One thing to keep in mind about the Battery Tenders... at least with the one I've been using on my Indian for the last 4 years. It has a red light that shows it's charging and then switches to green when it's just maintaining a charge, but just because it goes green doesn't mean the battery's still good.

The Indian wouldn't start for a month and I traced wires, replaced the relay, about everything but pull the oil tank (which you have to do to get to the starter) until I remembered that the battery was 4 years old, and I never had a cycle battery last that long. So I ran jumpers to the Jeep and it started right up. The whole time the Tender was telling me the battery had a full charge.

I imagine the real wrenches on here would have thought of that long before I did, and I do feel a bit stupid (got it working just in time to put it up for the winter), but maybe it'll give someone pause if they ever have the same problem...

 

If the bike is parked in my garage the Battery Tender is on it. I've did it this way from the beginning on my 2000 Night Train that I sold last year with the stock battery and my 2001 Triumph Sprint that still has the original battery at 30k miles. I'm not sure about the other brands, but you can leave the Deltran unit hooked up indefinitely.

 

I use mine only in the winter, Why I don't know? I guess becuse I don't think it sit's long enough to worry about it any other time.

 

That is good info ya'll. I travel a lot and sometimes my scooter sits for weeks at a time. I will be buying a tender when I get home tomorrow...

Thanks!

 

I have two bikes and try to ride both on a regular basis but if one happens to sit for a few weeks I'll put the battery tender on it overnight.

Remember that you need to ride for a while to charge the battery using the alternator. Stops and starts in town won't bring it up to snuff.

 

Got two bikes and one of them is always on the battery tender. Even if I have not been riding I still swap them back and forth every few days.

 

Have a tender. Use it all the time. When I keep bike garaged the alarm is always on as well. I had it in the garage over the summer off the tender for a bit over a week during the hottest days of the summer. My battery didn't have quite the charge when went off riding and the check engine lamp kept comming on and off.

Since I have so much stuff that runs all the time, had to put the battery on charge when I got it home. Now I keep the battery topped off so to speak with the tender on all the time. Even with the alarm ckt going. Have not had that issue again.

Highly recommend keeping on tender year round with or without alarm system.

Lets face it these batteries are not very large and do not have much in the way of amp hours let alone much of a reserve CCA's. A tender is not going to hurt, it can only extend the battery life your using a true tender and have it wired in properly.

Otherwise you stand the chance of increased battery and other problems in the long run. Its inexpensive insurance.

 

thanks everyone for your replies

 

I only use mine during winter storage. The longest my bike sits in the summer is a week, so I figure the battery is staying charged. Never had any problems, my last battery (in my Fat Boy) was 5 years old when I sold the bike and showed no sign of failing.