I have one of these any was wondering if anyone else has much experience with this unit. I just replaced my battery on my '09 RK as it apparently died while I was out-of-town. I have replaced it with an equivalent battery and it seems to be taking a long time to reach full charge. The battery is an AGM with the "new" lead matrix and it was fully charged when I bought it.

So, like any and all things, I can believe the tender might be bad or having problems, but other than a single light, there's not much in the way of indicators. Also, the bike runs fine/starts much better and I checked the fuse and other things inline and they all appear fine. I burned up my last voltmeter and have to get a new one, so I can't do a voltage check on the tender or battery just yet. The concern is that I put the bike on the tender and it hasn't gone from yellow (meaning it's charging) to green (meaning it's charged) in more than 1/2 hour. Maybe I'm too anxious, but I plan on letting it charge overnight at least. So, if anyone has had any experience with the SuperSmart and seen similar behavior, I'd like to hear your story.

The battery is one I purchased from Batteries+ and I have a 2 year warranty, but this weekend looks like it will be great for riding and I have a short trip planned for next weekend (me and a buddy are riding part of the Trace for grins with an overnight camp in the deal). Thanks in advance for any insight/advice/ruminations or other philosophical postulations.

 

I bought a Schumacher tender and also had a new battery. Hooked up the tender and the charge light stayed on for a long time. Checked the battery and it was showing 13.5 volts which is fully charged. Exchanged the charger for a new one and it did the same thing. Called Schumacher and was told by a friendly tech rep that the charger did not switch to the maintenance mode till I think 13.8 volts or something like that. Left it hooked up and pretty soon it switched modes. You do need to check it with a volt meter though and maybe call the manufacturer to see at what voltage it switches over.

 

I just bought a new AGM battery for my Heritage. Before I installed it in my bike I made sure it was fully charged by hooking it to a regular charger for a few hours, then hooked it up to my tender to finish it off.

I keep it hooked to the tender most of the time I'm not riding. Even though I know it's fully charged, sometimes it takes 30 minutes of longer for the yellow light to turn to green.

I wouldn't worry about it. It's ok.

Oh, my tender is the cheapo WalMart brand.

Mal

 

A battery tender is not designed to charge a battery. It is designed to maintain full charge & not over charge. You can charge a battery with one but it isn't fast. That is why your not seeing the green light quickly. A battery from the store that is charged when you buy it, might have been sitting there for several months. It will slowly loose it's charge. Your new battery might have been at 85%. lots of grunt to start your bike but not fully charged!
Hatch.

 

+1. It's meant to leave hooked up without worry for long periods of time. Sounds like it's doing it's job.

 

Also, keep in mind that once it gets fully charged, at some point that full charge will drop so the tender has to go into charge mode again. Maybe you are looking at it in that state. I wouldn't worry about your battery for the trip as long as the bike's charging system is functioning properly.

 

I bought a new Dekra AGM battery for my bike last spring. After I installed it in the bike I put the tender on it and it took a full 24 hrs. before the light on the tender went solid green. It had been on the shelf for awhile or it wouldn't have taken so long.

 

Maybe you unplugged it incorrectly at some point..

 

Thanks for all the responses. Just checked the tender and it's showing green. Looks like a case of the new battery taking longer than I thought it would to get up to full charge.