Yeah I know, not another Battery Tender Question
#11
11-15-2010, 10:19 PM
Road Captain
The chargers from Deltran sold under the Battery Tender name will not charge a battery if the voltage is below a certain point. I do not remember what minimum voltage, but it is listed on their web site.
Both will charge a low battery back to fully charged, the smaller 750 mA one just takes a lot longer than the 1.5 A model.
You might want to check the voltage of the battery and see if it is below the limit on their web site. If it is, you might be able to bring back the battery using a regular 1.5 - 2.0 amp charger if you have one. Once it is charged above the cut off point for the Tender, you can hook it back up to finish the charge.
If the battery was allowed to go completely dead through lack of use during the summer, it may not come back even with a regular charger. One way to find out is to try to charge it and see what happens.
If you do get it to take a charge, you may want to disconnect it from the bike and let it set a couple days disconnected from everything and see if the voltage drops rapidly. If the battery is still any good, it should show 12.6 to 12.8 volts or so for a while before it starts dropping. If the voltage drops after only a day or two, it's time for a new battery.
Both will charge a low battery back to fully charged, the smaller 750 mA one just takes a lot longer than the 1.5 A model.
You might want to check the voltage of the battery and see if it is below the limit on their web site. If it is, you might be able to bring back the battery using a regular 1.5 - 2.0 amp charger if you have one. Once it is charged above the cut off point for the Tender, you can hook it back up to finish the charge.
If the battery was allowed to go completely dead through lack of use during the summer, it may not come back even with a regular charger. One way to find out is to try to charge it and see what happens.
If you do get it to take a charge, you may want to disconnect it from the bike and let it set a couple days disconnected from everything and see if the voltage drops rapidly. If the battery is still any good, it should show 12.6 to 12.8 volts or so for a while before it starts dropping. If the voltage drops after only a day or two, it's time for a new battery.
#12
11-15-2010, 10:42 PM
Extreme HDF Member
The latest model of the Schumaker 1.5 amp maintainer will charge a battery from full discharge and if it senses that the battery has sulfates build up it will go into a mode to re-suspend them. walmart for just under $21. They have longer pig tails and heaver gauge wire now.
#13
11-16-2010, 02:09 AM
Battery
I would take the battery out of the bike to charge it with a battery charger. When it is charged, put it back in the bike and use the battery tender.
#14
11-16-2010, 04:47 AM
If your battery sits for extended periods, it will get low.
If you imstall a new battery it should be put on a Battery Tender before putting it into service.
If you don't ride often, the battery should be connected to a Battery Tender.
If you have a bad battery, a Battery Tender will never fully charge it.
You should never jump start a motorycle with a car or truck battery. You can do damage to the electrical system with more amps than the sytem is designed to handle.
If you suspect you have a bad battery, you should consider having it load tested.
If your battery losses power prematurely, you may have a component on the bike that is draining it.
If you imstall a new battery it should be put on a Battery Tender before putting it into service.
If you don't ride often, the battery should be connected to a Battery Tender.
If you have a bad battery, a Battery Tender will never fully charge it.
You should never jump start a motorycle with a car or truck battery. You can do damage to the electrical system with more amps than the sytem is designed to handle.
If you suspect you have a bad battery, you should consider having it load tested.
If your battery losses power prematurely, you may have a component on the bike that is draining it.
#15
11-16-2010, 05:08 AM
Takes alot of amps to crank those big jugs - sitting all summer probably allowed the battery to drain where it needs a recharge. Tender is meant to do just that - maintain...you need a charger. Go to WalMart & pick up a cheap charger for $20 and you 'll get the battery back to maint. level. From there, use the tender to keep it topped off.
#17
11-16-2010, 07:39 AM
Road Captain
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12 VDC @ 750 mA.
Typical Recharge Time: 8 - 12 Hours.
riding your bike does NOT charge the battery, it usually takes hours of riding to RECHARGE a battery.
even a car, if you have on AC, radio, heater, cruise, all that junk, will take a long time to charge.
everything on a vehicle is made to do ONE thing: be light as possible to save MPG, and the charging system does that by being minimally capable: in other words, it is designed to maintain a battery, NOT fully charge a dead battery.
and jumping a battery just puts enough juice in it, for that one trip.
and you can't "jump" a car if the car that is running has on the AC, interior lights,, radio, or anything. modern vehicles are not built tough like we use to expect.
so yeah, i would leave it plugged in for a few days.
on most vehicles, you have to take off the negative terminal, because there is something on there that drains some of the charge.
FWIW, i have a 2 amp trickle charger from Sears, $39, and goes on sale $19 every so often. I have 3, one for each bike, and one for garage queen car.
batteries are $60, so it's just good common sense,
and who wants to have a dead battery when you only have a limited time to go ride?
Typical Recharge Time: 8 - 12 Hours.
riding your bike does NOT charge the battery, it usually takes hours of riding to RECHARGE a battery.
even a car, if you have on AC, radio, heater, cruise, all that junk, will take a long time to charge.
everything on a vehicle is made to do ONE thing: be light as possible to save MPG, and the charging system does that by being minimally capable: in other words, it is designed to maintain a battery, NOT fully charge a dead battery.
and jumping a battery just puts enough juice in it, for that one trip.
and you can't "jump" a car if the car that is running has on the AC, interior lights,, radio, or anything. modern vehicles are not built tough like we use to expect.
so yeah, i would leave it plugged in for a few days.
on most vehicles, you have to take off the negative terminal, because there is something on there that drains some of the charge.
FWIW, i have a 2 amp trickle charger from Sears, $39, and goes on sale $19 every so often. I have 3, one for each bike, and one for garage queen car.
batteries are $60, so it's just good common sense,
and who wants to have a dead battery when you only have a limited time to go ride?
Many (not all) battery tender type charging devices are not designed with the intention of charging a deep discharged battery. Given enough time, it may, but they are primarily designed for maintaining a battery. 12 VDC @ 750mA is the maximum grunt capacity of this particular charger, that current output will drop as the voltage requirements go up, charging voltage is going to have to be >13.8 VDC. If you have a 12 amp/hr. battery, it’s going to take considerably more than 12 ampere hours of energy to completely recharge it. You never get out what you put in, batteries are costly in that respect. So if you have a deeply discharged 12 - 20 amp/hr. battery, using this particular charger, it could take a couple of days, if it will even do the job.
Riding your bike most certainly will recharge the battery, and at a fairly quick rate. The typical charging system output on a late model HOG is rated at 30+ amps. That does not necessarily mean that you will be pumping in 30+ amps to a discharged battery, the back EMF voltage of the battery will limit the charge rate. But it still has the capability to fully charge a discharged battery, and at a fairly quick rate.
Regarding cars and trucks; the charging system on all vehicles are designed with enough capacity to maintain the vehicles full load (i.e. lights, A/C blower, radiator fan, electronics, etc) and still have a fair amount of additional capacity for charging the battery. Many vehicles today have alternator outputs upwards of 200 amp/hr., especially trucks with towing packages, they haul travel trailers and even keep the battery(ies) in the travel trailer charged up.
There was another post here that said not to jump start a motorcycle with a car. Just to clear this up, its fairy safe to do so as long as the car’s engine is not running.
#19
11-16-2010, 07:21 PM
Sorry, don’t mean to pick your post apart, but there are some myths here that are incorrect.
Many (not all) battery tender type charging devices are not designed with the intention of charging a deep discharged battery. Given enough time, it may, but they are primarily designed for maintaining a battery. 12 VDC @ 750mA is the maximum grunt capacity of this particular charger, that current output will drop as the voltage requirements go up, charging voltage is going to have to be >13.8 VDC. If you have a 12 amp/hr. battery, it’s going to take considerably more than 12 ampere hours of energy to completely recharge it. You never get out what you put in, batteries are costly in that respect. So if you have a deeply discharged 12 - 20 amp/hr. battery, using this particular charger, it could take a couple of days, if it will even do the job.
Riding your bike most certainly will recharge the battery, and at a fairly quick rate. The typical charging system output on a late model HOG is rated at 30+ amps. That does not necessarily mean that you will be pumping in 30+ amps to a discharged battery, the back EMF voltage of the battery will limit the charge rate. But it still has the capability to fully charge a discharged battery, and at a fairly quick rate.
Regarding cars and trucks; the charging system on all vehicles are designed with enough capacity to maintain the vehicles full load (i.e. lights, A/C blower, radiator fan, electronics, etc) and still have a fair amount of additional capacity for charging the battery. Many vehicles today have alternator outputs upwards of 200 amp/hr., especially trucks with towing packages, they haul travel trailers and even keep the battery(ies) in the travel trailer charged up.
There was another post here that said not to jump start a motorcycle with a car. Just to clear this up, its fairy safe to do so as long as the car’s engine is not running.
Many (not all) battery tender type charging devices are not designed with the intention of charging a deep discharged battery. Given enough time, it may, but they are primarily designed for maintaining a battery. 12 VDC @ 750mA is the maximum grunt capacity of this particular charger, that current output will drop as the voltage requirements go up, charging voltage is going to have to be >13.8 VDC. If you have a 12 amp/hr. battery, it’s going to take considerably more than 12 ampere hours of energy to completely recharge it. You never get out what you put in, batteries are costly in that respect. So if you have a deeply discharged 12 - 20 amp/hr. battery, using this particular charger, it could take a couple of days, if it will even do the job.
Riding your bike most certainly will recharge the battery, and at a fairly quick rate. The typical charging system output on a late model HOG is rated at 30+ amps. That does not necessarily mean that you will be pumping in 30+ amps to a discharged battery, the back EMF voltage of the battery will limit the charge rate. But it still has the capability to fully charge a discharged battery, and at a fairly quick rate.
Regarding cars and trucks; the charging system on all vehicles are designed with enough capacity to maintain the vehicles full load (i.e. lights, A/C blower, radiator fan, electronics, etc) and still have a fair amount of additional capacity for charging the battery. Many vehicles today have alternator outputs upwards of 200 amp/hr., especially trucks with towing packages, they haul travel trailers and even keep the battery(ies) in the travel trailer charged up.
There was another post here that said not to jump start a motorcycle with a car. Just to clear this up, its fairy safe to do so as long as the car’s engine is not running.
#20
11-17-2010, 07:55 AM
Well I went out into the garage this morning and wouldn't you know, I've got a green light.
I guess if you wait long enought that little tender will charge a battery. Thank you all for your responses
I guess if you wait long enought that little tender will charge a battery. Thank you all for your responses