Hi,

I recently bought a trickle charger to charge the battery of my GS500F. I have also heard about a battery tender that provides a maintance charge so you do not have to unplug the battery once it is charge. This isn't the case for my trickle charger, as there is a possibility of overcharging if the battery is left plugged in for too long. Would purchasing a battery tender be the better option?

Thanks for your input!

Yes, defiantly, I love mine, which doesn't risk overcharging the battery, and it sends a low amperage to the battery ~1.5a to keep from frying it. Moreover, it automatically detects when it needs charged and will send current to the battery to keep it in tiptop shape.  It is defiantly the best 25$ you can spend to keep you from damaging your electrical system or even worse with a crappy battery.  So yeah, I say pick one up for sure. Harbor freight supposedly has something like a battery tender for like 5$ but who knows how well that'll work.  You can search around.

Thanks a lot man! I'm going to return this trickle charger and get the better option!!

is a trickle charger, float charger and battery tenderer all the same things?

A battery tender is a float charger; it provides a trickle charge, but stops charging when the battery is charged.  A trickle charger is just a low-amp charger.  I have a trickle charger and don't feel a need for a battery tender, but I don't store my bikes for extended periods.

Quote from: 905mike on October 28, 2008, 09:09:51 AM
is a trickle charger, float charger and battery tenderer all the same things?

In addition to Roadstergal's comments, you can read some of the technical discussion on the Battery Tender (Deltran) website:
http://batterytender.com/faqs.php/#4
http://batterytender.com/battery_basics.php

If you have a trickle charger, and don't feel like spending extra bucks to pick up a battery tender, a good compromise is to plug the charger in through one of those cheap timers. A 1.5 amp charger running for 6-8 hours a day isn't going to overcharge a battery over the winter months, but will keep the charge up on a good battery.

I bought a Battery Float Charger
Chicago Electric Power Tools Model#42292, Harbor Freight Tools.

The instructions say,
"Remove battery cell caps before charging."

from your collective experience,
Is this necessary?  I'm taking the battery of the bike and storing it indoors for the winter.  I was just gonna slap the Float Charger on it and ferget about it ... do I need to take the little yellow caps off my battery too?