

just saw it thanks nomad

Raywood · 05-24-2009, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nomad2day

I put mine in with a new battery from Harley and I am kinda confused here. It shows 13.6 volts and a 46% battery life after the first crank an has a new battery. Rode it all day yesterday and it now shows a 26% life left. Yes it always on a battery tender.....I am not impressed at the moment but not sure of what....I now have a weak battery indicator now on the unit because it is below 30% starting performance.
I am going to reset the unit by disconnecting it and start over and see what happens then.....
If anything it will make a good voltage indicator without having to use a meter,,,
Neil

Yeah, mine is down to 0% battery life now. Again I think this runs on some kind of Algoritium so might have to run with some time on it.
But it still gives you the vital info of cranking volts and running voltage.
I'm going to reset mine also and I will email the company and see what they have to say about it.

slamaking · 05-27-2009, 07:47 PM

I also installed this before my Rolling Thunder trip. Coming up from Florida I got rained on until I got into Florence. Well I had my piaa riding lights on during the rain storm for extra visability. I noticed the alarm going off during one of my gas stops. It showed that I had 0% left as well. Once I got back I put it on the charger and it still shows 0%. I too am interested what will happen once I disconnect and reconnect it.

Let us all know what the company says.

05-21-2009, 09:52 PM	#1 (permalink)
Raywood Bubbleheads Assistant Name: Ray Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bremerton, WA Posts: 12,035 My Bike(s): 05 BD Chopper My Biker Photos Rep Power: 5	How To - ARGUS Battery Bug Installation Here is a simple installation of the "Battery Bug". First I would like to thank Mad Dog for arranging this group buy on this product. It seems to me now after installing it that it can help out a lot with battery issues you may have in the future. Thanks Don. Ok, first some info on the product. It monitors your battery just as you suspect it does but seems from reading the instructions it bases a lot of it's information on history after installation so I would advise all of you to start with a fully charged battery. So those of you that don't think you need a battery tender or only use it when your bike is put up for a long period I would really advise you give your battery a full charge before connecting this product up. This "Bug" has a one minute start-up programming. The display alternates the battery voltage and the starting health of your battery. It uses an analog "fuel gauge" display to graphically show you the health of your battery. It also shows you starting performance of last start, has a weak battery indicator and a replace battery indicator. The weak battery icon comes on when the battery strength goes below 30%. When starting health drops below 10% the "replace battery" icon turns on and an audible alarm will sound for 30 seconds after the engine is turned off. There is a "low temp" icon also if the temp gets to 14 degrees or below. Pretty kool little device here (my watch next to it for comparison) and here is how I installed mine. I will tell you the instructions state to install the "RED" lead and install the "GROUND" lead and thats it. Easy, anybody can do it. First thing I did was determine where I was going to put this thing. Things are a bit cramped in my battery compartment on an 05 Chopper. But I figured the best place to put the "Bug" was on top of the wiring harness. So I cleaned the surface with an alcohol swab and remove the tape on the back of the supplied Velcro and stuck it to the harness. Fit great in there albeit tight. In this picture you see all the wire they give you. Well that's just to much. I only need a 10" pigtail so I cut all the "2 meters" of wire with some dikes. 2 meters is about 78" of wire so way more than you need. If you have room or you don't like cutting and soldering or crimping then you can leave it alone but I wanted mine tight and clean! Then I broke out my trusty soldering iron and with a little flux and some soldering wire I reconnected the wire to the nice end pieces. You could just cut the wire strip it and add new connectors but I didn't have red and black connectors so I soldered on the originals. I don't like having other colors on the battery cause long ago a mechanic in San Diego re-connected my battery tender leads wrong after they have broken off and were replace by the mechanic with other colors!! I added shrink tubing to the main lead and to each of the terminal leads. After I soldered them up I heated up the shrink wrap on the leads and then covered the whole thing with the main lead wrap and heated that up. Nice and clean now. Now it's just a matter of wiring it up "RED" first then "GROUND" and let it program itself and your done. Here it's indicating I have 100% cranking health. And 12.5 volts. I had turned the key on and let it cycle and sit for a while as I was taking pictures. It had started with 13.2 but then drained down some with the headlight on. But started right up! I then cranked the bike up and it started as usual and this is what I got. Looks like 14.3 volts so guess the VR is working (this number was fluctuating between 14.2 - 14.5)! Aaaahhhh, but it tells me my battery on has 10% live left in it. Again as I stated previously this works on history and algorithms I imagine so I will let it go for a while and see if it changes. Notice I have the weak battery icon on also. But here it is again while idling showing a good charge. Overall I think this is a great little product and I would be happy to hear from others on what battery health listing it's showing for your own battery. My battery is just over a year old so with a 10% showing I want to see if it changes over the next week or two. Easy to do and not a bad price for this little thing. __________________ 2005 Big Dog Chopper Rode hard and put away wet RATT Bike = "Rode All The Time"

05-21-2009, 11:20 PM	#3 (permalink)
chacha Chaff Your EHC!! Name: ----- Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: N. VA Posts: 1,444 My Bike(s): 2004 Bulldog, 2001 Nightrain My Biker Photos Rep Power: 3	Nice How-to Raywood! I think the idea of a "battery monitor" for anything other than a satellite is pretty crazy, but you did a great job on how to install it.... __________________ "The 2nd Amendment allows the 1st Amendment to exist.." My location

05-22-2009, 02:08 AM	#4 (permalink)
Nomad2day Longhair Redneck Geek Name: Neil Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Clarksville TN Posts: 1,615 My Bike(s): 2007 ThunderMax Fuel Injected Bulldog My Biker Photos Rep Power: 4	Good job Ray, I just put a new Harley Battery in tonight and did not even think about hooking my battery bug up. I will do it this weekend... __________________ Neil in Tenn

05-22-2009, 12:07 PM	#5 (permalink)
scubaman15 Scubaman Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Virginia Posts: 1,711 My Bike(s): 2007 BDM Chopper- 95 FXSTC. 91 FLT Geeser ride zzzz My Biker Photos Rep Power: 4	Nice Job Ray.... do a follow up latter on to let us know if this little gadget is worth it __________________ U.S.M.C Everything's Better When Wet!

05-22-2009, 12:57 PM	#6 (permalink)
alhall88 UAW Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Petersburg, Michigan Posts: 1,910 My Bike(s): 2004 Chopper DT My Biker Photos Rep Power: 4	Good job Ray, is there a mode that displays any value for cranking amps? __________________ Be polite to everyone you meet, but have a plan of how to kill them. -Brad Thor, The Last Patriot

05-21-2009, 10:39 PM	#2 (permalink)
Eric LIVE TO RIDE!!! Name: Eric Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: griffin ga Posts: 3,465 My Bike(s): 09 street glide / 08 crossbones / 07 pitbull My Biker Photos Rep Power: 4	has any one thought of a good location to mount these where thay can be monitored while riding?? so if VR quits or breakes trips youll know, wonder why it wasnt included in the speedo to start with??

05-22-2009, 03:45 PM	#8 (permalink)
stlmikie I wish I had more money. Name: Mike Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: St. Peters Posts: 2,404 My Bike(s): 03 Mastif My Biker Photos Rep Power: 4	Sweet Polex homie! __________________ If ignorance is bliss then knock the smile off my face!

05-22-2009, 09:44 PM	#9 (permalink)
lee Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol, England Posts: 4,245 My Bike(s): 2005 Bulldog and 2002 HD Heritage My Biker Photos Rep Power: 5	nice job Ray

05-24-2009, 02:25 PM	#10 (permalink)
Nomad2day Longhair Redneck Geek Name: Neil Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Clarksville TN Posts: 1,615 My Bike(s): 2007 ThunderMax Fuel Injected Bulldog My Biker Photos Rep Power: 4	I put mine in with a new battery from Harley and I am kinda confused here. It shows 13.6 volts and a 46% battery life after the first crank an has a new battery. Rode it all day yesterday and it now shows a 26% life left. Yes it always on a battery tender.....I am not impressed at the moment but not sure of what....I now have a weak battery indicator now on the unit because it is below 30% starting performance. I am going to reset the unit by disconnecting it and start over and see what happens then..... If anything it will make a good voltage indicator without having to use a meter,,, Neil __________________ Neil in Tenn

05-24-2009, 02:35 PM	#11 (permalink)
117bigdog Bring It! Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: ft. lauderdale florida Posts: 345 My Bike(s): 2005 bigdog chopper My Biker Photos Rep Power: 3	how much did this cost?

05-24-2009, 03:09 PM	#13 (permalink)
117bigdog Bring It! Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: ft. lauderdale florida Posts: 345 My Bike(s): 2005 bigdog chopper My Biker Photos Rep Power: 3	just saw it thanks nomad

05-27-2009, 07:47 PM	#15 (permalink)
slamaking Member Name: Tony Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Orange Park, FL Posts: 146 My Bike(s): 2006 Big Dog K-9 My Biker Photos Rep Power: 2	I also installed this before my Rolling Thunder trip. Coming up from Florida I got rained on until I got into Florence. Well I had my piaa riding lights on during the rain storm for extra visability. I noticed the alarm going off during one of my gas stops. It showed that I had 0% left as well. Once I got back I put it on the charger and it still shows 0%. I too am interested what will happen once I disconnect and reconnect it. Let us all know what the company says. __________________ Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul.

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