Battery tenders .... which one to buy?

[pure_ego]

just outta curiosity.. how much is a battery price in comparison to one of these things?

I just don't get it..

bragging about getting 5 years out of a battery with the help of a tender seems kinda silly after somebody else has just said they never did anything but start the bike on occasion and let it warm up.. and has a 6 yo battery.

i understand the need if you never ride the thing and it just sits for months, and months, and months, and months at a time... but .. uh.. winter is only like 3-4 months long at best...

i just don't get it.

 

[zukracer]

my stock battery went out in about 2yrs. I now have an alarm on my bike and probably won't get to ride it much, so I figure better safe than sorry.... plus I can always use it for other stuff if the need arises.

oh yeah, cost ~50ish for the charger vs 130ish to get the battery.

 

[DaCol.]

Bought a Battery Tender and hooked up the full time plug in that attaches to the battery. Then it's just a one line tie-in snap on all the time ! Easy - Smeezie

Then when I want to ride, just unsnap and gooooooooo  

 

[Revlis]

just outta curiosity.. how much is a battery price in comparison to one of these things?

I just don't get it..

bragging about getting 5 years out of a battery with the help of a tender seems kinda silly after somebody else has just said they never did anything but start the bike on occasion and let it warm up.. and has a 6 yo battery.

i understand the need if you never ride the thing and it just sits for months, and months, and months, and months at a time...  but .. uh.. winter is only like 3-4 months long at best...

i just don't get it.

I hear ya, mostly they are really damn helpful for folks who just winterize and park the bikes for a few months.  

Look at it this way, if your battery is $80 and the tender is $39 you should be good to go for 5 years or so no sweat for $120. If you park your bike all winter without a charger of some sort you can easily go through an $80 battery every year. $80 times 5 $400!

Pretty simple math if you pickle your bike.



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[zukracer]

or if you are a big pimp like the master Rhythm and have a mobile sound machine built around a hayabusa

 

[monti]

I've never owned one but I think I'm going to get one this time. The Yuasa sounds like a goo deal and they make the batteries.

 

[Revlis]

"Battery Tender" Brand Chargers are great too, We sell them and have had alot of success.

 

[big_al]

I use a battery tender plus. I have the quick connector in each of the bikes, I rotate them between the harley and the busa. Usually it spends more time connected to the harley because I don't ride the Harley as often as the busa both bikes batteries are always at top peak.

 

[FJRider]

I own several Tender Plus's for years and use them on; bikes, tractor, truck, jetskiis, etc. Can't say enough about them, as they're GREAT! It's not uncommon to get 4 to 5 years service out of a motorcycle battery if you leave it connected to the Tender whenever the vehicle is inactive, so they'll pay for themselves in a few years. Just remember to check the battery's fluid level annually and you'll be good to go!

I can't vouch for the mini-Tender (wall-wort style), although I know they have lesser amount of charging current (0.75A) than the standard Tender Plus (1.25A).

I'm guessing the Yuasa charger has the same circuitry as the Tender Plus, just a different box.

Bottom line? Get one!

 

[1127 TO 1299]

just outta curiosity.. how much is a battery price in comparison to one of these things?

I just don't get it..

bragging about getting 5 years out of a battery with the help of a tender seems kinda silly after somebody else has just said they never did anything but start the bike on occasion and let it warm up.. and has a 6 yo battery.

i understand the need if you never ride the thing and it just sits for months, and months, and months, and months at a time... but .. uh.. winter is only like 3-4 months long at best...

i just don't get it.

with the battery tender, the bike is always ready to go. Of course you could let the battery die during the winter ans buy another one each years. With the tender, it's easy and cost half the price of the battery.

 

[brianm767]

I use the Battery tender junior and I have a 25' extention for it, Each bike we have has its own pig tail on it so I switch it between the three different bikes every four or five days, works great , never had a bad battery and it only cost me 28 bucks and another 8 bucks for the extension., I believe the extra pigtails are about 5 bucks each.



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[MN72Busa]

I've been using a few of these.

OptiMate3 - Battery Optimiser: Desulfater-Charger
This unit is a 5 step charger, Diagnoses, Recovers, Charges, Checks, Maintain.

The Charger cost me $52.00, and works great. Hook it up and forget it, no danger of over charging. I ran the pigtail out of the bottom section of the hump where there is already a slot. Plug the thing in, and thats it.

OptiMate 3 - Link

 

[Higgs]

I have 5 of these. (atv's, dirt bike & Busa) http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/...4302490891&bmUID=1133575545701&bmLocale=en_US I didn't get electric start on the snowmobiles because I got sick of buying chargers. Plug them right in the wall, no boxes on the floor, $40 and includes the pig tail which you want to put in.

 

[bigoltool]

This is interesting! I want to get a charger for my bikes and Lawn tractor. I have a book about Ducati Desmoquattro Maintenance that talks at length about chargers. The guy (LT Snyder) talks about what junk the Yuasa chargers are and he tells horror stories about how he went through like a dozen of them in less than a year.Ducatis are hell on batteries. He recommends by name the "BatteryMinder" by VDC Electronics.

http://www.vdcelectronics.com/batteryminder_12v_1a.htm

Anybody tried em? Supposedly Rated #1 by Motorcycle Consumers News. I don't know much about the desulphation but it sounds like a good thing.

 

[Juggler]

I went to my local autozone and bought a motorcycle trickle charger for $30.

 

[DRAGBUSA1300R]

battery tender

 

[BusaWizard]

I have a sears 1 amp 4 amp charger, have had it for years works great, I think I paid about 20 bucks for it.