OrganDonor Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Ever since the OEM battery died I've been going through Yuasa batteries every 2 years. I read tonight that the Battery Tender brand trickle chargers don't prevent sulfation, but the Optimate4 does. Does anyone have any experience with them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBLXX Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 I have the optimate 4 canbus. But - I have no idea about the other stuff you said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superhawk996 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Do you know what voltage it maintains on the battery? Over 13.2 and you risk cooking it and loosing the water, especially in hot weather. Below 13 and it may not effectively prevent sulphation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoWhee Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 (edited) https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-56-158-Automatic-Battery-Charger/product-reviews/B000FQBWCY I've had one for years, the power button went a little wonky, but it charges very well. It even recovered my motorcycle battery after I had left the GPS running and didn't notice for a week. Battery was of course flat as a pancake, I put it on the charger and it works, great, I keep it as a spare for my lawn mower. This is what I'm looking at now: http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/noco-genius-g3500-smart-battery-charger-0111927p.html#srp It will do small and large batteries, my little one won't handle the two 100Ah batteries I'm currently charging. Edited October 17, 2016 by JoWhee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironmike Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Over the years the Deltran Battery Tender trickle chargers have come in different versions. Some have no markings other than the brand name; one version is marked "PLUS", and another is marked "Super Smart". All are supposedly capable of charging @1.25A and holding a mild surface charge. If the battery's state of charge drops below a certain level (12.5v?) the tender will interrupt its cycle and cease further charging; however, the green (LED) charging light remains lit--not very helpful IMHO. I've also had Deltran tenders that overcharged and wouldn't stop, cooking the battery and swelling its case. I have grown leery of Deltran tenders. A few years ago I switched to a Schumacher product (PS-1562A) and had no problems since. Unfortunately, that (1.5A) model is no longer available, replaced (I suspect) by another (2.0A) model. See links . . . http://www.batterychargers.com/ps-1562a/ http://www.batterychargers.com/sc-200a/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superhawk996 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 I've used the cheap HF "automatic battery float charger", they run a whopping $5 or $6 when they go on sale. The couple I tested held at or just below 13.2. I don't think they have any 'smarts' in them that would shut one down. Rated output is .4 amps, not gonna do much for recharging a low battery, but I've never had one go low while in storage. I've only used it on car size batteries in my boats, both starting and deep cycle wet cells and would occasionally plug it into the Optima starting batt. to keep it up. As with any charger/maintainer, especially a cheap one, don't trust it 'till you test it and check your battery voltage as often as reasonably possible while in storage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackhawkxx Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 2 hours ago, ironmike said: Over the years the Deltran Battery Tender trickle chargers have come in different versions. This true, they are not all the same. 2 hours ago, ironmike said: I have grown leery of Deltran tenders. I have three plugged in full time from Nov to April every year without an issue and I get at least 7 years out of my batteries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partsman Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 The small Battery Tender jr, is just a maintainer,which is fine if your voltage doesn't drop too low,say below 12.2 ish. The Optimate 3 is an actual charger,the are many different Optimate charger now, but at a minimum the 3 is great. Yuasa has a couple,they have a new 3 amp charger,desulphate mode one. Ctek is another good one,been using one of those the last couple years. Optimate is the brand dealers HAVE to use here (Honda and Kawasaki for sure,can't remember what Suzuki and Yamaha insist on) to claim warranty ALL stock batteries.I have recovered a few customer batteries and one of my own but usually you just get 3-6 more months out of it. I have also had a couple die(1 Batt Tender,1 Yuasa) but they were both past warranty . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganDonor Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 My Optimate4 should be here tomorrow... the BT that I was using was indeed the BT Jr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Krypt Keeper Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 I switch my Jr. between the two bikes to maintain them both. Sometimes I throw it on the lawnmower. Have had a battery fail on me at the beginning of a ride. Unplugged the Jr. bike started fine, rode to town 10 or 11 miles. Stopped at a store for 2 minutes and dead. Not enough juice to do anything. Got jumped started and rode to autozone where I did a systems check, all pointed to the battery. $100 later I was up and going with a sealed gel battery. Think that battery died 3 yrs later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon haney Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 My Battery Tender Jr. has been a model of reliability. It does more than just maintain. I have a small battery on my trailer as a back-up for the electric brakes. The Jr. brought it back to life from less than 8 volts. A year later, it swelled up so much I could barely get it out of the holder, but I'm not sure that had anything to do with using the Jr. I also used it on my wife's car battery. Started at about 11.4 volts and brought it up to 12.6 after about 14 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XXBirdSlapper Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 I have been using the 1562 Schumacher for years. My buddy had one and it was boiling his (old) battery and he threw it away blaming it for the problem. I suggested his battery could have had a shorted cell that was responsible for the charger opperating continuously to the point of boiling. He scoffed. One month later he had to replace the battery as it gave up the ghost. I thought the 1562 was still available at Farm and Fleet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBRXX Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 Been running a couple of Shumacher's One have had a long time is similar to the 1562. Used to use on the bike, but been on the Vette battery 4.5 years Have had a XM15's with no issues on the bike since then. https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-XM1-5-Automatic-Charger-Maintainer/dp/B004EI6A8K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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