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Better than a Battery Tender?

ScottRNelson

Adventure and Dual Sport
Joined
Aug 3, 2002
Location
Meridian, ID
Moto(s)
Honda XR650L, KTM 790 Adv R
For years I've been spreading the word that the Battery Tender brand of chargers are the best ones for motorcycles. However, a guy I know from another motorcycle forum who has an electronics background has been buying battery chargers for years now and testing them to see if he can find one that is better than one that he bought about 20 years ago and is no longer available. He would often voice his frustration about how there was nothing available today that did a decent job of topping up a battery.

But a month or two back he found one that does all of the right things and it's available at a very good price. I bought one recently and have been impressed with how it works compared to my Battery Tender.

Here's a link to where you can order one: http://tinyurl.com/2f9dm8x

Surprisingly, it's available at Walmart. My local store didn't have any in stock, but I ordered one from the above link and had it in less than a week. Total price for me was $21.95 to have it delivered to the closest Walmart store.

It even comes with wiring that you can permanently attach to your motorcycle battery, and it's plug compatible with the ones used by Battery Tender, so if you already have your bike wired up, like I do, you just plug it in.

I hooked my Honda up to my Battery Tender and it indicated that the battery was fully charged, but then I hooked it up to this Schumacher battery charger and it charged it some more to a higher voltage level, which should make it both work better and last longer. And it's the type that you can leave hooked up forever if you want (forever meaning all winter) and it will keep the battery topped off but not overcharge it. It even has built in control logic to detect if it's been hooked up backwards or if the battery is getting too hot. It's almost too good to be true.

So I thought I would share this in case any of the rest of you want to get one before they're out of stock again. You can hardly lose at the price it sells for.
 
Do you have any technical information from the guy on the other forum (or other sources) to back up the claim of why it is better than the popular battery tender? :dunno
 
So tell me Scott, why should I buy this when my current tender is working just fine? :dunno
 
Thanks for the link. I would have ordered mine from Amazon if I had realized that they had them.

don't thank me, thank google. google is fucking rad

So tell me Scott, why should I buy this when my current tender is working just fine? :dunno

you have multiple bikes and would prefer to not worry about the batteries draining in the event of an actual winter visiting california making riding them enough to keep the battery charged possible? that's why i'm interested anyway
 
So tell me Scott, why should I buy this when my current tender is working just fine? :dunno
If you have an AGM battery it will do a better job of the initial charge. I put an AGM battery in my 888 a few months before I decided to sell it. You're supposed to charge those to 14.5 volts, but the Battery Tender was only putting in like 13.2 and the residual charge was around 12.8 volts. The next time I need to replace a battery on one of my current bikes I'm going for the AGM battery because of the typically lighter weight and better cranking power.

As for the other request, it will take me a bit to extract the conversations that originally led to this and organize it into something that is easy to read.
 
12.6 is fully charged on a 12V battery, though. :dunno


+1

The charging system on a vehicle can reach 14.xx but I've never heard of any battery charger being able to get a battery up to anything above 13.00 after the charger is taken off. I really don't see the benifit over a Battery Tender brand charger. As far as I've ever heard the only thing important for battery life is keeping a small amount of amperage moving through the battery to prevent sulfation and keep the charge up, beyond that it starts sounding like a gimmik to sell something.
 
14.4 volts for AGM batteries according to this site:
http://www.bdbatteries.com/mcharging_procedures.php

Not what that site says unfortunately.

SOC (%) vs. OCV
the battery State Of Charge vs battery's Open Circuit Voltage
An easy method to estimate the State of Charge (SOC) of the battery is by measuring its Open Circuit Voltage (OCV). This measurement should be made after the battery has been at rest for a minimum of four hours with the battery shut off from its charging source and load. The voltage is listed as Volts/cell and for a 12V (6 cell) battery at 25°C (77°F).


State of Charge (%) OCV per cell OCV per 12V battery
100 2.17 or greater 13.0 or greater
75 2.10 12.6
50 2.03 12.2
25 1.97 11.8
0 1.90 or less 11.4 or less

So your comment about the Battery Tender leaving the battery at 12.8 at rest is where it is susposed to be and according to the chart on that site it was fully charged. I believe what you are referring to is what voltage is recommded by this company to CHARGE the battery with. It doesnt mean that 14.xx is going to stay in the battery.
 
Schumacher has been around a long time, I have a couple of the older units along with Deltran Battery Tender. Happy with both mfg. products, never had one fail yet.

So why do continue to buy them when I find a screaming deal?...I have no idea.
 
I've had no problems with mine, from S Mart. Shop Smart, shop S Mart!
 
Another option is to buy a Lithium battery. They're more money, but they BARELY lose charge when sitting. Supposedly 10%/year or so...
 
So according to the manual for my bike fully charged is 12.8-13V, would this be enough?
 
I don't have anything constructive to add, 'cause I know NOTHING when it comes to things electrical.
- but -
I've heard that these new maintenance-free gel type batteries when new need an initial mega-charge via an industrial type charger at 14+ volts. If never allowed to go dead by riding or using something like the 'Tender', the battery is good to go for the next 5+ years.

I recently bought a used bike with a mere 2,800 miles.... sitting for the last few years without a Tender. When the gal took it to a dealership to get the bike up to snuff before selling, I'm sure they did something to the battery..... but I don't know if it was enough.
I left my GPS hooked up to the Bandit, found a dead battery a couple weeks later, and my Tender actually zapped some life back into the battery (!?!).

I don't think in either case, the batteries got the full mega-charge they require after they were allowed to go dead. With two bikes in the garage, I have nothing to lose by giving up a twenty dollar bill for this Schumacher as a second charger/tender.... think I'm gonna git me one dem!
 
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