BAttery charger vs battery tender

[hadesducati848]

Ok so I went to start up the monster for the first time since christmas and the lights were very dim and she wouldn't crank.dead battery. So I was going to get a battery tender. But then I started thinking a battery charger might be a better idea. I figure since I'm not familiar with tenders I would ask a few questions here.
Can a tender charge a battery that is dead back to full?
can you get the clamps of a charger on the battery of a 696 & 848 with out taking it out of the bike?
If not, is there an adaptor of some kind to plug a charger in to the connector for the tender?
And could the tender be used to charge my car battery if needed?
Thanks for all the input guys.

[erkishhorde]

Most battery tenders also charge and will automatically switch to trickle so that they don't over charge. Different brands use different levels to float the battery at. For example, some people think that the Battery Tender brand charges float the battery too high. But many people still use them without any ill effects.

A lot of the chargers/ tenders will come with two attachment options that are switchable, with one being clamps and the other being washers. Then most of leave the washer connector on the bike and then just plug in when we need a charge and then stash the connector away when we don't. Nice and easy so that you don't have to lift up the tank to clip on the clamps.

Whether or not you can use the same charger on your car battery is "depends." But most likely. A smaller charger like a Battery Tender Jr. can work on car batteries but takes longer to charge them up. At the same time, the typical car battery charger could work on your bike too, but depending on the brand, it may charge too fast and could damage your battery. And then if you have an AGM battery in either vehicle things change a bit too.

[Slide Panda]

A charger charges and a tender tends  

A tender is meant for use on a fully or near fully charged batter that is going to see an extended period of disuse. Classic examples are a bike or boat over winter. While they can, given enough time, nurse a more depleted batter back to a state where it would start a bike, when it hadn't been able to before, that's not how they are meant to be used and might not be up for the task.

A charger is for use when the battery is in much worse shape - it's been drained from use or drained down over a long time on it's own. A charger gives the battery much more of a jolt, and will bring it back to life in a much shorter time span - but the shorter time does come at a cost of the potential life span of the battery. You want to avoid letting a battery 'go flat' and charging it up when ever possible - hence the use of tenders. Multiple drain and charge cycles on most batteries will dramatically shorten the useful lifespan.

As far as access on a 696 or 848, I can't say, not having wrenched on any.

Yes there is a connector for the tender than can be installed. It's fused and you attach it to the battery. The common jargon name is 'pigtail' With it installed, you get 12-18' of lead you can route some place handy, and then just quickly plug in to your tender instead of having the seat or whatever else off to get clamps on the battery terminals

[He Man]

A battery tender IS a battery charger, it just does it very very slowly.

MOST battery chargers have a tend mode.

[thought]

not sure about the 848, but the 696 should have come with a pigtail.  the dealer was supposed to install one, and it should connect up to the battery tender's sae connector if i'm not mistaken.  there was a thread in here before that went into it in detail... you should see a connector zip tied to the left hand side of the bike... or at least thats where mine is.  if you dont have it, ask the dealer you bought it from about it and tell him that it should have come with it already.  it's even mentioned in the manual.

and for the 696, you'll need to lift the tank in order to access the battery... it's a huge pain and i would suggest planning out everything you want/need to connect to the battery beforehand and connecting them all in one go so you dont have to do it again.  so i would suggest putting in a powerlet or car connector etc if you ever want to use gps/heated gear

[hadesducati848]

Thanks For the input, I think ill get a charger that has a tend setting on it. And I'll get some pig tails for easy connections.
Thank you again.

[Howie]

Battery Tender is a brand name for the Deltran battery charger.  Like Kleenex or Frigidare over time became synonymous with the generic from use.  You want a "smart charger" that automatically goes into a "float" or maintenance mode when the battery reaches full charge to avoid overcharging.  As far as charging a car battery, you have to replace the amperage that has been depleted.  On your bike from completely flat to full charge would be about 9.6 hours, on a typical car about 52 hours, but it would do it.

[normalcyispasse]

The tender will charge a dead battery, but slowly (usually 750mA-1.5A). I just make it a habit to have several battery tenders (of different brands, natch) in the garage and plug in my bikes after a ride just to be on the safe side. I ride every day but I don't ride every bike every day, and this way I get much better battery life.

Don't put a fast charger on the bike too often as it will ruin the battery quickly. As has been mentioned, a tender with a float capacity is best for maintenance.