I have used several battery tenders, they should all go green on the lights when the battery is charged. If the charger stays red forever it might be a bad battery. You need to check it with a voltmeter, you should have 13.5-13.7 volts on the battery as soon as you take the charger off.

It will slowly go down in voltage after the charger is off but should never go below 12.6 in less than a day. If its only 11.5 as soon as charger is lifted it's already a bad battery.

It may be that some chargers don't have a very good monitoring system and just stay red or "charging" all the time. Probably will ruin the battery after a week or two.

I've had several bikes that I ran the Deltran Battery Tender on, never had a problem with any batteries or with the tenders. This is one of the best inventions ever made for bikes or any batteries that sit a lot.

 

AhHa!! That answers my earlier question about which do I have...mine will charge the battery so it must be a trickle charger...

I was planning on getting a tender instead of guessing on what I have but I would not have known about it not charging up a battery..good info THANKS

 

That's the one I bought a few weeks ago when my battery was acting up. I needed something quick at the time but since bought a new battery. I'm wondering if I should/can use it as a tender on my new battery?

 

Done a lot of reading on this, .... yah, I know it's a compulsive, obsessive thing but my electrical background pushes me. Suggest using our old chargers only when you need to charge, short term only (1-2 days). My 10 amp will charge a completely dead car battery enuff to start in 10-15 min. I don't leave that on my battery for more than 24 hours.

For anything sitting in cold or warm storage for more than a week or two, use the Tender or equivalent .... the Shumacher from Walmart ... I bought 2 of the small ones for the toys. Tenders or 'float' chargers are the only thing to utilize for long term storage, my old 10 amp and 2 amp are shelved unless I should do something to the car battery that might run it right down .... like leaving an interior light on.

 

So long as the one you bought is the same as the one I have posted it is fine. It has a float mode which is a fancy term for tender

You will know if its the same model by looking at the charging leads that comes with it. There are two models almost identical in looks, but one does not float just charges and has generic charging leads. You want the one with the nice black connectors for leaving it on your battery all the time

 

"Battery Tender" is a brand name. They make what are known as "float chargers" or what are sometimes referred to as "tenders".

Battery Tender is to float charger, what Coke is to soft drink, soda, pop, etc.

Single stage float chargers (Battery Tender Jr) are designed to only maintain an already charged battery.

Two stage float chargers (regular Battery Tender) can recharge (slowly) a dead battery, and then drop into float mode once the battery is charged.

 

i also have one from wal-mart, 20 bucks i think, left it on all winter, did a great job. comes with the quick connect that can be attached to the battery and another quick connect with alligator clips that can also be used on the lawn mower. highly recommend this charger. 1.5amp

 

I like and use the Battery Minder on all my 12v batteries.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...2201_200332201

 

Yes! Sure can . . . it just takes longer the lower the amperage of the charger . . .

 

my bike came with one when i bought it