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Which Battery Maintainer?

flyinfree.00

flyinfree.00

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I'm needing to get a battery maintainer. What are people using and why?

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I like the Optimate. I got it from a Honda dealer. I got stubborn with folks saying 'replace your battery every three-four years' so I kept my original Yuasa eight and half years, on the tender winter long. No guarantee how long your battery's going to last, but I'm pretty confident the Optimate will keep it going as long as possible.
 
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Battery Tender Junior. Been using one for many many years. Inexpensive, simple to use, never fails me or my batteries. Some of my batteries stay plugged in for months at a time. My Goldwing battery lasted eight years. Plugged in all winter and never missed a start during riding season.
 
I use the Optimate-4, with a cord extension and a cigarette adapter. That way I can just plug straight into the combo 12V/USB I have mounted on the handlebars and have no-fuss connecting and no-fuss battery maintenance. I use it on two bikes and if I switch back to the clip terminals I can easily give my wife's car a charge as well. I have been using it for about five years now and am pleased with it.
 
Battery Minder model 2012. Not only does it keep a battery charged, but at 2amps, it can recharge fairly quickly. You can also parallel multiple batteries to keep several charged. Temp compensating to ensure proper charge regardless of the temperature. Best of all, it uses a pulse charge which helps reverse the sulfur deposits.

Periodically it tests the battery to be sure all is well.

Not the cheapest on the market, but it's kept all my batteries in great shape for years. The battery in the tractor is 9 years old now and still cranks it over without fail.

I install an SAE port on all my equipment so that hookup is simple. Just plug in and walk away. This makes it easy to plug in for even short week long stints bur be on the road quick when I get a free moment of nice weather. I also used a 15 amp harness on the bike so that the same connector not only allows quick hookup of the tender, but is also used for my heated gear and the Cycle Pump when needed. One Jack to connect them all.
 
Short Time said:
Battery Tender Junior. Been using one for many many years. Inexpensive, simple to use, never fails me or my batteries. Some of my batteries stay plugged in for months at a time. My Goldwing battery lasted eight years. Plugged in all winter and never missed a start during riding season.
Click to expand...

I have this one as well. But really I think most of the battery sulfation stuff is snake oil.
 
I've been using a 750 mA Battery Tender Jr. for probably almost 20 years. I don't think it's a very sophisticated design, but it definitely gets the job done. I had one fall apart once and there wasn't much circuitry inside. I even hook it to car batteries and it charges them up over a couple days. Someone will post here soon and tell us the Battery Tender Juniors are junk and not recommended by Yuasa or whatever. So I guess I'm using the BT Jr until I get off my butt and do research for a better one. Having said that, I average about 8 years for battery life; most of that long life I attribute to cold winter storage. Heat seems to kill batteries. I have 16 batteries that I keep maintained without much trouble.

This is more or less an oil or tire type thread topic. No consensus will be reached.
 
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Yeah I almost put a disclaimer on the initial post, knew it would turn into an "oil/tire/chain lube" type thread. Was leaning towards BT Jr., Price and convience. Bike will be parked right next to an outlet so not having a bulky unit would be nice.

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I vote for OptiMate or PulseTech. Charging a lead acid battery is not just pushing electrons to the battery, but a more complicated handling of the chemistry...
 
This has done me well for a number of years. Has SAE, clamp, and post terminal connectors.

http://www.sears.com/diehard-battery-charger-maintainer/p-02871219000P

prod_1688140112
 
i'm using CTEK . smallest for bike, and biggest for our old MB. MB's 11 years old OEM battery still operates just fine
 
I have three different kinds and they all work. Right now I have some Schumachers, a battery tender junior, and a Stanley.

On motorcycles I only use the 2 amp or less ones. I don't use the one that has an 8 amp recharge, then drops to a maintenance charge. That one is for the cars.

That said, I am neither an electrician or an engineer and my opinion is worth what you paid for it.
 
Hank said:
I have three different kinds and they all work. Right now I have some Schumachers, a battery tender junior, and a Stanley.

On motorcycles I only use the 2 amp or less ones. I don't use the one that has an 8 amp recharge, then drops to a maintenance charge. That one is for the cars.

That said, I am neither an electrician or an engineer and my opinion is worth what you paid for it.
Click to expand...

I use a Battery Tender Jr, on both my bikes. They work great.
 
+1 on the Battery Tender. The little cheapo from Harbor Freight ($6) is okay, but will only keep a good battery topped off. I configured mine to plug into my fused direct-to-battery power outlet, but you have to make a properly polaritied jumper..
 
After doing some research, I've ordered an Optimate 3. The Optimate 4 would have been fine too, but I don't think I'd ever need the BMW CAN bus feature.

Experience with the Battery Tender Jr. just suggests to me that it's not very sophisticated, so I'm hoping the Optimate will do better.
 
670cc said:
After doing some research, I've ordered an Optimate 3. The Optimate 4 would have been fine too, but I don't think I'd ever need the BMW CAN bus feature.

Experience with the Battery Tender Jr. just suggests to me that it's not very sophisticated, so I'm hoping the Optimate will do better.
Click to expand...

Sorry 670cc, you made me chuckle. Not sure why more sophistication is needed for a device that will trickle charge the battery, never overcharge it, last for years, and is unencumbered with anything more than one indicator light. But then I'm not a very sophisticated kind of guy :rolleyes:
 
Short Time said:
Sorry 670cc, you made me chuckle. Not sure why more sophistication is needed for a device that will trickle charge the battery, never overcharge it, last for years, and is unencumbered with anything more than one indicator light. But then I'm not a very sophisticated kind of guy :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Because maybe a smart charger is smart enough to know the battery make up and change the charge profile for different conditions ?? Example changing time, voltage and amperage in DESULPHATION, float, pulse mode etc etc page 5 in the link:

http://www.ctek.com/Archive/ProductManualPdf/MXS 5.0_EN.pdf
 
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Short Time said:
Sorry 670cc, you made me chuckle. Not sure why more sophistication is needed for a device that will trickle charge the battery, never overcharge it, last for years, and is unencumbered with anything more than one indicator light. But then I'm not a very sophisticated kind of guy :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

The BT Jr. smarts seem to include only charging the battery to a preset voltage, then shutting off the charge. It then monitors battery voltage, then resumes charge if the voltage had dropped below some threshold. I've never been convinced that the BTJ works well with AGM batteries, although the company claims that it does. I have good luck using it on wet cell lead acid batteries.

I have had batteries that were maybe a year or two old, in other words, known good batteries. They had sat for two or three months of non use. I hook up the BTJ, and in just a mere 5 or 10 minutes it says the battery is fully charged (green light on). I find that suspicious. 10 minutes of 750 mA charge would equate to only 0.125 amp-hours of charge. That's not much for an 11.0 amp-hour battery. I've also had batteries that were showing signs of moderate discharge (slow cranking), and hooking up the BTJ resulted in a quick return to the green light. Now I know it would take more time than it did (at the 750 mA rate) to actually put the charge back in the battery, so again, I'm suspicious. I then usually resort to a more sophisticated 2-6-12 amp charger that I own has more modes and a digital readout of the charge current, and it takes awhile, reading out the charge current, and it does it's thing and gets the batteries properly charged.

So, in short, I think my Battery Tender Jr. is defective or just too simple to deal with the diverse situations you encounter with batteries. It will be interesting to compare it and the Optimate side by side in the same battery situation.
 
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