Battery charger - "tender" vs "trickle" vs "2-amp"

I only could find a 2-amp charger at Crappy Tire in the fall. I figured this is what I needed so a couple times over the Winter I plugged my battery into this.

Now I'm reading elsewhere that people leave their batteries plugged into "tenders" or "trickle chargers" all winter and in one post I read that someone who just plugged theirs into a 2-amp charger wasn't able to start their bike (same here).

If I charge my battery on the 2-amp charger and try to start it turns over for about 30 seconds before running out of juice. Does this sound right? Is my battery not charging completely?

 

Trickle chargers only give a small charging current, whereas auto type chargers have higher outputs. I think the reccomended size for a battery is 10% of its rating, so a 12Ah battery should be charged at 1.2 amps.

It sounds like your battery has had it?

Top up the electrolyte with demineralised water and charge it on your 2 amp charger. If it has a meter, the charge should fall fairly quickly, probably below 1.2 amps.

Charge for a couple of hours and see if the bike will start.

 

There's many threads and websites about proper charging.. basically small batteries need low current for a long time to charge fully and properly.

Manual chargers - like the 1 or 2 amp versions - require you to frequently check the specific gravity of the electrolyte in order to plan how long they should be on the charger.

Automatic chargers (aka float chargers/maintenance chargers/"tenders") charge differently in that they monitor the voltage and adjust the current (and sometimes the voltage) as needed to fully charge properly; then switch to a tiny trickle charge to keep the battery at full. Most that are marketed as "tenders" can be hooked up and forgotten about - left hooked up all winter even.

I just picked up this one at Can Tire for my new AGM battery:
Intelligent Battery Charger

Oh - and if you're only getting about 30 seconds of power after charging I agree it sounds like your battery isn't charging fully, or is failing. Time to have it checked on a load tester, and/or replace with a new one.

 

Thanks. New battery is charging. I'll put the new plugs in and change the oil while I wait.

 

Woohoo! New battery and new plugs and she starts like never before! =)

 

Back to your original question: 2A will cook a motorcycle battery (at least ours) if you don't watch it carefully, time-wise.

I use a .75A "battery tender" alternating between 3 batteries all winter and never have a problem. (Deltran "Battery Tender Jr.")

Don't fry your new battery.

 

And by this I'm pretty sure he means that the battery will boil itself out in a few days so don't just set it and forget it. I left one on a week and came back to a half cooked battery. Newbie lesson and a cheap one thank heavens.

 

I've got a charger that only goes down to 2 amps. It sounds, though, like I could use this for now as long as I check the gravity every hour or so?

 

i'd buy a 1 amp charger. they are tough to find but nonetheless. batteries may be cheap but not as cheap as car batteries. $80 for my maxim out here.

if there's a harbor frieght in your area they sell them. AND trickle chargers. i bought one of those maintaners for $6.99 for a ninja i had last year. parked in october. left it on all winter. in april i checked the voltage. 12.75volts and bike fired right up.

as the above post stated. you want 10 percent of the amp hour rating of the battery. unless your driving a honda goldwing with all the bells and whisltes. and a bigger battery. most of the of the older bikes require a charger around .6 to .7 amps.

don't know what the newer bikes are requiring.