Are you sure they aren't saying not to use a battery charger instead of Tender?

 

Is memory effect a possibilty? I thought that only applied to electronics but I could be wrong.

 

I live in Northeast Ohio. We have pretty bad,cold,wet winters. My 2003 883 has the original battery. It has never been on a tender. ANd it still starts my ride with no problems.

 

Makes since to me, Yes a battery should be fully charged. However charging and charging over and over will shorten the life. It would be better to let it lose some charge for one or two months or more than to let the automatic charger charge it 50 times in those few months.

 

What brand is your battery? That's what I want to get the next time I need one!

 

Nope. They specifically said a tender is not recommended. Conversely, they said an occasional charge by a 1 amp charger is ok to bring the battery back up to full charge, but only after sitting for an extended period of time.

I thought it was weird, too...

 

A Trickle Charger will be the death of a battery in short order. Most consumers don't know and/or can't tell the difference between a Trickle Charger and a Smart Charger. So if you're the battery manufacturer and you know that most batteries will do just fine without any external charger . . . it's a lot easier to say DON'T USE ANY CHARGER than it is to try and educate a consumer, especially after their battery has failed because they put it on a Trickle Charger.

 

I'm not a engineer but.....I took my Battery Tender apart once (it's what I do) and I didn't see anything "smart" in it. A transformer, rectifier, filter and a regulator. So a cheap, low current trickle charger (1.25 amps max). I put mine on my bikes for 24 hours once a month to bring them to full charge in the winter and they do well.

 

My buddy's always plugs a tender on his Vrod, because if it sits in his garage too long the security system on the bike will eventually drain the battery.

 

You can listen to them if you want... My Battery Tenders have kept my 3 bikes ride-ready for years. Going on 6 years with the same battery on my Springer. Also, charging systems aren't having to work nearly as hard.