Help Hooking up Battery Tender

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Aug 31, 2008 | 07:54 PM

Nellybelle

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Road Warrior

Joined: Jul 2006

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From: Indiana

Help Hooking up Battery Tender

I want to hook up a battery tender to my wifes Softail.
Is it recommended to use the negative battery post or use a ground somewhere on the frame?

Aug 31, 2008 | 08:01 PM

OldFenderGuy

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From: Ozark Country

I have battery tenders on all my bikes, and hook both the 'positive' and 'negative' directly to the battery.

Aug 31, 2008 | 08:08 PM

Harleypilot

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From: Southern Oregon

I hooked mine to the terminals. Can't see any reason not to. If I remember correctely, it came with two ring type conectors for that purpose.

Aug 31, 2008 | 08:09 PM

landest

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From: Olympia. WA

Direct to the battery is always best.

Aug 31, 2008 | 08:10 PM

dope_man_21

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From: Carrollton, Georgia

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldFenderGuy

I have battery tenders on all my bikes, and hook both the 'positive' and 'negative' directly to the battery.

+1,
with the Milli-amp trickle charge the battery tender puts out, I doubt it would do any damage to the battery, the biggest reason I have heard about hooking a charger to something other than the battery is for the spark that is put off when the connector is really close to the battery and at different charging stages or discharging stages the battery will produce more hydrogen. so I have been told to connect the negative connector last and to the frame for this reason. with the battery tender you are not putting it on a drained battery, the ideal is to put it on a charged battery to keep the charge level up.

Aug 31, 2008 | 08:11 PM

Nellybelle

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From: Indiana

Thank you.

Aug 31, 2008 | 08:12 PM

hardpill

Cruiser

Joined: Aug 2008

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From: CNY

Refer to the instructions, but only as a last resort.

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Aug 31, 2008 | 09:01 PM

OldFenderGuy

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Joined: Sep 2005

Posts: 8,641

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From: Ozark Country

Actually I use the HD battery charging harness that is connected directly to the battery.

Part number 94624-97B, worth it's weight in gold, and costs all of $7.00.

The battery tender can be plugged in or removed from the harness instantly, which is a far cry from the days when we had to remove the seat to hook the battery tender up to the battery.