Honda CB300R Battery Location, Service, Pigtail Installation

The Honda CB300R was designed from the ground up for new beginner motorcyclists. So why isn’t the battery easy to find, where is the battery on the CB300 R, how do you access the battery? Once found, what can new riders do to make their lives easier and take care of their motorcycle’s battery? I’ll tell you and show you in this article and video.

Why isn’t the battery easy to find?

If you want to build a better beginner motorcycle, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but you do need to rethink how it’s made. That’s exactly what Honda did with the CB300R.

The 2019 Honda CB300R replaced the old Honda CB300F (aka CBF300) that ran from 2015 to 2018. The new motorcycle uses a smaller and lighter chassis. Honda tried to keep all of the heavy components both down low, and centralized. That helps with weight distribution.

• Lighter bike = easier to handle
• Smaller bike = easier to handle
• Weight down low = lower center of gravity, easier to handle
• Weight centralized = heavy components closer to the rider’s body, easier to handle

The downside to re-jigging a traditional motorcycle setup, is that the battery is no longer located under the seat.

Where is the battery on the Honda CB300R?

The battery on the 2019+ Honda CB300R is located underneath the gas tank. Take a look at this diagram to get an idea of where the battery and some of the other key components are on this motorcycle:

How to access the Honda CB300R battery

To make life easy for everyone, I made a video, and also wrote the instructions out down below. I recommend watching the video to get a more complete understanding of what needs to be done. It’s a great opportunity to see how everything fits together. If you prefer written instructions just skip down.

Click the little unmute button in the bottom left corner to unmute the video.

Step 1: Take the seats off

Take your key to the key switch under your rear brake light. Turn it and remove the passenger seat (rear seat).

Once the passenger seat is removed you’ll have access to two bolts that hold the rider’s seat (front seat) in place. You can use a 5 mm allen key to remove the two bolts. With both seats off you’ll have access to two of the screws and tabs you need to remove the gas tank cover.

Step 2: Remove the gas tank cover

This is by far one of the worst things about Honda CB300R ownership. You’ll inevitably need to remove the gas tank cover in order to access your battery.

To do this, I recommend you watch the video I made showing you step by step not just how to remove the cover, but all of the things discussed in this article.

In the video I show you where all of the screws and tabs are that need to be removed. I also tell you what tools you’ll need to remove each one, and how to take them off carefully so that you won’t scratch them.

You’ll need to remove nine bolts to take the tank cover off.

• Two at the front of the bike by the forks
• Two at the front of the bike on the top of the tank cover
• One near the center of the tank cover on it’s top side
• Two under the rider seat
• Two by your shins while you’re seating on the bike

There are also two tabs under the rider’s seat. You’ll need to lift up the tank cover and then push it off in order to unclip it. There are two clips further down the sides as well. Technique is demonstrated in the video.

Step 3: Unbolt the tank

There are four bolts at the base of the tank and one on each side of the tank that hold it in place.

You do not need to remove the gas tank. You only need to undo these bolts so that the gas tank can be held out of the way.

Step 4: Remove the battery housing and protector

There are two pieces of plastic further protecting the battery once you lift the tank up at the front of the motorcycle. There is a battery housing, and a plastic battery protector. The protector stops it from bouncing around while you’re riding (which could harm your battery).

The Honda CB300R’s battery housing/cover needs to be unclipped from the front of the bike. You can use a small flathead screw driver to do this.

The CB300R’s battery protector underneath simply needs the same 5 mm hex screws as the rest of the body panels you’ve removed so far. You will likely have to remove the connection to the negative battery terminal in order to have enough room to wiggle it out. It’s tight in there.

Now that you can access to your Honda CB300R’s battery

With full access to your battery, you can easily hook up your battery to a trickle charger to recharge it if it died.

Remember: Just because a motorcycle battery dies, does not mean it can’t be brought back to life. Also remember that just because a motorcycle battery can be brought back to life, it doesn’t mean it’s healthy and won’t leave you stranded. You should learn how to tell if your dead motorcycle battery needs to be replaced or if it just needs to be recharged instead. That article and video will show you how.

You can also disconnect the positive battery terminal too and take the whole battery out or replace it if you need to.

If you find that you do need to replace your battery with a new one, here’s how to fill a new motorcycle battery with acid and charge it.

What battery does a 2019+ Honda CB300R take?

Any Honda CB300R made after 2019 takes a Yuasa YTX7L-BS Battery, or a Yuasa YTZ8V. Truthfully, there are cheaper batteries out there. I only use Yuasa batteries for my own motorcycles. They tend to last anywhere from two to four times longer than cheap motorcycle batteries.

What can riders do to make their lives easier?

I have a recommendation to all 2019 and newer Honda CB300R owners. It will save you a lot of time, make your life much easier, and help you take much better care of your battery, for very little money.

My recommendation is to install a Battery Tender Pigtail.

What is a Battery Tender Pigtail?

A pigtail is like an extension cord for your battery. Without one, if you ever need to charge your CB300R’s battery again, you’ll have to remove all of the seats, tank covers, and battery covers again, just to access your battery.

Instead, you can easily connect a Battery Tender Pigtail to your battery, put your bike back together again, and should you want to charge your motorcycle battery in the future, all you need to do is plug in to your pig tail, which will always be easily accessible to you, without needing to take anything off.

How much does it cost?

A Battery Tender Pigtail comes included with this battery trickle charger, called DelTran Battery Tender Jr. It’s “the” battery tender that everyone uses. There are fancier, higher end, more expensive battery trickle charges out there, but this one is made especially for motorcycle batteries, and every motorcyclist should have one. Here’s the best deal I could find on one, it’s on Amazon and should come with free shipping depending on where you’re located.

How do I install it?

Have a look at this picture. You have a nut and bolt going through each terminal on your battery. All you do is put these rings through those nuts and bolts. Black/negative to black/negative, red/positive to red/positive. It’s easy.

Before putting everything back together, I recommend you plug your Battery Tender Jr. into the Pigtail to make sure that it works properly. If you see a flashing red light, something is wrong. If the charger shows solid green (battery 100% full, no charging necessary), flashing green (battery over 80% full, charging), or solid red(battery less than 80% full, charging), it’s working.

How do I put it all back together? What if the holes for the bolts don’t line up?

Gently and slowly. Now would be a good time to re-read those four steps I shared above and work backwards from that. I share a lot of tips, tricks, and techniques, along with some problems you might encounter, like the holes not lining up, in my video.

If you have any questions, just leave me a comment down below or on YouTube and I’ll write back as soon as I see your comment.

You should also check out the Yamaha R3 versus Honda CB300R comparison article and video. Then you can see how your motorcycles compare!