How often do you use your battery tender?

[Nelly]

Winter has hit now and this week the bike is taking longer to start. Still fires up, but there is a definite sign of the starter not cranking as briskly. Probably time for a new battery soon.

Nelly

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[RON S]

I have used a tender continually and have gotten 4-8 yrs out of stock batteries.
If it ain't running and it's home it is on a tender!

 

[deeptekkie]

I have one but I have never opened the box. When it's really cold, (below 40 degrees F), in my un-insulated garage I burn a 100 watt light bulb directly under the heat exchanger/radiator/battery area. So far, so good. It's kept my battery happy for over four years now.

 

[Nelly]

Money to burn mate? Or am I missing something? You run a 100 watt bulb to keep it all nice and toasty when you have a super efficient 12v charger sitting there doing nothing. Have I completely missed the jist of this.
Nelly

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[FinalImpact]

I have one but I have never opened the box. When it's really cold, (below 40 degrees F), in my un-insulated garage I burn a 100 watt light bulb directly under the heat exchanger/radiator/battery area. So far, so good. It's kept my battery happy for over four years now.

I suspect the oil (if started) would like this feature best.....

 

[deeptekkie]

While it wouldn't hurt, that's the beauty of synthetic!
Happy New Year!

 

[deeptekkie]

Ah, it's the old "What works, works". (That or too lazy to remove the tank and wire in a set of permanent quick-connects)
Happy New Year!

 

[FinalImpact]

In March of 2014 the OEM battery will be 6 years old. I've never had it on a charger/tender and its currently sitting in an uninsulated shelter. Lets see how it does! In the summer its in the elements too so if its still healthy I'll run it another year.

Tender Free and alive after 6 years...

 

[motojoe122]

Stock batt on my 09, killed it twice so far but it recovered fine. Most of the time I dont have it on the tender, but I put it on the other day and it took about an hour to top off the batt. My guess is with regular use (riding 3 days average a week) the batt hovers around 70-80 percent charge.

 

[Nelly]

Ah, it's the old "What works, works". (That or too lazy to remove the tank and wire in a set of permanent quick-connects)
Happy New Year!

What works indeed works, Happy New year to your good self also.
Nelly

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[HiGGz]

got an optimate 4 (Xmas gift) and plug it to my bike... all the time.

 

[Nelly]

Still using a battery tender nightly, bike is on the original battery which is nearly nine years old. I'm happy I brought one on sale for €25.00.

Nelly

Battery died yesterday, it had got very cold recently and the bike was just not turning over despite the tender.
I didn't quite make nine years on the original unit. Very happy to continue using the tender.

Nelly

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[FinalImpact]

In March of 2014 the OEM battery will be 6 years old. I've never had it on a charger/tender and its currently sitting in an uninsulated shelter. Lets see how it does! In the summer its in the elements too so if its still healthy I'll run it another year.

Tender Free and alive after 6 years...

Update:
2014-01-25 fired the bike up after sitting for three months, no tender.

As found: 12.90V (the same as last year!! (well 12.92 after 4 months))
Charge cuts in just over 2350 RPM @14.26V
1300 RPM 210°F fan on 12.10V w/dual headlights
2500 RPM - 14.25V fan on
2500 RPM - 14.30V fan off
1300 RPM - 12.82V fan off

After 45 min Rip, parked it and measured voltage after sitting for 30 min = 13.20V. I suspect it may go another year. Cold start temp was in the high 30°F and it didn't crank at its normal pace but fired right up!

 

[Nelly]

Update:
2014-01-25 fired the bike up after sitting for three months, no tender.

As found: 12.90V (the same as last year!! (well 12.92 after 4 months))
Charge cuts in just over 2350 RPM @14.26V
1300 RPM 210°F fan on 12.10V w/dual headlights
2500 RPM - 14.25V fan on
2500 RPM - 14.30V fan off
1300 RPM - 12.82V fan off

After 45 min Rip, parked it and measured voltage after sitting for 30 min = 13.20V. I suspect it may go another year. Cold start temp was in the high 30°F and it didn't crank at its normal pace but fired right up!

I really think the key is regularly riding the bike and reducing the drain at rest. I can honestly I that with hindsight I will never install another alarm. PITA to uninstall and a waste of time.
After a week of not riding the alarm will kill my battery.

Nelly

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[FinalImpact]

I really think the key is regularly riding the bike and reducing the drain at rest. I can honestly I that with hindsight I will never install another alarm. PITA to uninstall and a waste of time.
After a week of not riding the alarm will kill my battery.

Nelly

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Agreed! A small drain can take the Biggest, newest batteries life from anything. The thing is only 10Amps, it doesn't take too much to end its life.

EDIT: make a more realistic leakage current example:

Think about this (5mA) 0.005 Amps X 12.2V = 0.061 Watts (very small amount), but in the context of days or weeks it adds up.
0.005A X 24 hrs is 0.12 Amps per day
0.005A X 168 hrs is 0.84 Amps per week.
In short, its such a small amount, but if present, the battery is toast in a week.​

These little batteries only have so much reserve current and they are flat in no time.

Taking a small 12V lamp and placing it between your suspect source (ALARM) and its own 12v power lead and battery +12v. If this makes the lamp glow in any way, you can bet its going to kill your battery!

 

[Motogiro]

I really think the key is regularly riding the bike and reducing the drain at rest. I can honestly I that with hindsight I will never install another alarm. PITA to uninstall and a waste of time.
After a week of not riding the alarm will kill my battery.

Nelly

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

What happened to your tender plug?

 

[Nelly]

Tender plug fine mate, it just got really cold. The bike died at work over a 14 hour day. The battery has discharged itself at least half a dozen times in the last two Years. Even with using the tender it was taking twice as long to turn over.
Working fab with new battery and set up.

Nelly

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[bigdog9191999]

for the first several years i rode all i ever did was fire the bike up and let it come to temp and go through a fan cycle, and i would do that once about mid winter and never had any issues. i finnally got a tender and i would swap it back and forth every few weeks between the two (tiger and fz) last year i got lazy and didnt put either on the tender or start them and both fired right up!

this year i has goldwing and figured it may draw more power sitting so i put my tender on it to come full up then put a cheapie harbor freight float charger on it to maintain and left the tender on the fz, figured if i was gonna run power for one i may as well hook them both up. the fz is 07' and being we got it with 2500 miles i am pretty sure it is the stock batt, and it does not get ridden but 3-5,000 miles a year and it is still going strong!

 

[pester]

I have a shorai now and dont even need the tender. Now that i left it in the garage for 3 months. It might need the tender

sent from my s4

 

[iviyth0s]

My battery tender is me riding a lot

My dad uses his during the winter but I just ride it on the rare nice days in the winter months to keep it young. Hasn't failed me in 4 years