When I'm not riding it's plugged in 24/7. I see no downside to it.

 

Yeah I heard about the de-sulfating batter minder. They send little scrubbing bubbles into the battery. Actually they claim to eliminate sulphates by sending proprietary high frequency bursts into the battery. But, anything that goes into the battery will go to anything that's connected to the battery. When the bike is switched off, that may only be things like the alarm. But, it would also go out the ground side to the engine and de-synthesize your synthetic oil.

But seriously folks...standard non deep cycle batteries such as in cars and motorcycles do not like to be below full charge. If it was convenient the tenders would be good for cars as well. That is why batteries put in storage such as from a boat should be put on a trickle charger.

So...yeah hook up the tender whenever you can.

Reminds me that I forgot to hook mine up after my last ride. Out o the garage I go. Maybe I'll design an automatic docking station for the tender.

 

My 08 was pigtailed when I bought it. I plug it in when it sits. Still on stock battery. It is not just the parasitic loss when sitting that causes short battery life. Small battery. And these bikes draw a lot when the starter button is pushed between the starter draw(especially if you don't have compression releases) plus all the electronics are competing for the juice. It doesn't take much and your are in trouble.

 

Use mine every time I park it. It's not the age that kills them here in Arizona, it's the heat. 2.5 to 3 years and they're toast!

 

.....why bother?..ask yourself this..do you plug your car into a charger every time you park it?..of course not...that's because the car has a charging system....Harleys do to...if you are in riding season...and your stator is working...there should be no need to do it if you ride at least once a week for 50 miles or so..I'm on year 9..yes 9..with my battery..almost NEVER sees a tender.....to each his own, but it's way overkill..off season?.yes..then it makes sense..

 

If my bike's in the garage it's on the Battery Tender.

 

I also use the tender all the time.

 

I know it is hard for most guys to read the instructions. But, if one reads the instructions that come with a tender it will identify the two functions of a tender.

The first is to maintain the battery for extended storage. The other is to extend the life of the battery.

That is done by leaving it plugged in always. Unplug when you leave for a ride and plug back in upon returning.

There is only a finite number of discharge/charge cycles in a battery. By floating it at full charge that limits the number of deeper charges the battery needs. A battery will last 2 or more times as long using it that way. Why not do it that way?
The pig tail is installed. The tender has been bought and paid for. Just take the 3 to 4 seconds to use it each time.

I have gotten over nine years out of an original battery before I sold the bike. My 07 FXSTC bought new in Aug 06 is on its original battery and is still cranking hard.

Since I retired 12 years ago only 1 of the 16 bikes that I have had experienced a bad battery. That was in my 10 Superglide when one cell expanded and it went bad. That was replaced under warranty at 18 months.

Folks will pay $1,200 to $1,500 for an extended service plan for "piece of mind" yet not spend $20 for a Schumacker 1.5 amp tender at Walmart that will dramatically reduce costs and aggravation over many years.

Note: The Schumaker tender will detect sulfates and activate a cycle to dissolve them. I believe most tenders on the market do that.

 

If its in my garage, its on the tender...6 yrs and still going. Easy hook up

 

I have definitely noticed a difference since hooking mine up on a daily basis. I have a short drive every day (3.5 miles one way), and not at full highway speeds either. So the daily draw of starting it up at home and work made it sluggish on starting. Since I started hooking it up every day it definitely fires up better!

I bought a Black & Decker Battery Maintainer from wally world and installed a 12v cigarette plug under the touring pack. $16 for the battery maintainer and about $10 in 12v plug hook up. Not a bad cost for upkeep if ya think about it.