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Battery Tenders

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Old Jul 17, 2016 | 04:48 PM
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Default Battery Tenders

We all use em. But how long do you keep it on there over winter? I have a 1 year old battery and I kept the tender on all winter and I think it cooked the battery because it will just not hold a charge. Anybody else experience this?
 
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Old Jul 17, 2016 | 05:43 PM
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I've used a Battery Tender Jr. for a few years and haven't had any trouble with it. I keep my battery hooked up to it all winter ( sometimes 3-5 months ) and never had any issues with it or my battery not working when time to ride.
 
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Old Jul 17, 2016 | 05:45 PM
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I have about 8 of them on various small motors out in my shop. Run them 24/7 and only a normal battery replacement rate.

Bad battery perhaps?
 
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Old Jul 17, 2016 | 05:55 PM
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Make sure you are using a brand name "Battery Tender", and not a generic one or a trickle charger.
 
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Old Jul 17, 2016 | 07:15 PM
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Inside of the Battery Tender is a small micro-processor unit that monitors the charge on the battery 24/7/365. If a fault of some sort were to occur in this unit it would be impossible to cook or over charge the battery as the tender would simply cease to function and stop any further charging to do any damage.
 
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Old Jul 17, 2016 | 09:03 PM
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I kept both my Switchback and my little Yamaha on tenders all winter, and everything was fine. The battery in the Yamaha did die, but not until well into summer. I blame the fact that it was a cheap Chinese battery from one of those "Batteries-R-Us" places.
 
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Old Jul 17, 2016 | 10:28 PM
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I have 21 bikes. They are on tenders 24/7. Unplug when I take them on a ride and plug them up on return. I have had batteries go beyond 9 years with that system.

I am wondering if the OP had a charger and not a tender. When the tender reaches full charge it floats the battery at less the .003 amps. There is a chip in them that takes care of business.

I use the Schumacker 1.5 amp tender which is sold at Walmart for around $20. Used them for 15 years now and never a problem. Made in China for Schumacher. They are good s--t.
 

Last edited by lh4x4; Jul 17, 2016 at 10:31 PM.
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Old Jul 18, 2016 | 08:02 PM
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Originally Posted by lh4x4
I have 21 bikes. They are on tenders 24/7. Unplug when I take them on a ride and plug them up on return. I have had batteries go beyond 9 years with that system.

I am wondering if the OP had a charger and not a tender. When the tender reaches full charge it floats the battery at less the .003 amps. There is a chip in them that takes care of business.

I use the Schumacker 1.5 amp tender which is sold at Walmart for around $20. Used them for 15 years now and never a problem. Made in China for Schumacher. They are good s--t.

I definitely have a tender, and it's decent too, paid over $60 for it. It does just like you say when it reaches full charge. I guess maybe it was a bad battery? I also have multiple bikes and keep tenders on all of them but this is the first time it happened and I thought maybe it was because of the duration the tender was left on. Because I have never left one on for that long.
 
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Old Jul 18, 2016 | 10:01 PM
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Originally Posted by slowspeeder
I definitely have a tender, and it's decent too, paid over $60 for it. It does just like you say when it reaches full charge. I guess maybe it was a bad battery? I also have multiple bikes and keep tenders on all of them but this is the first time it happened and I thought maybe it was because of the duration the tender was left on. Because I have never left one on for that long.
You could leave it on the bike and never start the bike for 10 years if that's what you wanted to do. It would never over charge the battery.
 
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Old Jul 18, 2016 | 10:50 PM
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Originally Posted by OldEnuf2NoBtr
You could leave it on the bike and never start the bike for 10 years if that's what you wanted to do. It would never over charge the battery.
Yeah it must be a bad battery then. Just didn't think that was the problem because the battery was not even a year old.
 
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