Hawkrider

I have been thinking about getting a battery tender for my vehicles lately, but I'd like to get some input from you guys before I buy. Here's the situation: I have 3 bikes, the GTO, and a tractor. The Superhawk and the GTO reside in the garage. Both big and little RRs and the tractor live in the shed out back for the winter. I don't want to have to buy 5 battery tenders. I have been thinking that I could buy 2 Deltran Battery Tender Plus units and then connect the GTO and the Superhawk batteries together on one BT, and the other three on the other. What do you guys think? Any advantage of the Battery Tender Junior over the Battery Tender Plus? Also, they have a 4-bank unit that I could buy but then I'd have to run about 35' of wire out to the shed, and it's about $160. I could get 4 BT Plus's for that. There's also a company out there called CTEK which seems to be higher quality and more advanced than what Deltran has to offer.

I've done the research here, I'm looking for some experience, mainly with hooking these guys up to batteries in parallel, or would it be in series???

thetophatflash

You would wire in parallel. This would potentially give each "outlet" the same voltage. I would, however, make sure that the rated loads of the batteries on each device don't exceed the device's capacity. Tenders are light weight transformers and the windings are not heavy enough to withstand a too large a load. The 35' distance will cause a voltage drop when comparing output voltage at the tender versus the voltage 35 feet down the line. This will cause a higher draw to occur and can affect the potential for overload.

altosuperhawk

I've used a single Battery tender 'Plus' for the last ten years or so. I leave it hooked up to my seldom driven '95 BMW M3 for six days per week. Still on the original battery. The extended life may also be due to the trunk mounted location away from engine compartment heat, and the fact that I top it off twice a year as it's the old style 'maintenance' type. On Sunday I hook it up for two hours on each of my six bikes and it keeps those batteries alive a lot longer than average. Still on my original battery on my early '97 Bandit 1200, '99 ZRX1100, and '02 FZ-1. My '94 CB1000 Yuasa went 11 years before replacement. I replaced my early release '98 VTR with a larger 14 amp hour Yuasa in the spring on 2005 as an experiment for easier starting- not because the 12 amp hour was dead. This takes a little effort but only a single Battery Tender (about $35.00) is needed.

Thumper

Go Solar

Less mess, easy to handle. YOu can replace th4e cig lighter peice with some clamps

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44768

Thumper

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=42292

Another option

RickB

I have a few of these Harbor Freight float chargers and they work great, you can even get them for $4.99 on sale at times. I also have a Battery Minder that supposedly breaks up sulfates but it doesn't do much on AGM type batteries but does work on lead/acid. for the $ you can't beat these Harbor Freight ones.

Hawkrider

Thanks guys! I just ordered 5 of the plug-in ones from Harbor Freight. This was less than one Deltran BT Plus!

RedHotFireStorm

Another option...;
My set up is that I remove the batteries from my "outdoor storage vehicles" and bring them into my garage for the off season. (five minute job with a 1/2 wrench or whatever it takes).
I then alternate my battery tender from one battery to the next every two weeks or so. Simply clip the gator clips to the next battery-
I try to time it when I re-stock my beer fridge in the garage.
Timing is everything !
I think my betteries need tendn'