Here's another battery tender question....

I've got a Schumacher charger/tender that I use for my Road Glide. I've kept it on the tender since I got the bike in August of 2011.

The battery was in the bike when I got it, in fact it may be the original battery from 2007. Still starts the bike ok, however.

Within the past week, I've started getting an alert I'd never seen before. Plug it in for a while, the yellow "charging" light will come on, and after a while....
.... it starts "flashing yellow".

Manual says the flashing yellow is an indication of an "aborted charge", but doesn't elaborate as to what that means or what might cause it.

Any guys in the know?

I'm guessing the battery may be on the verge of failing because of age, but again, it still starts the bike without problems.

Bike was just put away for the winter, perhaps I should be looking for a new battery come springtime!

 

Uhm,, Yup.
7+ yrs old,, buddy, it's time.
It's about having something you can depend on, not "wow" it still works".
I personally wouldn't waste the electricity "tending" it all winter.

 

If your charger has a inline fuse be sure and check it

 

I actually had a battery last for 9 years. Nobody believes me but it did.
I would say you need to head on over to Interstate Batteries and pick up a new one without the HD label and save some cash.

 

Not all chargers are smart chargers. You might be doing more harm than good. Get a "Battery Tender" and forget about it.

 

On my charger (Schumacher) after it has charged for a while then stops is an indication the battery is bad therefore unable to take a charge.

 

I have two Schumacher tenders, different styles, and both flash yellow on batteries my Battery Tenders don't have a problem with. With 8 batteries to keep charged over the winter, I decided I had more than enough battery investment to make one of the more expensive chargers worthwhile, and got a Noco Genius G3500, kind that's supposed to de-sulfate batteries. Haven't had it long enough to know if it's worth the extra money, will just have to see how it works over the winter. Have a lawn mower battery that's weak, will see if it improves (would surprise me if it did). For simple maintenance tenders, I'm sold on the Battery Tender brand, wouldn't trust Schumacher again.

 

I have a small (cheap) Schumacher tender also...Had it for a few years now and it recently started doing the same thing as yours. I almost replaced my battery because of it. I finally just unplugged the tender from the bike and then plugged it back in again. It started to charge just fine. Maybe it just got confused.
When it goes south, I'm going to replace it with a CTEK 3300...Much better tender.

 

I believe you. I bought a new 2003 F150 crew cab in 2003. The original battery is still in it. I got chicken this year and start carrying a battery booster. Never had to use it. I going to see how long the battery will last.....

 

OP here.

Today I took the seat off, and hooked up my trusty old Sears Automatic Battery Charger (which will maintain a battery as well as charge it, hence the "automatic" part). Battery seemed to charge up and behave normally.

Then with a little further inspection, I found that the positive connector on the "pigtail cable" broke apart right in my hand -- must have been marginal to begin with.

Went to Sears and picked up another pigtail connector, didn't put it on yet. I'll see if that makes the difference for the Schumacher.