Well, the bike battery needs a charge. Sat too long this season. Turned-over a few times. The car charger should do the trick, right? Keep it unders 2 amps and itshould be fine, right? Or, is there some detail in a motorcycle battery charger that makes it the better choice? Any risk of harming the bike?

 

A car charger is fine if you keep the amp down. If you select a higher level then it could cause the battery to over heat and kill the plates. As far as the electrical it will not hurt it as long as you do not try to start it while on a charger.

 

+1

Low amps.

It would pay to get one of the smart chargers. Cheap and they work great.

MikeM

 

Get a Battery Tender float charger. Only kicks in when it senses the voltage is going down. Does not over charge im time or amps.
Mine is always pluged in when parked.

 

+2.... LOW Amps.... As was said earlier, you'll damage the battery with much over 2 amps. DO NOT start the bike while it's connected to the charger.

OR, you could go buy a battery tender and not have to worry about it.

 

A Battery Tender is not designed to charge an almost dead battery,only to maintain a good one.Once charged the tender will actually extend the life of your battery.Mine are tended all the time when not riding.

 

For recharging a dead MC battery an automatic (variable amp rate) charger of up to 10-12 amps is best, just don't leave it on more than a couple of hours.

A battery tender (float charger) is best for preventing a battery from going dead in the first place and can be left on indefinately. A float charger, unless it has an automatic dual output of 2 amps & float mode, is not the best option for recharging. A simple float charger does not put out enough current to overcome a "stone dead" battery state.

 

+1 Get a Battery Tender

With a battery tendery you get a standard male / female SAE connector... to attach to the battery of your bike. The short end of the connector attatches to your battery and runs down beneath your side cover etc... (HD makes a very good one thats fused for about 10 bucks)
plug mine up every other day or so and have never had a battery problem ...

also I am able to tell when its getting time for a new battery fairly easy, as I'll notice the tender takes longer than usual to get a green light.

Heres a pic of a pretty nice one Xtreme CHARGER.. This is the model ther pushing out at strokers. Definately, worth owning.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/motor...eme-charge.htm

99%r

 

Thank you all very much.

 

Thanks again.

Another rider sold me a Vector Smart charger for $15. The box says it includes Float mode monitoring, and is fully automatic. It's not sleek, but it seems to suit the groups recommendations.

But, rain tomorrow; maybe, snow on Sunday. The market is down.Gas is up. Nothing, but optimism.Quality time with the bike doesn't seem so bad.