Battery tender
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 25,306
Likes: 2,443
From: Eastern NE
Deltran makes the HD model & Battery Tender - if you want to get a quality tender...get the Battert Tender Jr. for your scoot & it's cheaper than HD b/c you're not paying for the Milwaukee logo.
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 13,402
Likes: 941
From: Illinois
Faast ED. Any maintainer floats from .001 amp to it's high. Manufacturers of motorcycle batteries recommend the 1.5 limit. The float charging is at .001 amps.
The battery would have to be discharged quite a bit for it to even charge at that rate.
I use a maintainer the way they were intended to. That is to unplug when the bike goes out of the garage and plugged in when returning. As soon as I connect the bike after the ride the tender goes to the float mode within a second. That is why I have an over nine year old motorcycle battery that passes a load test.
I keep a total of 11 vehicles and four other batteries on tenders 24/7 and have done so for years. I never have had a battery problem. One of these days/yrs some will just give up but not after going 3 to 5 times as long as a battery that was not on a tender.
The battery would have to be discharged quite a bit for it to even charge at that rate.
I use a maintainer the way they were intended to. That is to unplug when the bike goes out of the garage and plugged in when returning. As soon as I connect the bike after the ride the tender goes to the float mode within a second. That is why I have an over nine year old motorcycle battery that passes a load test.
I keep a total of 11 vehicles and four other batteries on tenders 24/7 and have done so for years. I never have had a battery problem. One of these days/yrs some will just give up but not after going 3 to 5 times as long as a battery that was not on a tender.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,172
Likes: 7
From: Clermont, GA, CSA
The Newest Walmart one has a unique user trait -
If you leave the terminal clips attached to the battery and unplug the AC wall plug - it will drain your charging battery to DEAD in a few days ..
The real Battery Tender and older Walmart units do NOT do that ...
Now you know ...
If you leave the terminal clips attached to the battery and unplug the AC wall plug - it will drain your charging battery to DEAD in a few days ..
The real Battery Tender and older Walmart units do NOT do that ...
Now you know ...
I bought one last year when I bought my '02 Heritage. I don't know how old the battery is, but the WalMart/Schumacher tender works fine. In the summer months I don't plug it in at all, just during the off0-season when it may sit for more than a week at a time.
It would have to have a short in the pigtail to discharge, but if it did how could it charge when plugged in?
To the op: 20 bucks at Walmart!
Banned
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 7,580
Likes: 7
From: The Internet (& Dyer, Indiana)
Now where's that BS flag when I need it?
I bought one last year when I bought my '02 Heritage. I don't know how old the battery is, but the WalMart/Schumacher tender works fine. In the summer months I don't plug it in at all, just during the off0-season when it may sit for more than a week at a time.
It would have to have a short in the pigtail to discharge, but if it did how could it charge when plugged in?
To the op: 20 bucks at Walmart!
I bought one last year when I bought my '02 Heritage. I don't know how old the battery is, but the WalMart/Schumacher tender works fine. In the summer months I don't plug it in at all, just during the off0-season when it may sit for more than a week at a time.
It would have to have a short in the pigtail to discharge, but if it did how could it charge when plugged in?
To the op: 20 bucks at Walmart!
Why do you think it needs a short to discharge?
A "short" will toast your battery (not just a freindly discharge). Fire in your garage bullshit.
It's a transformer, with two sets of windings.
If you unplug the wall cord, it is still a transformer, but now working in the opposite direction. Your bike battery becomes the source of voltage.
The better ones have diodes to prevent the reverse current flows.
The cheap ones forgo this expense, so as to stay "cheap".
No "short" necessary.
Some of them will even warn you of this phenominon in thier owners manual.
I had a phone charger that would do the same thing. Drain the phone dry if unplugged from the wall. Normal stuff.
You pay for cheap, you get cheap. Pay attention to what you read, and don't be so quick to call BS. You learn so much less when you do that.
In the summer months I don't plug it in at all, just during the off0-season when it may sit for more than a week at a time.
.
Last edited by Faast Ed; Mar 12, 2011 at 08:02 PM.
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Banned
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 13,820
Likes: 6,614
From: Northern California
Cheap components can do that.
I've bought a couple of the Schumacher chargers as replacements for Schumacher chargers that quit working. I liked them as long as they worked. But I REALLY like the Battery Tender brand, and none of them have quit working yet.
There's a quick connect cable available for $9 or so from the dealer that let's you charge easily without removing anything. I've got one on my Road King. I use the Battery Tender with the H-D logo because I got it for cheap on Craigslist, but for sure the non-Harley one is the same.
My riding buddy uses the Battery Tender religiously when he's not riding the bike. He's gotten nine years out of the battery.
My riding buddy uses the Battery Tender religiously when he's not riding the bike. He's gotten nine years out of the battery.
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