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battery tender connected how long

11K views 46 replies 30 participants last post by  MaverickAus 
#1 ·
Hi all,

Winter is almost upon us again and my riding season will come to a temporary halt for most of the season. I plan to connect my V to my "brand-new, still in the box" battery tender... just don't know how long it should be connected. I don't have to remove the battery from the bike during the process, right?

Thanks in advance.
 
#7 ·
My charger came with a lead that stays connected to the battery and when i need to charge it up i just plug the charger into the connection on the left side of my bike just under the seat.I also have a powerlet lead there also so i can attach a 12V outlet to it and the charger lead i bought a 12V outlet to connect to it also. Just to have incase of need of another outlet. The charger plug has the orange marks on it. So charging the battery is a simple plug in and walk away. Left on the winter setting i have on the charger its just kicks in when needed.


IMG_0062 by weljo2001, on Flickr
 
#9 ·
My 09' sportster was always plugged into a tender when I had it. For whatever reason, those Harley batteries didn't like it when it wasn't. Kinda makes ya wonder if Harley knew this, as it already had a pigtail connected to it when purchased. The tender will keep the battery fresh.
 
#12 ·
My buddy had a new battery put in his harley. One day it didn't start so we checked and cleaned all the connections. He got the battery from the harley dealership when he had it in for service. I noticed it was a Drag Speciality battery and also noticed it was made in Vietnam. When he saw that he lost his freaking mind.:D
 
#11 ·
The Battery Tender brand ones have a smart brain that moniters the battery condition and charges accordingly. I plug in when I park the hike for winter and dont touch it. I rarely charge the bike during riding season.

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#13 ·
Once after wintering in AZ, on my return north I found my KLR battery had gone dry while hooked to a battery tender (for 6 months), so it got a new battery.

NOW I always run my tenders thru a 24 hour timer set to come on for ONLY 15 minutes in 24 hours.

My batteries always show full-charge when I pull them off the tenders.
 
#16 ·
Just another option.

If you have a powerpoint installed on your V to power your devices, you could wire the battery charger to a cigarette plug (male end, available everywhere) and use your powerpoint to charge the battery. That way, you don't even have to remove the seat. Works for me.

Not that the seat is hard to remove... Ha Ha
 
#19 ·
I'm just happy that the versys has a big battery even though the engine is relatively small with relatively low compression. I bought the versys after getting fed up with the teeny tiny battery in my 2008 cbr1krr, which has a relatively large engine and relatively high compression. It is not that happy about starting in winter and that's compounded with my use of electric gear.
 
#23 ·
Charged batteries have a lower freezing temperature. That's why I leave mine on all winter. Same for my snowmobiles. If your battery is partially discharged, the electrolyte in a lead acid battery may freeze. At a 40% state of charge, electrolyte will freeze if the temperature drops to approximately -16 degrees F. When a battery is fully charged the electrolyte will not freeze until the temperature drops to approximately -92 degrees F. Always keep your battery fully charged!
Doing what I wrote, my batteries have ALWAYS indicated FULL-CHARGE within about a minute.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Charged batteries have a lower freezing temperature. That's why I leave mine on all winter. Same for my snowmobiles. If your battery is partially discharged, the electrolyte in a lead acid battery may freeze. At a 40% state of charge, electrolyte will freeze if the temperature drops to approximately -16 degrees F. When a battery is fully charged the electrolyte will not freeze until the temperature drops to approximately -92 degrees F. Always keep your battery fully charged!
 
#24 ·
I bring the batteries from two bikes and my riding mower into the warm basement for the winter. I use a 2 amp trickle charger with auto shut-off to charge them up, usually around the first of each month. Only takes a few minutes per battery to refresh them and I don't need to worry about unattended charger cooking the battery if something goes wrong.
The advantage to pulling a battery out is that I can do a good inspection and cleaning of the terminals, plus I re-install the terminals using di-electric grease. Also, my mower battery is the old electrolyte type so I need to top it up with distilled water, much easier to do on the work bench.
I could just hook up the charger in the garage and let the auto trickle charger work (like Battery Tender) but I don't trust the infallibility of electronics, too much can go wrong from an overcharge (fire, explosion or just a nasty mess of acid).
 
#25 ·
The Battery Tender brand is NOT a "trickle charger". It is an electronically controlled battery maintainer. I've been using them for over 20 years without any problems. I have 5 currently working in the garage on 4 motorcycles and a generator and one more in the basement that keeps my booster pack fully charged.

I won't vouch for any other brand because I haven't used anything else. I figure that if anyone buys cheap junk like Harbor Freight sells, you're on your own.
 
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#27 ·
If there is a bike that seems not to need a charger it is the Versys. I did finally put a pigtail on it for the BT Jr. that I bought for the DR. The DR is considerably grumpier in cold weather. The Versys always fires up right away, and when I do put it on the charger the indicator always says charge complete within 5 minutes.
My TDM was a hard starter and had the battery buried under the bodywork and gas tank. I installed a Kisan CX10 onboard charger. It is very small and light, and all I needed was a 110 outlet to charge anywhere.
 
#28 ·
smaller battery

ive got a nib agm die hard its the 9 series instead the 12 length and width are the same. its just shorter. I don't see why it wouldn't work on the versys just block it up a little. I bought it for my Suzuki dr650 and sold the bike before I needed it. ------does the versys really need that xtra capacity?
 
#31 ·
Battery Tender is a good quality tender. It shuts off and comes back on when it senses it needs to charge. You can use any good quality tender that does the same, just don't buy junk that doesn't sense the battery condition as it will keep feeding charge to the battery. 1 or 2 amps doesn't matter.
You don't have to remove the battery but as described above, it's not a bad idea. Personally, I leave the battery in and connected to everything because I ride the bike all winter. There have been warm dry winters where I didn't even plug the battery in, so everyone's going to have different ideas of what to do.
Bottom line is, get a quality tender and keep the battery charged.
 
#33 ·
I've never heard of that brand so I can't say about the quality but it does look and read like it has all the bells and whistles, it does look like it "talks" to the battery so it always knows the charging condition of the battery, it does have overload and over heat protection and the price is in line with other quality tenders.
I would try to find some reviews on line and see what others who have bought it say.
 
#35 ·
First of all I'd be suspicious of any product who's instructions I couldn't read...a good Deltran battery "Tender" is less than 20 bucks and will come with all the parts you need and then some...I get off of my bike and I hook up the tender..it takes next to no time...
 
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