[Roger]

Lots of folks may already have one of these, but I just picked up a new battery charger/maintainer for the 800. It's a neat little unit from Sears that lets you use either the standard clamps, or a permanent plug that attaches to the battery with the bike's cables. My old one didn't have the permanent plug option. Nice to not have to remove the battery or try to fish those big clamps in there every year. The web site doesn't show the plugs very good, so I included a couple pics.. It's about $30 right now.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=AUTO&pid=02871220000

 

[PickYourPockets]

Does it sense the battery's charge level and shut off when not needed so as not to damage the battery?

 

[Roger]

Here's some info on the box:

"Automatically switches from Full Charge to Float-Mode Monitoring -- Charger maintains the battery when fully charged. Resumes continuous charging when battery becomes discharged."

And from the instruction sheet:

"When properly connected, the amber LED indicator should illuminate. This indicator will stay illuminated until the battery voltage has reached approximately 14.4 Volt and the charge current has decreased to 0.5 Amps. At this point, the amber indicator turns off and the green indicator turns on. Also at this point, the internal voltage reference of the charger will change in order to maintain the battery voltage at 13.2 Volt. At this lower voltage, charger current is typically a few milliamperes (mA) (1 Ma = 0.001 A). Under this condition called maintain, most batteries can be left charging indefinitely. If the battery is loaded with 0.5 Amps or greater while in the maintain condition, the charger will change back to the normal charging condition described above."

 

[ispeed77]

tender

sounds like a good unit, and the price seems right, thanks Roger.

 

[billc5]

I've been using a Battery Tender Plus for the last couple years. It works great but they aren't the cheapest. Their warranty is good. They also make a waterproof model for outdoor use and models for various other types of equipment.
www.batterytender.com

 

[PickYourPockets]

I've heard good things about Battery Tender products. The price is a bit off-putting though. Can almost buy a new battery for that. I'm just wondering if this is a get-what-you-pay-for type situation or if it's a market-the-same-product-for-motorcycles-and-charge-twice-as-much type situation. If it's basically the same product with a different label, I don't want to pay $70 instead of $30, y'know?

 

[bikeaholic]

re

you can also get maintenance chargers at any marine supply house for about
30 bucks - they are very small and work very good

i use one from the guest compnay a division of marinco marine electrical :wink:

 

[ispeed77]

battery

i was talking to the guy that fixes our forklift and he mentioned that interstate makes a compact trickle charger. he said the unit is only about the size of a cigarette pack and they have been mounting them on the forklifts. just plug into the unit and leave it. doesn't sound like a bad idea to me, charger is always connected and ready for when you need it. now finding a place to keep it out of the way and out of the weather would be the task.....

 

[bikeaholic]

re

its similar to that ispeed-no bigger than 110v/12v transformer
i use them on all the bikes.the john deere,and the jet ski :lol:
it does not have to sense anything -i think it puts out something
like .04mv so it just maintains a full charge and would not overcharge
if left on-i have pigtails hanging out of everything for quick hookup :lol:

 

[ispeed77]

bike
sounds like the perfect setup, i'll have to work on getting a couple