Battery Terminal Maintenance

[Psychopasta]

When bikes aren't being ridden regularly, I put a Battery Tender on them for a few hours (till the light turns solid green) once a month and then move the charger to the next bike until I've cycled it through the fleet.

That's my approach too. There's no problem with batteries just being allowed to stand, as long as they do get a top-up now and then.

[Kiwi_Roy]

The old wall worts make great chargers if you don't leave them on 24/7/365


Sent from my shoe phone!

[moto-uno]

 A bit late to the game ( not unusual ) , I finally decided to get a new battery tender(charger) and bought a Schumacher 1.5 amp unit.
On the box it stated AGM batteries , plugged it in and back to check in a couple of hours with my Fluke multi-meter , 15.2 Volts ! Got in
touch with the manufacturer and they said 15.2 Volts was fine . Years as a mechanic told me otherwise . Contacted Yuasa battery and was
told that voltage was way too high . Got back in touch with Schumacher and they then said to take it back to where I bought it for a
refund . Replaced it with the Ctek .8amp charger and it doesn't go over 14.4Volts  . . Be wary .  Peter

[Wayne Orwig]

A bit late to the game ( not unusual ) , I finally decided to get a new battery tender(charger) and bought a Schumacher 1.5 amp unit.
On the box it stated AGM batteries , plugged it in and back to check in a couple of hours with my Fluke multi-meter , 15.2 Volts ! Got in
touch with the manufacturer and they said 15.2 Volts was fine . Years as a mechanic told me otherwise . Contacted Yuasa battery and was
told that voltage was way too high . Got back in touch with Schumacher and they then said to take it back to where I bought it for a
refund . Replaced it with the Ctek .8amp charger and it doesn't go over 14.4Volts  . . Be wary .  Peter

15.2V is not fine. That is ridiculous. But then 14.4V is a touch on the low side.
Some vendors like to see closer to 14.7V for the saturation charge. But 14.4V safe, and is a lot better then over 15 on any sealed battery.
When I was designing my solar charge controller, I couldn't decide if I like the 14.7V recommended, or something lower to prevent cooking the battery. So I went with 14.55V. 
 

[roadventure]

Battery Minder ( https://www.batteryminders.com/batteryminder-plus-charger-model-12117-12v-1-33-amp-charger-maintainer-desulfator/ )

Been using them for many years and the only reason I have ever replaced a battery is because I do it every five years out of habit.  I have never had to replace a battery due to failure using this product.

[ampm7]

I have been using the "Battery Tender" for a lot of years. It has worked great. But I don't leave it on for months as I don't need to as you can ride here all year long. Besides, in 24 hours a battery that is down in voltage and put on the charger, is fully restored after that 24 hr charge; assuming that it is not old and cannot hold a charge. Then if you are worried you can disconnect with their pigtail. I don't understand why many riders don't have a digital voltage readout so they don't have to take anything apart to check the battery. A 'No Brainer'...as I was just doing some electrical work on my old Ambo and needed to put it on the charger as I had to put the bike in start mode and needed to keep the voltage up. This is the current readout of the Battery Tender having been on for 36 hrs and still hooked up. I don't see a problem.

[chuck peterson]

Battery Tender “had” a small attachment that read voltage at the end of your pigtails. I can move it around to all the bikes w pigtails

Checking their website it seems to be gone from the accessories section

Too bad. I use it like a mobile voltage readout on anything I’m riding

https://www.batterytender.com/

Website and products have changed a lot

Including GM and Lithium Ion batteries

Good product info

Solar powered chargers too