Deltran Battery Tender Plus Question
Banned
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 7,580
Likes: 7
From: The Internet (& Dyer, Indiana)
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You're right. Even though I've been out of work for 2 years, and am in survival mode, a multi-meter is in fact only $10 at Radio Shack.
I now have the Deltran Battery Tender Plus hooked up to my car battery (1999 Ford Crown Vic) and after 30 minutes the blinking green light (indicating 80% charge) has not come on. I think the Tender is bad. However, I'll wait another hour to see if the blinking green light comes on. My car battery is only 3 months old and starts the car no problem.
You're right. Even though I've been out of work for 2 years, and am in survival mode, a multi-meter is in fact only $10 at Radio Shack.
I now have the Deltran Battery Tender Plus hooked up to my car battery (1999 Ford Crown Vic) and after 30 minutes the blinking green light (indicating 80% charge) has not come on. I think the Tender is bad. However, I'll wait another hour to see if the blinking green light comes on. My car battery is only 3 months old and starts the car no problem.
Road Captain
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 583
Likes: 2
From: Eaton, OH
The car battery may take a lot longer than an hour to go to a blinking green light.
That battery has a lot larger capacity than the bike battery for one thing and you do not mention how long the car has been sitting. Keep in mind the Tender will take the battery to something over 14 volts before the green light will start blinking.
I have an original version of the 1.25 amp Battery Tender I use on a car I do not drive often and even after putting the car in the garage and immediately connecting the Tender, it will sometimes take a couple hours for the red light to go out. I always attributed it taking the battery to the 14v+ charge level.
That battery has a lot larger capacity than the bike battery for one thing and you do not mention how long the car has been sitting. Keep in mind the Tender will take the battery to something over 14 volts before the green light will start blinking.
I have an original version of the 1.25 amp Battery Tender I use on a car I do not drive often and even after putting the car in the garage and immediately connecting the Tender, it will sometimes take a couple hours for the red light to go out. I always attributed it taking the battery to the 14v+ charge level.
Last edited by Morris9982; Mar 20, 2011 at 07:37 PM.
Road Captain
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 583
Likes: 2
From: Eaton, OH
The original poster indicated he had the Plus version. That is the 1.25 amp model. The Junior only puts out about 0.75 or 0.8 amps.
Club Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,192
Likes: 168
From: Knoxville, Tn
Battery Tender
Most times when I hook up the bike to the tender, it goes red for less than 5 minutes and then the blinking green. Sometimes, however, it goes into the red mode and stays there all night before going into the blinking green mode. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it at all. The bike still starts like normal....I tend to think it must be the tender but it is still going strong minus the few bumps.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,707
Likes: 4
From: Newtown, PA
My Battery Tender Plus worked fine on my car. I hooked it up to my car's battery posts via the clamps - not via the detachable harness. I then hooked the Battery Tender Plus up to my bike again - this time using the Battery Tender clamps instead of the detachable harness which I have installed on the bike. Voila, in about an hour the blinking green light came on and 6 hours later, when I got up this morning, the Battery Tender's red light was off and the green light was steady green - indicating full battery charge. So, it appears the Battery Tender Plus is fine and maybe there is something wrong with the Battery Tender Plus' detachable harness that I have installed on my bike? (the 7.5 amp fuse is fine).
Road Captain
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 583
Likes: 2
From: Eaton, OH
My Battery Tender Plus worked fine on my car. I hooked it up to my car's battery posts via the clamps - not via the detachable harness. I then hooked the Battery Tender Plus up to my bike again - this time using the Battery Tender clamps instead of the detachable harness which I have installed on the bike. Voila, in about an hour the blinking green light came on and 6 hours later, when I got up this morning, the Battery Tender's red light was off and the green light was steady green - indicating full battery charge. So, it appears the Battery Tender Plus is fine and maybe there is something wrong with the Battery Tender Plus' detachable harness that I have installed on my bike? (the 7.5 amp fuse is fine).
If you have any, you might want to consider putting some dielectric grease on the terminals once everything is put back together to help prevent corrosion in the future.
Also see if you can figure out if the wires inside the harness are still functional and not broken anywhere.
Last edited by Morris9982; Mar 21, 2011 at 08:54 AM.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 4,990
Likes: 9
From: Marina del Rey
This is something the meter would have found instantly on checking continuity. Suspect those crappy 2-pin connectors don't make good contact; try giving them a gentle little squeeze w/ pliers. Or just use the alligator clips directly to the battery.
To check the pigtail you could use a volt meter or a test lamp.....
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,707
Likes: 4
From: Newtown, PA
Good suggestions all. I just bought the $19.95 digital multimeter from Radio Shack (no such thing as a $10 multimeter from Radio Shack anymore). How do I use it to check the Deltran harness with those round connectors? My test lamp (circuit tester) lit up just fine when I tested it yesterday.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,707
Likes: 4
From: Newtown, PA
I just bought the Radio Shack $19.95 USD digital multimeter. Now I can check the battery charge level at rest, at startup and at idle.
But, how do I check the output of my Deltran Battery Tender Plus? If the Deltran is hooked up to the battery via the clamps on the posts, I get 14.7V if I touch the multimeter leads to the battery terminals or the Deltran's clamps. If I take the Deltran's clamps off of the battery posts, I get no reading at all from the multimeter.